A woman who fell in love with realism art has opened her own gallery to give recognition to artists.

Esther Murphy, 56, launched The Sinclair Gallery in High Street, Rickmansworth last month to display her passion.

Ms Murphy was set on the decision of opening a gallery due to the lack of realism representation.

She said: “I was going to galleries every weekend and didn’t see any type of realism.

“There were closed shops in Rickmansworth, and I saw an empty unit and decided to do it then and there.

“I gathered realist art one by one, every painting that is in my gallery. I love the beauty of realism and I have pieces of classically trained artists and Italian fine art, pieces from universities and self-taught artists.

“I saw all these artists not being recognised and I decided to do something about it.

“In the art industry it’s not accepted as viable, investment-wise. I’m hoping to do something towards changing that.”

She has taken on a range of artistic talent and hopes to offer classes to the community to encourage them into the style.

She added: “It’s the beauty of realism, I look at it and it moves me.

“I won’t take it just because it sells. It’s not what I’m about and I have artists in here from all ages.

“They tell me the stories about their paintings, and it adds to it. I did what I wanted, and I took a chance and it doesn’t matter about the investment side.”

Ms Murphy’s love for art began when she was in her 30s when she received an oil painting set.

She said: “When I started it was like something woke up inside me and I began drawing and painting.

“I’ve always liked art but hadn’t done any and once I started doing a workshop for realistic art I fell in love.

“I’ve done workshops around Florence and France and I really fell in love even more.”

Her support from the community has inspired her to potentially set up sessions for students to spark a passion for the subject.

“I’m working on getting sessions for GCSE and A-level to make it fun again. My daughter has done art at school and it becomes a chore doing it.

“She has lost her interest because it has become hard work.

“With the support of my family and friends I was able to pursue my interest in art and it’s been fantastic, and I’ve only been open a couple weeks.

“It is moving faster than I thought it would and now my voice is getting louder.”

The ethos at The Sinclair Gallery is to see a realistic style of art portrayed in various ways including old master copies, hyper-realism, narrative, figurative, still-life and representational works, in a way that highlights the technical ability that is required to create these works of art.

The uniqueness of this gallery originates from Ms Murphy’s own experience and training in Classical Realism, gained by taking workshops at ateliers such as the Edinburgh Atelier of Fine Art, the Academy Of Realist Art, the Florence Academy and others.

As well as the training received at the atelier workshops, Esther, born in Scotland, has taken intensive workshops with several ‘living masters’ such as Fernando Freitas, David Gray and Rob Zeller.

Ms Murphy says she has seen the impact of galleries concentrating on investment opportunities rather than on exhibiting beautifully technical and talented artworks.

This brought her to the decision to open a gallery with paintings for the viewer and buyer who also admire these traditional values.

126 High Street, Rickmansworth, WD3 1AB, thesinclairgallery.com