Once again Anne is the featured artist at the Sandstone Gallery in Laguna Beach. This comes directly on the heels of the season’s end for the Laguna Art Festival. Thanks to that, a number of people are now happy owners of some of her art. But it’s not all gone; some wonderful pieces will move right over to the gallery now, along with some brand new ones, like the piece below.

Ascending Order, monotype, 17.5×22.5

It’s purely by coincidence that Ascending Order is the first piece we’re featuring this time.  The fact is, it’s the only new piece we’re showing. What with Anne putting in virtually full time hours at the festival all summer, it’s been pretty quiet in her studio. Not that there isn’t a supply of beauty by the stack in the corner, each piece almost complete, just waiting for some final idea. I generally call these “finished,” as they’re already so handsome. But Anne has a high bar when it comes to calling something done. With that, Ascending Order is this month’s only release. Who knows what will ascend after that?

But while we’re only showing one new piece, there’s an earlier one (already sold) that’s worth a mention. That’s what the publishers thought when they included one of Anne’s pieces, In Memoriam, in a high school textbook on printmaking. It’s a full-size, 240 page book, with lots of text and illustrations inside a colorful cover (left). But for Anne’s piece, all they could think to say was, “This monotype incorporates calligraphic symbols. What message or feeling does this monotype create?”  Comments anyone?

In Memoriam, monotype, 17×15.5

Fishing Boats of Japan

Harbor Afternoon, oil on canvas, 12×16

A year ago, on the last day of September, we were with our son on his birthday in Hachinohe, Japan. He wanted to spend the day surfing but the waves were flat so we spent the time with other diversions. One was, for me, a photo session of the the commercial harbor there. Since then I’ve made a number of paintings of the day and the place.

Harbor at Rest, oil on canvas, 12×16

Boats are not a subject I’ve tackled much, but they are so interesting to look at and be around. There’s so much detail that a challenge can be what to leave out and still catch the mood. As you’ll see, there’s nothing particularly Japanese about the boats. The backgrounds might have revealed the setting, what with tell-tale roofs and pagodas, but I downplayed that in order to make the pieces relevant anywhere. Perhaps even now I shouldn’t have revealed their origin. Pretend you didn’t read any of that.

Harbor Hill, oil on canvas, 20×24

Son Hyatt (the fourth) has been in Japan for some years, along with his beautiful Canadian wife Nicole and two wonderful daughters born there. A Naval Academy grad with two master’s degrees since, he served in cryptology and could never tell me what he was doing. He thought he’d stay in for a “career” but got to wanting a PhD, so will quit the Navy and move back to California this month to start school again, at Stanford.

Harbor in Sepia, oil on canvas, 16×20

Stanford is a very hard school, and electrical engineering is a very hard major. It’s all math. If you knew me and math you’d be wagging your head about now. My dad (also an engineer) helped me (tried to) with my school math every night and one of my fears growing up was not being able to help my children with it when they’d ask. Amazingly, none of them ever did. Daughter Cambria is another math smart, a CPA and the comptroller at a manufacturing company in Seattle. Why do I say all this? Because in this wide world, by grace, there’s still a place for the math inept who can try and paint boats.

Harbor Reflections, oil on canvas, 12×16

And sometimes when you paint boats you paint a second one, upside down. Shows there’s a role for the right brain thinker? All these paintings are more studies in looseness. This one, and Harbor Hill (above) are all about the strong light loving on the strong whites of the paint on the boats and then imitated by the paint on the canvas. Got that? A lot of addition. Sounds like more math. Yikes.

Until next time…

Current Shows

Sandstone Gallery, this month’s featured artist: Anne Moore

Opening this Thursday evening, September 3, 6:00-9:00 pm.
384-A North Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, California 92651
September 3-28, 12:00-5:00 (closed Tuesdays)

Colony Theater, Burbank

Abstract and Figurative paintings by Hyatt Moore
Show is up during the run of the play, “Visiting Mr. Green”
555 N 3rd St
Burbank, California 91502
(818) 558-7000

Loosen Up Workshop

Two days of hands-on stimulation for painters led by Hyatt Moore
Sept. 12-13
San Clemente Center for the Arts
1531 N. El Camino Real
San Clemente, California 92672
To sign up, call (949) 369-6603 (may be already full)

Semi-Private Coaching for Painters

in Hyatt Moore studio
Mondays in Dana Point
Call for your two-hour slot, 949-290-8643

Printmaking Classes

in Anne Moore studio
Call for info, 949-240-4642