To the people of Kenya, "The Community Well" by Torgensen Murdock means a whole lot.

"Lifting Up the Hands Which Hang Down" was the theme for the most recent Triennial Worldwide Art Competition, where Murdock was awarded one of 10 gold medals for Best of Show for her painting titled "The Community Well."

The work represents the lifestyle change as clean water gushes from a hand-pumped well. Clean and convenient water means children can attend school instead of walking several miles daily to collect water. It means parents don't have to worry about their children being kidnapped and sold into slavery while traveling dangerous roads to find water. It means children don't have to risk their lives gathering water in crocodile-infested areas. And it means the water they drink is no longer polluted or causing intestinal illness.

"The Community Well" was inspired by the people of Kenya that Murdock visited. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints installed the well, giving the community a basic necessity that offers more time to focus on education and other life skills. The generations following the installation of the wells will have better education, health and job prospects due to having more available time.

Early Artistic Journey

Murdock's love for painting started when she was very young on her family's farm in Soda Springs. She enjoyed painting pictures of horses and other farm animals. When she was 12, she participated in an art program she found in a magazine. The program sent supplies through the mail with instructions. In high school, she successfully convinced her physical education teacher to teach her how to paint. She learned oil painting from Walter Foster books.

Once she reached college, Murdock worried she would be behind other aspiring artists who may have had more opportunities, but she had no trouble keeping up. She continued to take art classes. Soon she realized she had taken enough art classes to declare art as her major and chose English as a minor.

After graduation, she taught school for one year before stopping to stay home with her new baby. She continued to teach workshops. Even as a mother with young children, she made painting a priority, waking up early every morning to perfect her talent and skill. She would paint until it was time to wake her children. After she took her children to school, she would return home to paint.

Murdock says her secret to being able to paint almost all the time was "not touching one dirty dish and not even trying to start cleaning the house because one thing will turn into ten things and the day will end without you having even picked up a paint brush."

She painted all day, and when the children were about to return home, she would quickly tidy the home, making everything smell good and her kids thinking that she was a magnificent mother.

Professional Success

Murdock's dedication to her art has resulted in a fulfilling and rewarding career as a professional artist for 40 years. She has been featured in magazines and museum shows. She realized early on that it would take more than just creating stunning art to be successful. She worked hard and overcame her shyness enough to promote herself. She presented her art to different companies by taking the paintings into the businesses so they could see them. She even painted several landscapes and hung them throughout her house, transforming her home into a temporary gallery and preparing refreshments.

It was these many efforts — having the courage to approach possible clients, presenting her work and being brave enough to take the risk of rejection of something that was so personal to her — that eventually led to her becoming an award-winning artist many times over.

Finding Inspiration

Murdock finds inspiration for her painting in three main ways:

People: She works with a group of other artists to paint people once a week. She paints people from life, not from a photo. Murdock has more than 200 costumes and 60 hats for models to wear as she and her group paint them. They find their models in everyday ways, such as at the grocery store. One fellow artist might see a man who has a fabulous beard and suggest they paint him. Anyone who wants to model for Murdock and her group can do so by submitting their name, phone number and a photo to the Pocatello Art Center.

Still life: Murdock sets and styles the objects carefully and places light on them to help them come alive. She paints still life both indoors and outdoors.

When painting still life, Torgensen will set and style the objects carefully and put light on the objects to help them come alive. She paints still life both indoors and outdoors.

When painting landscapes Torgensen goes where she can be inspired and she paints things she sees in her everyday experiences and adventures.

She lives in the Buckskin area just east of Pocatello, where moose and other wildlife sleep on her lawn. She literally lives among inspiration.

She has been grateful to her husband for making sure she has her big, beautiful studio in her home. She has never had to use her kitchen table to paint. She has always made it a priority to have space and room to create. She is able to set everything up, paint all day, walk away from it and return in the morning to pick up right where she left off. Murdock has made the necessary choices to have her life be one beautiful creation after another.