Nigel: How have you sustained your appetite for sketchbook drawing and the search for new ideas throughout your career?

Ian Murphy: Ever since I can remember, the search for new ideas and the prospect of undertaking an observational journey have always been an important part of my creative process. In terms of the longevity of this practice, I tend to draw a compari-son to the thought process of an archaeologist who is about to begin an excavation but with no real certainty of success. Experi-ence and commitment are useful but do not guarantee a result, the reality is that everything is buried from sight, and they rely on their instincts to tell them that artefacts lie somewhere beneath. However, the main tools to undertake the task, to me, are not just physical, what I feel is probably the essential commodity to succeed in the quest, is a passion for discovery; which fundamen-tally is fuelled by stamina, determination and adrenalin.

With each new drawing trip I undertake I also feel that I have an inner confidence to “unearth” a new and exciting location, and the visual fragments are potentially partially hidden; most certainly, I am con-vinced that I will need good concentration and a strong desire to find them. I always believe that the next important drawing location is just around the corner, the enjoyable part is discovering it.

I think that my best ideas capture the “essence” of the location, a drawing that contains both the physical structure and the atmospheric mood. These locations I know are there for everyone to see, but noticing the integral features requires a determined focus. This is my creative challenge, and I rely on my skill to select and record these at every opportunity, fully aware that the weather and changing light conditions can dramatically affect the final outcome.

Nigel: Was there a specific time in your life when you knew you were an artist?

Ian Murphy: Most students ask something similar, “When did I become an artist?” The one thing I know for certain is that my creative journey started long before I achieved any formal art qualification. Fortunately for me, my art teacher quite often allowed me the privilege to leave the art lessons to go draw outside the school grounds, and at this point I knew that I wanted to explore the local environment. I wandered amongst the many narrow alleyways, looking at the cobble stones and broken wall surfaces and felt a real challenge to draw what was in front of me. I continued enjoying the freedom to work on my own, and I soon discovered a wealth of visual possibilities, in fact, my local area was a real “Aladdin’s cave” of stuff to draw; gritty, no nonsense places like canal locks, railway yards and mine workings.

My first go at drawing with mood and atmosphere came at about the age of 15, when I decided to venture into a nearby cem-etery at dusk and have a go at drawing the dramatic architecture. The challenges were addictive and this location became a real catalyst to a lot of my ideas. When I look back at this period of my life, I realise that these initial drawing expeditions were so vital to my creative outlook, and certainly shaped not only my educational developments, but also the principles I took forward into my professional life. If I was to pinpoint the moment I became an artist I would find it difficult to look past this period.

Nigel: What was your educational route to becoming an artist?

Ian Murphy: After high school, my art education route was fairly straightforward, going down the path of “A” levels for two years followed by a one year foundation course, and then onto a degree course in Fine Art, Painting and Printmaking. I was very single minded, wanting to work solely on my own ideas, and as such, I opted to go to Sheffield, to the Art College at Psalter Lane. It was a great place, mainly because it had fantastic large studios but also, more importantly, the tutors were more than happy to let me get on with all the ideas I had inside me. The city at the time was undergoing something of a transition with a lot of industry closing down; the place was just littered with old and derelict steel mills; it was perfect subject matter for me.

I never deviated from my path of becoming a painter and printmak-er, and I have always been proud of my achievements and finish-ing my educational stint with a first class (hons) degree was very rewarding. In reality, every educational step was just part of the process of becoming an artist.

Nigel: Where is your favourite location to draw?

Ian Murphy: First of all, I should say that I am very lucky that my career has allowed me to travel to many exciting locations around the globe, and I feel very privileged to have experienced such a diverse range of environments, both in the natural and constructed world.

I actually find it very difficult to narrow it down to anyone place, I have enjoyed so many sites. I love travelling east and experi-encing the real cultural differences and visual identities throughout Asia. The "Forbidden City" in Beijing has been particularly inspiring, but for completely different reasons I do love working in a tiny fishing village called Tai O, which is constructed from loads of discarded materials to create dwellings on stilts above the water. The combination of fragile structures perched on the precarious legs has fascinated me for many years.

Within Europe, I do have a continued interest in visiting Italy. Venice in particular absorbs me, and I love the challenge of discov-ering new drawing routes to find more interesting combinations of decaying, historic structures next to the water. There are so many incredible vantage points to work from and, of course, the light conditions really enhance all the colours and surfaces on the facades of the buildings

Here in the UK, I always relish the chance to work in the landscape, which invariably sees me climbing high in the mountains or down into a gorge or a ravine.

Nigel: Why producing location based drawings without including any people?

Ian Murphy: Again, this is another very popular question raised during my workshops. I always feel that I want to be alone in a location to really take on board all the qualities that make it so special, and I feel that the presence of people can quite easily take the focus of attention away from the surrounding environment.

My creative challenge, as I mentioned before, is to try and capture the essence of the location, to develop a drawing that com-bines not just the aesthetic qualities but also embrace what I term as the “visual silence”, the unique features that don’t just jump out at you, but the small nuances that you have to look carefully for that make the location so individual and full of char-acter. I feel that any figures I put into the image to occupy the space will become a focal point, and possibly indicate a sense of narrative. A person immediately gives a reference to scale and breaks the feeling of isolation that I want to felt by the viewer.

