Five dresses
CANADIAN PAINTER CAITLYN MURPHY FINDS BEAUTY AT HER LOCAL DRYCLEANER.
Talk us through your journey into art-making. As a kid, I loved drawing and crafts. My parents turned a tiny closet under the stairs into a studio for me, and I would sit there for hours pretending to host Art Attack episodes. Later, my instinct was to do something academic at university. I ended up graduating with a philosophy degree, but I knew I wanted to pursue art. I moved to Toronto, got two part-time jobs and started working in the arts community. I applied to the illustration program at OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design), got in, and it was the best thing for me. I gravitated towards painting, with a few illustration gigs on the side to help pay the bills. It’s been a slow and steady career path, and I’m excited to keep growing and evolving.
What drew you to drycleaners as an artistic subject? The main point of inspiration for the bulk of my work has been what I see on walks through the city – but at a certain point, I wanted to become more engaged in selecting the content of my paintings. Around the same time, I went to Finland and became enamoured with all things patterned. Those thoughts and interests converged one day when I was putting away laundry in my closet. In front of me I saw beautiful patterned dresses hanging side by side, next to old plastic garment bags with faded dry-cleaning receipts still attached. Five Dresses is inspired by the dropping off and picking up of the same dresses at different drycleaners throughout the city.
Are these real spaces or drawn from your imagination? They’re real and all located within a 15-minute walk from my studio. The collection catalogues the passing details encountered during my visits: handwritten slips, garment bags, office supplies, clothes hangers, assembly lines.
There’s a calmness to the images, despite the clutter. How did you choose which details to zone in on? I chose three businesses that appealed to me visually, then catalogued everything I saw that jumped out at me. Each drycleaner was filled with so many visual delights, it took a long time to go through my reference photos. Patterns, plastic, handwriting, spools of thread – all these elements are highlighted in the paintings. There’s definitely clutter, but I always add calm sections to balance everything else.
What else inspires you? Movies, books, basketball, gardening, my husband and my friends. The good stuff in life! I’m a daydreamer and find great joy in looking all around me. I like to think of myself as an amateur detective.
What are the pros and cons of gouache as a medium? I love that it dries flat and fast, the colours are vibrant and it can be very opaque. The main con, though, would be that it dries fast! When I’m painting a large section of one colour, it challenges me to mix the exact same shade over and over so the section is uniform.
Any tips for newbie painters to make their lives a little easier?
If you can, get a good brush or two. The really cheap ones don’t last, but if you take care of your good brushes they can last a very long time. Also, learn colour theory and just do whatever you want until you figure out what works for you.
Where can we see more of your work? Online at caitlynmurphy.ca or on Instagram at @caitlynmmurphy.