ABOUT THE ARTIST
Donal Murray is an Irish artist who has had eight major solo exhibitions in his native Dublin and has also exhibited internationally. Alongside his easel painting he has produced large-scale murals paintings in the United States and Ireland. Donal also undertakes private and public commissions.
In 2015 Murray exhibited a large collection of Maritime paintings entitled ‘Chasing lighthouses’ at the National Maritime Museum Dun Laoghaire. The exhibit focused specifically on the lighthouses of Ireland along the Irish sea coastline. This time Murray has primarily concentrated on locations along the Atlantic coastline of Ireland as well as the North Atlantic coastline of Scotland.
Inspired by the French Impressionists painters of the 19th century, Monet, Pissarro who popularised painting in situ, Murray has travelled with easel, paints and brushes sketching and photographing lighthouses, fishing ports, cliff walks, the people and their everyday activities. Working in the Plein air painting approach he captures the tempestuous nature of an Atlantic storm such as in ‘Doolin strand after the storm’ painted in the winter of 2017. Although the painting is in the boundary of realistic landscape, when each section is viewed close up, the composition appears to dissolve into brightly coloured strokes of paint, precise detailing or form has been sacrificed for spontaneity and immediacy as in Impressionism. Murray explains that the Atlantic seascapes series have given him an immense opportunity to paint the special qualities of locations, like Tory Island, Rathlin Island or the mystical settings along the Isle of Skye Scotland.
Web: www.donalmurrayart.com
Email: dmurrayart@hotmail.com
Tel: +353 87 411 3618