Anita McKenna-Murphy
Diminutive Landscapes in Pastel
New Vernon New Jersey

"As a student at Saint Peter's College, I experienced the beauty of small, devotional paintings.  These religious scenes crafted to assist their patrons with contemplation and prayer possessed a unique brilliance and personality that I have never forgotten.  Their basic existence continues to influence my work today.  Although I ususally paint landscapes, and plein air at that, it is this diminutive, personal, contemplative nature that drives my work.  Every time I paint, I have the viewer in mind, knowing that when each work is enjoyed a bridge is being forged between myself, the patron and the scene itself."
                                                                                            -Anita McKenna-Murphy