7.11.19 Sandra Moore – Blue Ridge Day Lily Farm

There was a great turn out for Sandra Moore’s watercolor Demo. She did a lovely painting of the gardens, with the house in the distance.
Bee Adams said “A beautiful representation of the place & that day. Thank you for sharing your process so well.”

The day was warm & humid, but the group found the shade and produced some wonderful paintings … view the gallery (https://ashevillepleinair.com/gallery-2019/).

Thank you Robert Selman of the Blue Ridge Day Lily Farm for allowing our artists to paint at such a beautiful location. He has some amazing Day Lilies!

Sandra Moore • Watercolor

Paint-Out Location: Blue Ridge Day Lily Farm in Alexander, NC

Sandra Brugh Moore graduated from West Virginia University with BA in Art Education. After teaching in West Virginia she moved with her family to North Carolina from Western Maryland where she grew up. Moving to North Carolina she came with the goal of learning to capture the moods of the mountains. Western North Carolina provides her with a never ending source of paintings materials as the seasons come and go. Many of her subjects are found in her own backyard. Through the years she has won awards for her work. One was the Best West Virginia Landscape of a Plein air watercolor painting. Another award for a pen and ink drawing was for First Place in the drawing category awarded to her by Jamie Wyeth.

Sandra teaches Watercolor Painting and has taught Drawing in the North Carolina Community College System and holds workshops and gives demonstrations in the Western North Carolina area. Creating Pen and Ink drawings reveals Sandra’s love of drawing. Most of her pen and ink drawings deal with homes and historically significant architecture. She created drawings for the Carl Sandburg House in Flat Rock. North Carolina. Many years ago The Historical Biltmore Village Museum commissioned her to render drawings of important buildings from historic photographs in their collection to use as note cards. Other ink drawings have been imprinted on Fenton Glass Bells for collector items. Recently Sandra is experimenting with combining her pen and ink with her watercolors creating Meditative designs. Her main focus is on painting in the great outdoors. The remarkable variety of light provides this landscape artist with a lifetime of subject matter. She is a Mom of two grown children and a Nana which makes her life full and very busy.

Artists Statement: Light is constantly changing in the landscape. My paintings are my response to those fleeting moments of light. Watercolor is a medium of constant change. I paint in layers, using the inherent transparency to depict the transitions between light and dark, sky and land, clouds and air.

Her work can be seen at the Asheville Gallery of Art, 82 Patton Ave, Asheville NC and at Trackside Studios 375 Depot Street.in Asheville.

Please see her website for contact information. Sandra Brugh Moore Art

Questions for the Artist

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a plein air painter?
I love being outdoors. The challenge of creating a painting before the light changes makes me focus in and concentrate on what is before me. I bring the skills I have learned from previous Plein air painting sessions to the painting I am working on . I love the feel of my feet on the ground and the world around me. When I do studio work I understand and know from memory the hidden colors that are not found in photographs.

What are three tips that you have gained that have made a difference in your painting?
1. I try to choose a subject to paint that is unique to the area where I am painting.
2. I establish a transparent under painting that locks in the shadows and tints the lightest areas of the painting. This way I am not chasing the shadows so I can concentrate on adding the local color.
3. I try to paint very loose and slowly tighten up as the painting progresses.

What are you working to improve upon?
I want to capture the feeling and energy of where I paint. Also I want to get the colors and values right the first time and not feel I have to rework the painting to make it work.