Charles Murphy

Today my friend Lynn and I attended a luncheon for Charles Murphy, a wonderful painter who lives here in Northern Michigan. The luncheon was a celebration of his 30 years as a painter, with a movie showing a history of his work and a personal tour with Charlie of his works on display at the Twisted Fish Gallery in Elk Rapids. It was just incredible. I have always loved Charlie's works, they are in restaurants and galleries downtown and also grace covers calendars and other printed media for various shows and events here in Northern Michigan. But what was so wonderful to me, was to hear Charlie explain his inspiration for each piece on display, some of them were absolutely charming and made more so by his stories. He described on painting he titled "Flightpath," as a series of directions for butterflys, which became the most charming piece. The riot of color in so many of his pieces is inspiring in itself for any other artist, and artists here like to own a piece of Charlie when they can afford it or more than likely, when they can trade. Just a perfectly lovely day, tempted to created some Charlie Murphy inspired beads and jewelry!