SANDRA MURPHY ORIGINAL OILS

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ROBERT BATEMAN
​NEW RELEASE

AS AN OPTION THESE CANVASES CAN BE MOUNTED ON RIGID BOARD WHICH HELPS
RELIEVE STRESS AND TENSION ON THE ARTWORK.  

“Winter Lodge – Wolf Pack”
16” x 32” – 99 S/N and 19 AP - $495 US Retail
22” x 44” – 99 S/N and 19 AP - $1095 US Retail
 
"Both wolves and beavers are charismatic mammals representing Canadian wilderness.  Beavers are seldom seen but their dams, ponds and lodges indicate their presence.  Wolves are even more rare and their presence is often indicated by a chorus of howling.  Sometimes when people howl for wolves they get a response from the wolves themselves. 
This scene is of a beaver lodge in an old beaver meadow.  These meadows are formed as plants move into the shallow pond and eventually create a wet meadow.  This particular example is a meadow about a fifteen minute hike from our cottage in Haliburton County, Ontario.  I of course did not see wolves there but they could have been there, sniffing the tantalizing aroma of potential prey that was safe inside its frozen but cozy home."

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“Panda Portrait”
24” x 24” – 99 S/N and 19 AP - $645 US Retail
 
"In spite of their striking appearance, giant pandas are seldom seen in the wild.  They do not like company, even from other pandas (except at mating time).  I have been to panda country in China and did not expect to see one in the wild.  We did see a few captive pandas at the breeding centre at Woolong. 
I put some faint shadows on the flank of this panda which could be shadows from cage bars but I would prefer to think of them as shadows from tall bamboo plants.  Bamboo is their habitat and virtually their only food."

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“Barn Owl at Biddulph Hall”
20” x 26 1/2” – 99 S/N and 19 AP - $525 US Retail
28" x 37 1/2" - 99 S/N and 19 AP - $995 US Retail
 
"It turns out that there was a pre-Raphaelite artist named Robert Bateman in the late 19th/early 20th century who lived at Biddulph Hall at Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK .  I first saw his work as a single painting in the Tate Gallery, London 1976.  It was a moody, twilight scene in front of a pine forest.  Lying in the meadow was a dead knight
with his faithful dog lying by his side.  It was mysterious and evocative. 
A few years later we discovered a book about this artist, The Lost PreRaphaelite: The Secret Life and Loves of Robert Bateman by Nigel Daly.  He and his partner live on the Biddulph property.  In it he refers to his efforts to get information on his Robert Bateman but he kept coming up with references to an “irrelevant Canadian artist of the same name”.  I wrote Nigel a fan letter and identified myself as the “irrelevant Canadian artist”.  He invited Birgit and me to come and visit … which we did.  There is an old ruins next to their house.  All that is left is a stone wall (part of the original Biddulph Old Hall 16th century mansion).  Some special damage was caused by cannon fire by Oliver Cromwell’s army during the English civil war.  I added the barn owl which could have flown by it back then, or now."

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