Featured Artist Victoria Moore

New Zealand artist Victoria Moore presents an engaging collection of nature-inspired illustrations and paintings. Find more of her portfolio on her website.

 

 

I was born in England. When I was very young, my family emigrated to New Zealand, which always felt to me like a country at the bottom of the world that was so far away from everywhere else.

 

 

I came to painting late in the game, most likely because of my upbringing. In my generation you were supposed to get a “real” job and become a doctor, lawyer or bookkeeper, but never an artist. I felt I was a frustrated creator for most of my life until I reached forty. At that point, I went back to school with the fifteen-year-olds to get my “School C” which is the New Zealand equivalent of a United States high school diploma.

 

 

Of course, I went back to get top marks in art. I received A pluses and yes, I was so proud of myself—a single parent going to school with my five-year-old. We even made our school lunches together at night.

 

 

This was the beginning of my art journey. I painted in acrylics because I was too scared to try anything else. I painted women because I loved their shape, their faces, their femininity, their flow.

 

 

When I sold my first painting, I was overjoyed that someone wanted to pay me for an idea that I had put on canvas. That was more than twenty years ago. I’m still painting and know this is my passion; whether it sells or not is irrelevant.

 

 

I create every day, and now it seems I have a hundred ideas in my brain at any moment. Some ideas I have to let go of, because there isn’t the time in a day or even in a year!

 

 

The older and more confident I get, the more ideas come forth. I love to write, draw and paint and I love sharing this passion with others. Sometimes I create workshops that help people grow within, and I use art as the vehicle to drive it.

 

 

Up until the beginning of 2020 I had always painted in oils, but I became very ill and could no longer stand the smell of the process. Being stuck in bed for several months caused me to look for online classes I could take that weren’t oils. I found a beginner’s guide to watercolours in Spanish (I had to turn the sound off and read the English subtitles). This opened up a whole new world to me. I can’t believe how much I improved in a year.

 

 

I have always been fascinated by patterns and old books, things like the Codex Leicester, a collection of scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci or the Aztec Codex. It’s the ancestor of books!

 

 

There are patterns upon patterns—what we call chaos are just old patterns we haven’t recognized. Our lives are governed by patterns. I make up circles within circles, maps about nature, patterns with women caring for small things. There’s joy in repetition, joy in small creatures, birds, leaves, flowers and the Great Mother.

 

Artist Victoria Moore invites you to follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

 

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