Irish - Dublin, Ireland

Elaine Murphy is an internationally collected artist and designer. She is a native of Dublin, Ireland, and is currently based in Naples, Florida. Growing up in a show business family, with her father, Mike Murphy, being one of Ireland’s most famous and respected television and radio hosts, Elaine was surrounded by creativity from a young age. At the age of four in Dublin, Elaine’s grandfather asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she replied, “an artist.” Art is, and always has been, her passion.

Elaine studied both fashion illustration and fine art at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and The Grafton Academy, Dublin. After performing as a high fashion model in Dublin and London, Elaine returned to her true passion, her art. She worked in London for the famous fashion designer Zandra Rhodes while illustrating for various fashion magazines, including “Image,” “Woman’s Way,” “U,” and “It.”

She had her first exhibition in Dublin, Ireland, in 1988, at age 21. The theme was a 1960s-inspired series of hand-painted art plates. Elaine has expanded her creative pursuits from fashion to jewelry design to abstract and figurative art. She also founded her own factory devoted to her ceramic and home accessory designs in Guadalajara, Mexico. Her design work has been celebrated and sold worldwide, and she has designed for a number of leading brands, including Waterford Crystal.

Elaine moved to Palm Desert, California, in 2000, where she had the opportunity to work with the renowned abstract artist Gerome Gastaldi. She then focused on her fine art large-format figurative and abstract paintings. A collector once described her painting style as “loose and fluid, with emotional overtones conveyed by elegant lines. The combination of abstraction and bold figurative lines conspire to make her expressions on canvas truly unique.” Her paintings now hang in many private U.S., international, and celebrity collections.

Elaine returned to her first love, fashion, in 2011, and launched her “Art To Wear” collection. This features hand-painted clothes and one-of-a-kind necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Elaine has always loved animals and is a committed animal rights activist and an advocate for veganism. Through her art, Elaine has raised money for several charities, including animal welfare charities.

Elaine’s work can be found internationally, with recent displays in Chelsea in New York City and Cannes in France.