We were lucky to catch up with Lora Murphy recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lora , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

“Never under estimate the power of a small gesture of kindness!” I am an encaustic painter, living in Ireland and Denmark and I harboured a dream to have an art school focusing on encaustic . I had more passion than money and while I held the dream, I had no idea how the universe would bring it to life. Unbeknownst to me, there was a lovely woman, Cheryl Cobern Browne living in the west of Ireland who also held a dream in her heart but approaching her 70’s she was running out of energy for the small retreat center she was running in gorgeous Mulranny, Co Mayo As a kind gesture, an arts retreat guest, Anne Wright, presented Cheryl with a small gift of encaustics on wood. Anne was on one of the last retreats Cheryl had planned and that small gift changed the course of everything!Her gift was to become the catalyst for unimaginable change in not only my life, but that of others as well.

Cheryl had not come across encaustics before. She had no idea it was an ancient art form using beeswax and pigments. Some of the early Egyptian works still exist today and are quite impressive, but this small piece of wax covered wood intrigued her so much she decided to find a teacher and take a course to learn more about it. Easier said than done! Ireland is a small country and the choices here are often limited. Finding an encaustics teacher took her over a year and it was not until I decided to return to Ireland and teach a course, that Cheryl was able to enroll. Cheryl invited me to teach at her amazing studio and the rest is history . A business model has been developed that is unique and mutually beneficial for the Mulranny community, other Artist/Teachers Cheryl and myself. We have had time to think, to plan, to reach out to students in a new way and all along the promise to blossom our dreams led us deeper into the conviction that what we are doing together is going to be special, amazing and deeply fulfilling for us and those who participate.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have always been an Artist, and it is all I have ever wanted to do even though I had a few years where I did not make art.. I decided in 2007 that I was going to pursue painting as a full time occupation and it is the best decision I have ever made I studied in Dublin and in Florence and when I discovered encaustic, I fell totally in love with it. Most of the good things in my life have happened because of wax painting believe oit or not! I am very fortunate to have developed a special niche in the Art world and that is painting portraits in encaustic I have been teaching workshops all over the world and still bring art groups to Egypt but now, I also bring teachers and groups to Ireland to my art school at Essence of Mulranny ..During Covid, everything was shut down and i created a year long online course with 26 different teachers Painting with Fire was a resounding success and we are into the 3rd year now. This year, we are hosting the International Encaustic Artists Retreat here in Ireland and i am so proud and thrilled to be part of this adventure

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Covid lockdowns meant the end of the art retreat business, *(refunds, debt,) but the start of the online workshops ..It was a real baptism of fire as I went from someone who could not even copy/paste on the computer to running a platform with 26 teachers and 2000 students! It was a steep learning curve but I got there!

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

for me, as for so many, the Artists way really impacted me and got me out of a dark place of grief and back into painting! I am forever grateful to the grief counsellor who recommended it to me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.essenceofmulranny.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/essenceofmulrannystudios?igshid=MjEwN2IyYWYwYw==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/essenceofmulrannystudios