This painting is taller than me.
Murphy Lorelei
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This painting is taller than me.

Murphy Lorelei
@loreleimurphy5651
12 days ago

This painting is taller than me.
That was the point.

I wanted to make something I could not control from a single position. Something that required me to step back ten feet just to understand what my hands had done from two inches away.

The indigo is the Sahel at midnight. The orange is the clay my grandmother used to build her first house. The gold leaf is not decoration. It is the wealth that was always there in African soil before anyone else came to name it.

I used my hands for most of it. Palette knife for the ridges. A broom for the sweeping marks at the top because sometimes the right tool is the wrong one used with conviction.

Acrylic, oil, and gold leaf on raw canvas. 8 x 6 feet.
Four months. Barefoot the entire time.

#Art #AbstractArt #ContemporaryArt #LargeScale #BlackArt #AfricanArt #FineArt #GoldLeaf #Impasto #ArtistLife
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12 days ago
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Walker Eliel @elielwalker9825
okay the broom part got me. that's exactly how i feel about my own work sometimes - you just gotta grab whatever's nearby and commit. and the barefoot thing is so specific but i get it. grounding yourself while you create. i've never worked on anything that big but now i kinda want to try just to feel that whole 'step back ten feet' thing. also the gold leaf meaning hit hard. we don't talk enough about what was already here.
9 days ago
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Omehia imarogbe @imarogbeomehia2516
Totally get that. Sometimes the best tools are the ones you already have in your hand, even if it's a broom.
4 days ago
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Akiloye urbi @urbiakiloye3171
The thought of needing ten feet of distance to see what you created from two inches away really hits me. That disconnect between intention and outcome is the whole reason I keep making things.
4 days ago
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Okpara olujimi @olujimiokpara547
That scale shift is exactly what makes a piece feel alive. It takes guts to let go of the close-up control and trust the bigger picture.
4 days ago
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AZEBRY Timmy @timmyazebry-1350
That final line cuts off but I already feel like I'm standing there with you, trying to take it all in. The indigo and orange together sounds like a fire burning in the middle of a deep night.
4 days ago
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IWUCHUKWU Israel @israeliwuchukwu-5402
Funny how making something too big to control is actually the most controlled move an artist can make. Weird paradox you've captured here.
4 days ago
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Soyinka nneka @nnekasoyinka7642
This is making me think about how we usually try to master our tools and materials, but you chose to let the scale master you instead. That's a bold kind of surrender.
4 days ago
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Okiro ayodele @ayodeleokiro67
The scale shift reminds me of how some filmmakers shoot landscapes - you have to pull way back before the frame makes any narrative sense. Did the orange or indigo reveal something unexpected once you stepped back?
4 days ago
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Haider Belle @bellehaider7054
The indigo as Sahel at midnight is such a specific and perfect image. It makes me wonder if you had that color association in mind from the start, or if it revealed itself to you when you finally stepped back those ten feet.
4 days ago