Background
Murdoch was born in Oak Lawn, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Murdoch was born in Oak Lawn, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
He attended the American Academy of Art on scholarship where he was mentored by artists Lou Ann Burkhardt and Fred Berger. Following this he studied at The Atelier, Minneapolis, and at the School of Representational Art in Chicago where he studied under Mike Chelich and Bruno Surdo, and was mentored by portraitist Richard Halstead.
From an early age he developed drawing skills in anatomy, perspective, and figure drawing. Murdoch"s work at the Academy was influenced by William Mosby and realist painter Richard Schmid. After his atelier training he lived at Mount Rainier in Washington State, followed by Mendocino County, California, and Sedona, Arizona, before moving to Barcelona, Spain.
He also traveled and studied throughout France, Italy, Hungary and the Czechoslovakian Republic.
He then settled close to Princeton, New Jersey where he worked at a number of art studios, and exhibited in oneand two-man shows, including those with artists James Freeman and John Ennis. After living in New Jersey for 10 years he moved to Buckinghamshire County, Pennsylvania, where he founded the Gold Light Studios and Atelier.
As of 2012, he lives in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. Murdoch has taught at Princeton Arts Council, Montgomery MiddleSchool, Princeton University, and at his own Gold Light Studio in Buckinghamshire County where he promotes the "apprentice-style" training of classical ateliers.
He was a founding member of the Classical Arts and Atelier Fund, which hosted its first Bohemian Rhapsody Scholarship fundraiser in 2011.