FAQ’s
This new site aims to give Ian Murphy’s followers an insight into his creative development, showcasing the importance of his sketchbook drawings, through to small-scale development ideas, colour studies and finalised drawings and paintings.
Ian Murphy’s workshops are incredibly popular across the globe, as such, he is happy to answer these frequently asked questions and share his creative insights with his enthusiastic audience.
How do you begin a piece of art?
The ideas and visual identities are born in my sketchbook. However, it’s important to stress the significance of the work that goes on before the pen (or pencil) actually touches the paper. In my workshops I highlight the importance of observational skills, and the critical need to spend time discovering the ‘essence’ of the location. This is actually a quest, a physical journey into the landscape, both natural and constructed, to find the key features, the best viewpoints and the intimate characteristics that make it so special. This is not a quick process, and I’m happy to walk for hours to find the best ideas… then I draw.
How would you describe your style of art?
I always use the phrase ‘controlled scribbles’, which means drawing with exciting linear marks, that are full of energy and reflective of my passion to complete a great drawing. I want each drawing to be controlled in design but expressive in nature, and therefore I love to use lines that are accurate but with enough ‘life’ to satisfy my unique identity.
A great drawing can be done in 15-20 mins or it may take longer, but irrespective of time, it must capture the ‘essence’ of landscape in front of me.
Why do you create your style of aet?
I’ve always believed that my artwork should harness all of my creative thinking, aspects such as identity, mood and narrative are of equally important elements of my paintings, and in some shape or form become features that my audience can peruse or discover for themselves. I tend to believe that the visual identity (the realism within the image) is the initial point of interest (for myself and the viewer) and then my passion for capturing light and atmosphere begin to take over, leading me on a creative journey to explore the beautiful anomalies of surface texture and intrinsic elements of abstraction. The better I balance this mix of characteristics, the more I enjoy the finished painting. Saying that, it is very much an instinctive, and intuitive, journey; I constantly take risks with the paint and mixed media just to see how the image and surface react with each other.
New Limited Edition Prints
I am extremely passionate about my artwork being accessible to a wider audience and am delighted that we can now offer such a large percentage of the images as limited edition prints. I know that so many people will be pleased to see the options we have available, particularly the sketchbook images as this is the first time they have ever been available for purchase.
Take a glimpse into Ian’s studio and his techniques in this short video...
