Painting in the time of Covid

Paint this before I die!

Before Covid Artist Statement

Whether it is a lizard under the hot desert sun, cool river water, mountains at sunset or a trout swimming in a stream, nature and color are the foundations of my work. I strive to add humor and imagination into whatever I am painting. Some have called me a colorist. “exagerated reality” is the term that I now use to describe my working style. Painting “on site” is important to me. I like the confrontation of the mountains, water and sky. My energy comes from physically making marks on paper or canvas. The results from pickings up the pastel stick of pure color and using it immediately is a powerful statement about how I work. My art is; gesture, line, color: a visceral reaction to what I see. Vital is the process of making art in my life. Vital is sharing that art. After Stunning was the world pandemic virus that stopped all of my core efforts. Shelter in place seem to apply to my mind as well as my body. Frozen in fear was my daily bread and just being was all I could manage. Family and friends were an arms length or thousands of miles away but we comforted each other in many ways. As and older person, thoughts of the end of my time were swirling around me. There were so many things I still wanted to do and a list of things I wanted to paint. We couldn't go anywhere but I was lucky. I have a studio that is isolated and available to me any time I wanted to go. I had to make myself go, because I could not find reasons to continue to paint if the virus didn't let us go. Just walking through the studio door calmed my inner turmoil. I first only sat there or cleaned. I eventually found the stacks of cloud photos I had been keeping and went to work. They evolved into weeks of productive work and a painting series fueled by the thought of doing what I wanted: painting my clouds before die! I have made it through four months and continue to seek solace in the art of making art.

"Journeys"Opens Artist Dianne Taylor Moore’s 2014 Exhibition Season in Bethlehem’s Cold Mt. Cafe.

by on 5/12/2014 8:09:07 AM

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Mt Washington Valley

“Journeys” Opens Artist Dianne Taylor Moore’s 2014 Exhibition Season in Bethlehem’s Cold Mt. Cafe.

This exhibition of oil and pastel paintings represents a time line of artistic development through three decades. Ms. Moore remembers an artist’s quote “Journeys can occur when you don’t even know you are traveling”. She said, “My journey in painting has been a life time of unplanned passages from one stage to another. This exhibition addresses compelling issues for me as an artist. Who I am, where I’ve been and where I am now.” Shown here “Tucson’s Finest” is an early oil painting from her visits to the southwest, where she intensely pursued the desert with a paint brush and camera. “In my studio I produced large format oil canvases of cactus, lizards and wild things. My style at the time involved applying slow drying layers of oil glazes and collage materials into the paintings. It was an intricate process and it took forever!”
In the 1990's Ms. Moore studied in Taos, New Mexico. It was her first introduction to plein air painting: working outdoors. By necessity her style, scale, and technique began to change. “My gestures become more active and the painting was looser, she says.” The “Rio Grande” painting is representative of this new stage. “It was still oil painting but so much faster!”
The journey that forever changed her paintings was to Provence in 2007. She explains, “Ten days of painting in France was supposed to be heaven. It turned into a battle with the instructor. He wanted me to only paint the “real colors”. I hid each day in the villages and worked from my little box of vivid pastels. I never looked back.” Several French countryside paintings at Cold Mt. were the bridge to Dianne’s current pastel paintings.
Some have called her a colorist: one who will exaggerate a color, or use an unexpected color. She describes her style as exaggerated reality. “I paint often in the White Mountains. They have become my signature subjects. I do add a little extra color,” she admits. A shining example is a pastel painting of “Crawford Notch” hanging in Cold Mt Café’s window. The show continues through June 15th. Cold Mt Café is located at 2015 Main Street, Bethlehem NH
Dianne Taylor Moore’s work may be found throughout the year online at GOSHOPNH, NHAA Levy Gallery-Portsmouth NH, Wren-Local Works-Bethlehem NH and Mt Washington Hotel, The Coffee Pot Restaurant-Littleton, NH, Artistic Roots-Plymouth NH, Artful Eye-St. Johnsbury, Vt,. Mt Washington Arts Assoc.-North Conway, NH and Miller’s Thumb- Greensboro, Vt.
Visit her website at www.Diannetaylormoore.com

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