From Inspiration to Installation

“My paintings are an outpouring of my curiosity and my interpretation of the world.”
Artist Shawna Moore

Is it just a big blue square? Maybe a striped painting that matches the highlights in an expensive rug? Or, just maybe the paintings tell the story of an artist’s life!

Please allow me to explain. There is no correct answer to these questions and in some ways the answer is all of the above.

For me as an artist, if all I did was make various sizes of blue squares, I wouldn’t last long, it would get boring really fast.

Secondly, how can I make a painting to match if I have never seen your space, rug or couch? This would be like a restaurant that only made one entre’.

I paint (sometimes) big blue squares that (occasionally) match interiors and mostly are expressions of my personality, my long time interest in art making and materials, my travels and oftentimes (even after the fact) real life experiences I have had. Comprende?

I recently have had three projects which illustrate how I work and what makes me most excited about being a painter.

Rogue Wave, 60×60

Rogue Wave (The Big Blue Square)

A common artist joke is to reply when asked, “How long did it take you to make this?” the answer being “A Lifetime!” rather than saying three weeks or three months or for a sketch sometimes three minutes or three hours.

In many ways it is true that in every painting I make there is a lifetime of curiosity and interpretation and years of practicing the craft of drawing and painting.

This painting began with a sketchbook I created in while in Hawaii last August. I had visited my daughter who attends the University of Hawaii and studies marine biology. We surfed, planted a garden, I met a new artist friend (who now shows at Gallery MAR Carmel) and began a few painted drawings using drips as vertical delineations, something I had recently explored in my larger encaustic paintings.

Months later when I created Rogue Wave in late fall, the similarity to the sketch could not be ignored. I had in fact captured my experience in Hawaii, translated a loose interpretation and created a painting evoking water.

Gallery MAR found the perfect placement for the finished work. Owner Maren Bargreen Mullin shares their story of finding the ideal collectors;

“When our collector first saw this painting, she was captured by the color but knew it would not be a fit for her Park City home. Instead, she envisioned it for her Texas home. She and her husband were both traveling throughout the months of February and March – and rarely in the same home! She came in three times be herself, and eventually sent him on his own ski trip to visit the painting. With his final approval she purchased the painting and we were able to have it safely shipped to her Texas home in just two weeks. We requested the installation photo, and she sent it along… with the caveat that they had installed it themselves, without a professional as they typically do. We think they did a terrific job.”