Daphne McClure was born in Helston, Cornwall in 1931. She trained at Redruth Art School, Hornsey School of Art and The Central School of Art and Design in London. During her time in London she worked as a costume designer for the Royal Opera House for five years before retuning to Cornwall in 1976.

In 1976, along with her husband George and their two children Tom and Emma, McClure settled in Porthleven – a small picturesque village on Cornwall’s south coast, which, after taking an aerial view of the harbour, remained a constant source of inspiration for her for almost ten years.

In 1988 McClure moved to a small holding on Tregonning Hill, near Helston, where her new surroundings further influenced her colour palette: her use of sea blues, changing to the more muted tones of sienna, ochre and brown as she began to paint in series – Hayle Estuary, Godrevy Lighthouse, St.Ives and Levant Mine. The Levant Mine series was exhibited with Jonathan Clarke, London in 1994. In 1995 Tate St. Ives commissioned McClure to paint a work for its inaugural exhibition and in 2004 she was the invited Artist in Residence at the prestigious Josef Albers Foundation, Connecticut, USA.

McClure now lives and works in Penzance. She is widely known for her beautifully naïve depictions of life in Cornwall, drawing on its artistic heritage and its working fishing ports.