Sit Down With Our #090 Featured Artist

Roxxann Murphy 

Instagram / @roxxannmurphy
Featured Artist / #109 ScrawlrBox 

I was born in Oklahoma City and grew up all over OK and TX. I attended Universityof Oklahoma and studied art there but I didn’t stay long. I had many jobs afterleaving college. I was a travel agent, car wash attendant, hostess, Speech-to-Texttranscriptionist for the deaf, massage therapist, and meter maid.

After leaving art school, I rarely practiced art but had so much fun any time I did. I’dalways rather be creating but saw it as a failed endeavor from my past. An indulgentwaste of my time.

Then the pandemic hit and my family was suddenly cut off from our friends and family.I thought it would be a good time to try Instagram so that my daughter could have anovel and fun way to regularly interact with her friends and family.

Inktober gave us a new opportunity to bring art into our lives on a daily basis and shareit. This kicked off a creative frenzy for me. I began posting a few times per week andkept going after Inktober was over.

This reawakened my desire to create. Being able to share my work, especially in thisintense period, seemed to be the catalyst to shaking loose previously held limitingbeliefs about my abilities. Art became fun.

Four years on, I’ve been in countless shows, have merchandise in local museums, shops,magazines and an album cover! I have found supportive and inspiring art communitiesonline and locally. My world has opened up and my art life continues to unfold in newand amazing ways.

Wow, your style is so bright and colourful!Where do you start your process??

Each morning I make my daughter breakfast,make a cup of strong coffee, turn on some loudmusic and head to my studio. These are simplesteps that don’t seem magical on their own butwith each step my brain lets go a little more. Itmight take another 20 minutes or it could taketwo but eventually my brain catches sight ofsome mark I make in conjunction with somesound I hear and then I’m off. It’s all intuitionat that point until I get a bit bored. Then I’lltake a step back and look with a discerning eyefor the first time. Find something I’d like tochange, then dive back in. I continue with thisuntil there’s nothing left to change, or I have adeadline.

How would you describe your artwork?

I make abstract fluid lines with high contrastusually on a black background. Lots of detailsand lots of surprises. The past year or so I’vebeen incorporating my abstract line work intomore figurative subjects. What I end up with arevibrant organic structures that flow off the pageor float in place.

How do you decide on what colours to choose?

I never know where to start with colors so Iforce myself to pick one of my paint pens upand make a mark, ready or not. The decisionscome after that first mark. One color leadsto another but all these subsequent decisionsare basically me asking myself what I’d like to seenext. I might need a color to balance anotheror one to start a new aspect of the painting, butit’s all determined at that moment. I often endup using most or all of the colors of the rainbowsomewhere on the painting.

Do your creations have a meaning behindthem?

Early on in my art life I would think of bigconcepts and make big plans and try to tellmeaningful stories with my art. I found that Ialways fell way short of what I wanted to say. It wasn’t until I embraced making more abstract paintings that I felt I was truly expressing anykind of meaning effectively. It isn’t any kind ofliterally translated easily accessible meaning butit’s there. When I paint it is a very meditativeprocedure for me and in working on where toput what, and chronically trying to stay in “letgo mode” I learn so much about myself and howlife works. I feel that goes into each paintingand it’s something recognizable as a strangebut familiar commonality we can share in. Somepaintings feel more like triumph, some likesadness or grief, some like exuberance, but theyall are images of emotion.

Do you have a favourite of your own artwork?

I have a lot of favorites. Some just turn outso much better than others. Some give me somuch more than I gave, like time wise. Whenthey surprise me like that I am always kindof amazed. I did one that ended up looking(vaguely) like a dragon’s eye to me. That onecame out of nowhere and I think it’s so striking.I love it. It’s my December 8th IG post if you’dlike to look it up.

Have you ever heard of Copic Acrea before?

I saw something about them that said you coulduse them in conjunction with the Copic alcoholmarkers and I’ve been excited to try them eversince. I love their alcohol markers and sometimesuse them in my paintings when I get a wild hairand do something on a white background oncein a while.

What is your usual go-to acrylic marker?

I love both Posca and Molotov markers. My studio is populated with zillions of these

Do you find there are any other mediums thatpair well with these markers?

Yes, in my paintings, an indispensable companionto these markers are the Moonlight Gelly Rollpens by Sakura. They truly pop on the blackbackgrounds and are integral to lining my acrylicpen markings.

Is there an artist or artistic movement that hasinspired you along the way?

I have always loved concert posters and albumartwork. Early Peter Max, Alex Grey, WesWilson, Neon Park, Robert Williams, R. Crumb.In the past few years I’ve really become a fan ofTetsunori Tawaraya. So electric!

What does your typical weekend off look like?

Maybe walk to breakfast with my fam, do somegardening, see a movie, or go to a museum.Maybe some art, I never know! The world is my oyster.