Featured Artist Valerie Morone

Oil painter Valerie Morone shares a masterful portfolio inspired by the stunning landscape of the desert Southwest. Visit her website to see more of her work.

 

 

Art has always been a source of joy for me, a place to escape and feed my soul. In some ways my art journey has come full circle.

 

 

I grew up in New York City, and later New Jersey, but always dreamed of living in the country. As a child I would draw rural landscapes and imagine being there. I remember drawing greeting cards pretending to be a Hallmark artist. I would ask my grandpa, “Does it look like a Hallmark Card yet?” He’d suggest little changes until it was approved, then I’d write Hallmark on the back of the folded paper.

 

 

I learned to draw from observation and photo reference to understand perspective, light and shadow, and other skills necessary to make the subject look realistic.

 

 

My plan was to go to college and become an illustrator. In high school I took every art class offered. The final art class assignment as a senior was to create an oil painting using photo reference. I chose a photo from a magazine of a desert landscape of saguaros and mountains. I thought it was the most beautiful place I’d ever seen, although I had no idea where it was.

 

 

My art teacher had to approve the reference and told me that it was a photo of Arizona. As I researched colleges I found my ideal fit at Northern Arizona University, a beautiful campus in a mountain town. I received a BFA in advertising illustration and interned at an ad agency in Phoenix.

 

 

I thought I’d have a career in advertising. After graduation I found it difficult to find work. Frustrated about not finding art related work for two years and close to being an actual starving artist, I walked several miles to campus to ask a professor for help finding a job. The timing was perfect. He said, “Hallmark is coming to interview in two weeks, would you like to sign up?” In 1982, I indeed became an artist at Hallmark Cards headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

 

Several years later I moved to New Jersey and started a freelance business, enabling me to work from home while raising my children. I designed greeting cards, paper products, book illustrations, and backgrounds for animated films. When my children went to college, I decided it was time to start painting again. I took painting courses and plein air workshops to start my journey as a fine artist.

 

 

As an oil painter my inspiration comes from nature. Although I paint many subjects, my favorite is landscape. I feel peace while walking amongst fall foliage, serenity viewing a sunset, awe at sunlight reflecting on rock formations at the golden hour, and excitement observing the vast expanse of the desert landscape of the southwest. My intention is to not only depict what I observe, but convey the emotion experienced to the viewer.

 

Valerie Morone invites you to follow on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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