Parker Chronicle > News
Art imitates life
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| Jay Moore, a well-known landscape oil artist from Parker, travels the country painting incredible scenes from Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. His work will be featured during a one-man show from Dec. 5 through Dec. 31 at Saks Galleries in Cherry Creek. Photo by Chris Michlewicz. |
Chris Michlewicz
Just as poets paint a picture with their words, Jay Moore tells a story with every calculated brushstroke.
Out of the expansive crop of talented artists who call Parker home, Jay Moore stands among the elite. His picturesque oil paintings, many of them depicting breathtaking lakes or rivers in the most remote mountainous regions in the country, hang on the walls of enchanting art museums, exclusive galleries and sprawling upscale homes as far away as Iraq and Australia.
And if you think being a professional artist means shutting yourself in a cramped studio for days on end, a glance at Moore’s life will quickly prove you wrong.
The 44-year-old, who bears a striking resemblance to folk singer-songwriter James Taylor, spends his days traveling the country in search of the perfect spot to set up his easel and create a magical and incredibly lifelike masterpiece. For two years, Moore will take excursions — sometimes by bush plane — to grizzly country in Alaska or the most sought-after fly fishing holes in Canada, in preparation for one show.
Since 2006, he has been building an eclectic portfolio, storing away 27 of his best pieces in preparation for an exhibit at Saks Galleries, a premier showroom that has operated in the same location at Milwaukee Street and Second Avenue in Cherry Creek for the last 50 years. The one-month show starts Dec. 5 and runs through the end of the year.
Gallery owner Mikkel Saks first noticed Moore’s work about 14 years ago, shortly after Moore turned his focus toward becoming an oil artist. Since then, his artwork has been the centerpiece of 10 wildly successful one-man shows at Saks.
Not only is it rare to be selected as the exclusive artist for a month-long solo show, it’s even more extraordinary to sell the entire collection, as Moore has done on several occasions.
“Jay is the current living embodiment of a long Colorado landscape tradition,” Saks said.
“At the turn of the last century, it was a guy by the name of Charles Partridge Adams. Today it’s Jay Moore.”
And just what is it that draws him to the incredible scenes that play out in his paintings? Simply put, it’s “wanderlust,” a word defined as “a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.” He places pins in a 3-by-4-foot map to remember where he has been and denote his favorite locales.
“It’s not just painting off the side of the road,” he said. “You kind of have to be adventurous.”
Moore does not hesitate to hike to the top of a ridge just to see what’s on the other side. Excitement abounds when he scours the map and finds a new waterfall or a distant lake he has never seen before. Then comes the tough decision on what time of year would be best to visit in order to show off the natural features.
With no set schedule to follow, Moore spends weeks alone in the wilderness, usually returning with a dozen to two dozen field studies, which are small-scale oil paintings used to guide the final piece.
He often has to be quick about it because of changes in weather, lighting and atmospheric conditions. Moore begins with a pencil sketch that dictates the composition of the painting, takes photos of the scene, then moves on to the field study. He creates tiny, yet masterful translations of the beauty in front of him, sometimes in the worst of conditions.
“It could be sunburn, it could be wind, it could be bugs, it could be cold, it could be animals,” he said. “A lot can happen in a few hours.”
Moore has been commissioned by multi-millionaires, who fly him in helicopters or small planes to isolated areas to paint a specific scene. The business, while extremely lucrative, can also be perilous.
Moore recounts with great ferocity impassioned stories of dangerous situations, some of which have nearly resulted in his demise. He talks about his run-in with a family of badgers, getting hypothermia and suffering from severe snow blindness in Rocky Mountain National Park.
In one particularly gripping tale from 2005, he speaks about nearly drowning when he was swept off his feet crossing a swollen river 100 miles from the nearest village, King Salmon, Alaska. With his chest waders on, a fly fishing pole in one hand and an expensive camera in the other, the 6-foot 3-inch man attempted to cross, but was soon taken by the strong current. As water began to pour into his waders, sinking him closer to the bottom of the 42-degree river, Moore almost resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die.
