Featured Artist Nancy Christy-Moore

Brilliant colors and joyful movement explode from Southwest artist Nancy Christy-Moore’s mixed media paintings. Find more of her artwork by visiting her website.

 

 

“Inner Painting” (intuitive painting) forms the basis of my style. My goal in all my paintings is the expression of my deepest feelings, not only about the subject matter, but my love of brilliant color and movement that mirrors my joy of living!

 

 

My creative process is the opposite of what I was taught. Instead of planning compositions, I first create chaos by pouring the pigments across the paper or canvas. These have been pre-textured with acrylic mediums or rice papers which have been collaged onto the surface.

 

 

I often use credit cards and scrapers to move the paint in this early stage. After drying, I “find” hidden imagery such as horses or blooms and sometimes landscapes and abstracts.

 

 

In my horse series, I use a stick and India ink and begin to create a “story” in the painting by drawing images I “see,” usually one to three horses in various poses. While negative painting around them, I discover additional shapes and bring those out using contrasting colors and values.

 

 

This layering process continues as the composition comes to life with each succeeding layer. Often, there are too many images found and I then have to paint out those that don’t contribute to the overall story I see developing.

 

 

The Blooms series also utilizes extensive negative painting, but expresses my softer side. While capturing the inner glow and fragility of blooms, I portray the theme of growth and unity in life. In this series, I often use the lacy rice papers to enhance the textures. I like to allow the rice papers to go beyond the edges, so that when framing I can float them rather than matting out the edges. This presentation is more contemporary and preferred by many over traditional framing.

 

 

Landscapes occur occasionally in response to my love of nature’s beauty here in the Southwest. The rocky surfaces and beautiful skies capture my imagination, and I often use rice paper collage techniques in expressing these feelings. Again, these occur without pre-sketching and are developed from my imagination.

 

 

I have begun experimenting with alcohol inks on tiles and have produced a number of small original tile paintings to market at venues where I am present with my work, such as the annual Hidden in the Hills Art Studio Tour in Scottsdale and Cave Creek and my annual Spring Studio Open House.

 

 

The workshops and classes I teach are ways I can share my joy of painting this unusual style, and through them I share many new methods and techniques with my students.

 

Artist Nancy Christy-Moore invites you to follow her on Facebook.

 

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