About Ros Murphy
Characterised by a harmonious, naturalistic colour palette, Ros’ compelling contemporary oil paintings are comprised of detailed realist elements and abstract mark making.
A self-taught British painter based in Oxford and Swansea, Ros mostly paints in oil on stretched canvas. She produces a mixture of land, sea and sky-scapes, full of movement and texture from her coastal studio. Life drawing and still-life painting inform her practice. She also makes mixed media works on textured paper, incorporating lines from her favourite literature. She accepts several commissions each year. Her distinctive “apple crate” wooden frames are popular with her collectors - she makes these to order in the workshop in Oxford.
For me, the process of painting is about capturing the unique atmosphere of any place or object in a given moment. Sometimes we look, but unless we gaze we never really see.
“Beauty lay not in the thing, but in what the thing symbolized,”
Thomas Hardy:
Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
Artist Statement
I am interested in the joyful notion of the gaze: what it means to look, how it feels to gaze and the difference between the two.
I enjoy observing the varying effects of weather and the changing light in the landscape. Using brush and palette knife my aim is to depict both tremendous stillness and the infinite movement in our surroundings. I love distilling the fleeting moments in the sky and water onto the canvas as well as studying the sculptural features of landforms and familiar household objects.
Themes of connection, and the passing of time form the on-going conceptual backdrop when I paint, write and think. The fact that we are reflected both literally and metaphorically in the objects and landscapes surrounding us feels significant; by featuring reflective surfaces I seek to direct the viewer towards these ideas in a way that can be both playful and contemplative.
For me, the process of painting is about capturing the unique atmosphere of any place or object in a given moment. Sometimes we look, but unless we gaze we never really see.
I first exhibited for Oxford Art Weeks in 2017 and was invited to produce a solo exhibition at The Earth Trust, Wittenham Clumps, in Oxford in 2019. Having overcome health challenges in 2022, I have since worked on private commissions and enjoy making my art full time.
I currently divide my time between studios in Oxford and The Gower Peninsula in South Wales. I studied for my degree in English and American Studies at Swansea University so it has been a real joy to return in recent years to this beautiful Welsh coastline, which now features heavily in my art work.
I love to bring individuality to each of my paintings and enjoy working with my collectors to produce unique, highly textured images that capture the essence of the places and objects that they love, committing them to canvas in such a way that the painting will sing for them and stand the test of time; I want my artwork to bring years of joy and to work brilliantly as part of the overall composition of the room in which it hangs.