Maureen Moore - Rancho Santa Fe 2020 Past Guild President - 2021 Parliamentarian Artist member
You may have read in our last month’s newsletter that Maureen Moore has been selected to participate in the Encinitas Art Night event. Encinitas has provided great opportunities for local artists to showcase their art in seven locations throughout June and July. Maureen’s collection, expressively named “The Ephemeral World,” captures Maureen’s artistic raison d’etre. When we met last week she spoke of the meaning of the collection’s name and her work.
Maureen’s oil paintings are all about the delight she finds in that subtle moment that we as artists have glimpsed and have attempted to represent in our art. It is that one fleeting moment where the light hits an object or scene so beautifully that your mind races to recreate it. It is the moment where, for example, Mother Nature creates intriguing shadows, transforms shapes and takes the surrounding colors to another level. Maureen describes these moments in time as the Ephemeral world, with its changing seasons, rolling waves, shifting sands and even our own lives as we age; where families and friends may root and grow or flutter gracefully by. These are the transitory moments where all is in harmony. Maureen’s greatest success is when a beholder of one of her paintings is reminded of one of these special moments in their own personal life. That is when she knows she has captured the “Ephemeral World.”
Maureen has felt the pull of artistic expression from a young age, even as a toddler cooped up in a loving crib. She recounts the joy of the crib’s position in the light, creating intriguing shadows of right angles as her family celebrated nearby with their laughter. This early memory of the changing light coupled with laughter, safety and love from her family, still fills her heart with that same joy when she sees the light creating interest in the moment.
Maureen’s intense professional life as a stockbroker in Colorado led her to escape into the beautiful nature of the Colorado Mountains to paint in plein air. First dabbling in acrylics and pastels she soon fell in love with oils and has worked with them exclusively since the late 1980’s. Loving the viscosity of the medium and even the smell of oil paints, she felt just being around them was like therapy and an escape to the interior world of nature. In Colorado Maureen painted such beautiful landscapes as the Maroon Bells and the other natural wonders in the mountains surrounding her home in Aspen. Maureen and her husband, Jim Billington, enjoyed a second home in Orange County and then in Rancho Santa Fe beginning in 1993. Maureen enjoyed traveling between their homes and painting the unique aspects of both locals. Jim’s pursuit of golf led to spending more time in California and the game became a passion for them both.
Her paintings brought her much success and have been displayed in many galleries in Aspen, Carmel, Jackson Hole and Santa Fe. Check out Maureen’s new website to view her works and learn more of her awards and accomplishments
https://www.maureenmoorefineart.com/
Maureen’s art heroes include Clyde Aspevig, Scott Christensen and Matt Smith, all lovers of the mountain and coastal light. She also loves the work of the late master Richard Schmid.
https://www.clydeaspevig.com/biography.html
https://www.christensenstudiocom
https://www.mattsmithstudio.com/about
San Diego is now Maureen’s full time home enjoying great golf courses and the special quality of light in San Diego. Joining the Guild in 2018 Maureen quickly became involved in all aspects. With the re-start of the Guild’s art demos after the 2020 lockdown she finds something fresh and new to learn from each demo. As we discuss our joy in attending the Guild’s June demo with Alex Schaffer, she commented that if a painter as accomplished as Scott Christensen can learn something new in revisiting the concept of value, as he’d recently posted so can she – how true this is for any artist. Maureen also mentioned the diversity in the Guild’s membership. The artist members’ age range from old to young, some new to the arts and those quite accomplished. Their styles range from abstract to representational. Even art patrons involved in the Guild bring a level of complexity to the group with their appreciation and knowledge. Always looking for fellow artists to share a story, Maureen encourages neighbors and friends to join the Guild and explore their own artist within.
Today Maureen continues to paint, enjoying all that San Diego has to offer. Intrigued by how the light changes each moment in time, Maureen found herself at the beach often during COVID19. She studied the waves with their rhythm and changing shapes, the cliffs and rocks reflecting the light and color and those ephemeral clouds which helped sooth her soul during the troubling times.
Please join Maureen and other local artists and Sign up for our complimentary Newsletter by clicking here:
https://www.ranchosantafeartguild.org/email-newsletter
*Name this Artist
This month’s Newsletter “Name the Artist” painting is by Richard Schmid. The piece shown on the newsletter is called "HOBB GREEN BREAKFAST”, oil, 10x18, 1994, Yorkshire, England (complete painting in your ALLA PRIMA II book, page 187) . Click here to learn more about this great American painter.
