'I do everything how it feels, not how it should be'
Nina Murdoch works almost entirely from memory, applying dozens of layers of tempera paint to gesso board, and then working backwards through them to gradually reveal previous layers of colour. Her seemingly random mark-making is drawn together at the last moment, as all is gathered in and every point or passage of colour made not only to fit the puzzle but also to enhance it. By doing so, Murdoch brings a luminosity to her paintings that glow with the characteristic radiance of her elusive subject, light.
She generally works on a flat surface, applying or removing paint, sanding back gently through the accumulated layers of pigment to reveal an earlier colour prescence. This archeological delving is very much a part of the painting process, and can take years to complete. Sometimes the newly exposed colour is unexpected, sometimes it is deliberately sought. Murdoch describes the process as 'like unlocking a code. It's a question of getting bits to work at different stages, and one bit will release another. It's just an enormous puzzle, which remains very fluid right to the last minute.'