The drawings and paintings I create are a reflection of me and my creative personality, and my intention is to allow you the opportunity to experience these subjective qualities, and hopefully get absorbed by the content, and more importantly the physical and tactile qualities of the creative process.

Nigel: Natural or Urban, which kind of landscape inspires you the most?

Ian Murphy: I just love both kind of environments and I'm quite happy to develop work from both at the same time.In terms of the natural landscape, I deliberately seek out dramatic and inhospitable places, trying to capture the complete atmosphere and mood that really dominates you when you are in the landscape. Mountains, chasms, and waterfalls can completely over-whelm your vision, and I love trying to create that visual ambiguity where it is difficult to get the true scale of things. I also have a tendency to record quite quickly, using spontaneous marks and surfaces, and in this sense, the structure of the drawing can get lost in the atmospheric weather conditions.

I think the images I develop from the urban settings are far more gritty and substantial, with a tendency to reflect the historic and characterful locations that I seek out. I love challenging myself with the surface textures and really enjoy disguising the illusion of the structure underneath layers of mixed media. When I am working on a series of ideas I tend to experiment quite a bit with different approaches, and start to push the boundaries of colour and tonal relationships, a bit more.

Nigel: How do you know the best materials to work with in the studio, and how did you discover all the different techniques you use?

Ian Murphy: I have always treated my studio based work as a form of creative experimentation; this clearly began during my degree course and has been an integral part of my working practice ever since. This mindset has allowed me the freedom to ap-ply layers of mixed media at any point in the technical process, with the understanding that I would "battle" with the illusion of space, or push for an element of abstraction depending on how I would feel with the idea.

I never knew how certain materials would react together, particu-larly when combining water based with oil-based products. But it was this uncertain and almost accidental approach that opened up so many new processes and techniques. I was prepared to lose an image and destroy something that I already liked for the opportu-nity to discover a new method or technique.

I always try to work on at least ten pieces of work at the same time in my studio, this allows me the luxury of "pushing" a piece to the point that I can't work on the surface anymore and I need to let it dry. I can then switch my attention to something else and extend other ideas into alternate directions. I always feel safe in the knowl-edge that if a piece of work starts to deteriorate too much then I can always return to my sketchbook image and put the drawing back over the top.

Many thanks for all your emails and posts requesting further information about Ian Murphy. To help with your personal studies and artists analysis, we have summarised the most requested queries and asked Ian to give us an insight into his thoughts and opinions.

Nigel: Can you tell us a little bit about the artists that inspire you?

Ian Murphy: There are so many artists and designers that I have seen over the years that have engaged my curiosity, it is difficult to analyse them all. To summarise a few I think I would have to start with JMW Turner, who has been such an important figure ever since I was a stu-dent. I think I was about 17 when I first saw the paintings in real life, and it is always the work I try to visit each time I go to Lon-don. It's the beautiful atmospheric qualities of his later paintings that I love to scrutinise; the loose, descriptive layers of oil paint just tentatively describe the feeling of light, mist and air.

Another very important gallery experience for me as a student came also at the Tate when I stumbled across the Rothko room. I think this was my first taste of pure abstraction, which initially, confused me, but I soon again became absorbed by the amazing atmospheric qualities of the minimal colour fields so dramatically exhibited in the half-lit room. It's interesting to know how Rothko was also inspired by Turner's work and how much of an influence he was on Rothko’s short career.

For a reference to my interest in architectural features, again from an early age I can remember seeing the work of Piranesi and, in particular, Daguerre's painting of Holyrood cathedral. Both created very dramatic and powerfully lit images and this certainly played a major part in my interest of the sublime.

Nigel: We are so happy that you are working with us at the 1Arttutor.com team. Can you explain why you give so much of your time sharing your skills and artistic knowledge with others?

Ian Murphy: I have always believed in the culture of sharing and feel that my artistic knowledge should not be just for my sole use. I know that I have a skill to inspire and challenge others, and with a combined effort and enthusiasm I am sure many can de-velop their aesthetic understanding and most certainly their skill level when they study my practices and work with me.

I remember my first experience of working within an educational framework during my time at the Drumcroon Art centre. It was here we discussed a strategy of creating links back through the history of art to our most inspirational artists and art movements. The phrase that encapsulated this was “Stepping Stones”; a title that summarised the key moments of study and research in each of our creative lives. I have used this principle ever since to allow students a “way in” to my working ideas and the important artists I have looked at during my career; each “step” providing a new opportunity to discover a fresh approach to the same subject mat-ter or to a technical skill.

I am now very happy to work alongside the 1Arttutor.com team and help develop a system that will make all my creative steps that bit easier to follow. It’s an exciting prospect to be involved in the formation of this new learning tool that is accessible to anyone through the online system at any time of the day. I try to cover so much with staff and students during a live workshop but in many ways that is just a taster day to everything I do. The films we make are so much more in-depth and up close, it just makes all the important creative steps that much easier to follow, and I suppose the critical thing is that everybody gets a great view, and can watch the process as many times as they like until they understand it.