Regina Swarn Audio Series Presents

A craftsman builds a life: love found, risks taken, and art that keeps evolving

Regina Swarn Season 8 Episode 5

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A life can be built like a good house—measure twice, make it sturdy, then add the details that make people smile. We pick up with artist and craftsman Murphy Elliott as he lands in Vancouver, falls in love with Wendy, and turns a city of snow-capped mountains and salty air into a workshop for murals, inventions, and family. From hauling rice bags in ship hulls and learning the streets with paper maps to delivering supplies, painting apartments, and training a Sheltie to perform over a hundred tricks, Murphy shows how craft becomes character when you show up every day.

We walk the coastline of memories that feel almost cinematic: annual bathtub races off Kits Beach, a spur-of-the-moment border run to return to his future wife, and fearless jobs on swaying ladders that tested his nerve. The heart of the conversation lives where making meets meaning—hand-carved board games with moving asteroids, a foldable cardboard spaceship kids could climb into, and a flying-saucer bunk bed concept with a built-in playhouse and workspace. Not every idea reached a factory, but each one shaped a mindset: build for joy, share the result, and let the work teach you. That ethos scales up to murals at Expo ’86, where Murphy painted the GM pavilion and the Ramses exhibit—hieroglyphics included—proving that steady practice opens big doors.

Music threads through the family story. Christopher composes and records multi-instrument tracks that stop local crowds; Samantha adds a graceful voice, guitar, and sharp creative instincts that now power her role at a graphic arts company. We make the case for real listening—vinyl’s warmth over compressed files—and trade music-history gems that younger listeners may have missed. By the end, we hint at what’s next: leaving Canada after nearly three decades, returning to Florida, and sharing new space art across online communities. If you love stories of craftsmanship, creative parenting, Expo ’86 nostalgia, murals, DIY design, and the simple courage to climb one more rung, this chapter delivers.

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Write To Murphy Elliott 

https://www.murphyelliott@hotmail.com

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