Lora Murphy
Lora Murphy
I have always been fascinated by faces and from childhood, that is what I really wanted to paint and draw. All of my school books had doodles of eyes and lips, faces and figures. I remember clearly the discovery of perspective. I was about 7 years old and I had made a drawing of a group of people. Suddenly I realized that if I made a line behind the figures I could place them in a room. From that moment on I was totally hooked. I loved the old master Portraits and would look at them for hours, copying them in my sketchbooks and later trying to paint them. It was a real voyage of discovery and the joy and wonder of it has never left me. I still feel such a sense of amazement when I look at faces and try to analyse how the light hits and the cheeks curve or how the halftones can render the sense of volume. I love how the placement of colour can indicate shadows or reflected light and I get such a sense of joy from a portrait that I am satisfied with. The discovery of Encaustic was a game changer for me. I trained as an oil painter and was introduced to encaustic about 15 years ago. I remember painting my first piece but tears running down my face… I felt I had come home and that profound emotion has never left me.
You can view Lora’s work at:
Class Details
Oil, Cold Wax and Encaustic. The happy marriage!
So, you have probably heard that cold wax and encaustic are a no-no, BUT there is a way of using these gorgeous mediums together. I will show you techniques I have developed to work with both in the same piece. I paint with cold wax in a very different way that you usually see and I think you will love the techniques to adapt into your own practice!
My version of the Medieval Altarpiece in encaustic, collage and wood
I have always been fascinated by Medieval art in general and altarpieces in particular and have found a way to recreate them using secular images. I am definitely a Maximilist!