Exploring Life & Business with Robert Moore of R. Moore Fine Art

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Moore.

Hi Robert, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I decided to be an artist after growing up working on our family farm. This would allow me the outdoor experiences and the freedoms that I enjoyed as a youth without the great amount of seemingly unproductive time sitting on a tractor.
I went through 10 years of education with two degrees.
The last was an illustration fine arts degree from ArtCenter College of Design.
I was on scholarship there but still had to provide living expenses. Thus I began my relationship with the art galleries.
I would gear my school assignments to become a product with which I could pull off the illustration type and send to the gallery. Fortunately Trailside Gallery agreed to frame the work and send me a portion of the proceeds when the painting sold.
After graduating from Art Center I returned to Idaho and painted mostly plein aire while trading watercolors and oil paintings for necessities in order to get by.

Thinking back on those years I thank God, literally, for two challenges that were most frustrating at the time. They were the catalyst that helped set my work apart and allowed me to create in a unique way.

The first difficulty was when I broke my wrist playing basketball at 23 years old. I was left-handed and had an art show coming up. I had to teach myself to be right handed. As my left wrist healed I would engage it increasingly a little at a time until I found myself using both hands simultaneously. I continue the practice to this day. The technique gives variety to the mark- making and helps me to get to the finished product faster.

The second challenge was being colorblind. This led me to take three semesters of color theory at Art Center from a world class colorist.
When I see a rainbow I see yellow and blue. I had to learn what qualities are foremost in natural color systems. To simplify, I learned that as long as the color fits within the degree of lightness or darkness it can be any hue as long as it is in an order.
A simple way to understand this is to consider 12 pairs of colored sunglasses on a table each corresponding to one of the hues on the color wheel. You can put any of the colored glasses on and the view in nature will be beautiful. This not because of a specific hue but because there is an order and a progression of harmonious color within each mass. With the goal being ‘stepping of color’ within each value mass I was led to use palette knives which also evolved to a thicker more dynamic surface on my paintings.

Because I was forced to identify these questions and seek out the solutions on my own I grew as a teacher also. I now have had more than a dozen apprentices through the years that I have helped to lay a strong foundation for an art career.

Getting six children through college also was an incentive to work hard and focus more on studio work in the recent years.

I am extremely grateful to the galleries and collectors who have supported and encouraged me through the years.

Robert Moore.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I primarily paint landscapes and focus on strong designs and shapes because of the protanopia.
I especially enjoy winter scenes and aspen paintings because any color can be seen in the reflected areas of the white.

Any big plans?
I have been developing our property so that we can have art students from all over the country come and stay in our guest house and paint at a beautiful location without me having to travel and leave my family.

Pricing:

• Priced by the square inch

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rmoorefineart.com/
• Instagram: rmoorefineart
• Facebook: Robert Moore Fine Art

Image Credits
Robbie Moore
Rachel Moore