Basement Self Portrait 1969

Catherine Murphy created ‘Basement Self Portrait’ with oil on canvas. The process, you can tell, is one of layering—building up the image through careful observation and a delicate touch. The colour palette is restrained, earthy. There's a sense of quiet introspection here. The way the light falls on her face, it’s not dramatic, but subtle, thoughtful. The paint is applied in thin layers, allowing the texture of the canvas to peek through, which gives the whole thing a kind of rawness. Look at the green of her shirt, and how it shifts and changes with each brushstroke. See the brushmarks, and how they create depth in the image? The painting feels like it's being built, brick by brick. Murphy's realism reminds me of Fairfield Porter, another painter of everyday life, but with a touch of something unsettling beneath the surface. Art is a conversation, and Murphy is definitely one of the most interesting voices in that conversation right now.