“I thought, ‘This is it. This is the end,’” he said. “At that point, I knew it was my life or my trip. I knew the trip was pretty well signed off after that.”
His head underwater and his legs immobilized by the weight of the water in his boots, Moore dropped his camera. He closed his eyes and, just using his arms to swim, “went for it” and felt the current loosen its grip as he was washed out into a large lake into which the river emptied. Shaking off the horrifying ordeal, Moore bravely crept back into same waters within a few hours to do some fly fishing before the bush pilot returned.
At first, he downplayed the seriousness of the incident, but later realized his good fortune when the townies at the local bar raised their glasses in a toast to Moore’s unlikely survival. A fisherman who attempted the same crossing a few years earlier never got the chance to make the return trip home.
“When they toasted that I was still around, then I was like, ‘OK, that was close,’” he said.
Still, the dangers of being an artist pale in comparison to those he would have faced in his initial dream job of being a professional stuntman. Besides, art better suits his way of life.
“Being an artist melds my two loves,” he said. “One is creating and the other is being outside.”
Moore’s success is not only a benefit to him, but to those lucky enough to have a painting grace the walls of their home. Saks, an expert in contemporary Western art, said photographs do little to capture the “feeling and all of the elements” in the way that a truly remarkable painting can.
“What is tough and what Jay does that is unusual is there are a lot of people who paint landscapes. To do it well is a whole other thing,” Saks said, adding one of Moore’s paintings can serve as a lifelong window that looks out onto someone’s favorite scene.
Moore, who honed his skills at the Art Institute of Colorado, is also sharing his talent with the masses through an instructional video that follows the progress of eight of his students. He has created a publishing company, mentorship program and www.jaymoorestudio.com, where art collectors can peruse samples of his brilliant work and find out when and where his next show is scheduled.
One of Moore’s best pieces, a work featuring grazing horses titled “Hazard Creek Backlit,” is on permanent display as part of the Western art collection at the Denver Art Museum. Three other pieces hang at the Pioneer History Museum in Colorado Springs. And just last month, he signed on with Hadley House, a publishing company that will distribute reprints of his artwork. Moore recently found out that four of his paintings are being turned into puzzles. As another reliable source of income, Moore receives royalties from reprints sold to framing shops and large stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Now he has his sites set on opening a gallery in Parker within the next few months. Not bad for a guy who at 24 years old spent an extended period of time living in a tent and bathing in a river while trying to make it as a professional artist.
In a true testament to his influence, Moore’s two sons, Wyatt, 11, and Luke, 7, have shown a profound interest in following in their father’s footsteps. Wyatt, in particular, impressed many with his winning cover art for his elementary school’s yearbook. He even got up at sunrise with his dad during a summer camping trip. The two set up easels side-by-side on a lakeshore and painted the same scene. Wyatt’s work now hangs in the family’s living room. The boys periodically have their own neighborhood art shows, selling their pieces from between 5 cents and $2. When it comes to career choices, they could do much worse.
“It’s a great life if they can do it,” he said. “It’s not about talent. It’s about whether you love to do it.”
World-renowned artist calls Parker home
Moore to be featured at Cherry Creek art gallery
Just as poets paint a picture with their words, Jay Moore tells a story with every calculated brushstroke.
Out of the expansive crop of talented artists who call Parker home, Jay Moore stands among the elite. His picturesque oil paintings, many of them depicting breathtaking lakes or rivers in the most remote mountainous regions in the country, hang on the walls of enchanting art museums, exclusive galleries and sprawling upscale homes as far away as Iraq and Australia.
And if you think being a professional artist means shutting yourself in a cramped studio for days on end, a glance at Moore’s life will quickly prove you wrong.
The 44-year-old, who bears a striking resemblance to folk singer-songwriter James Taylor, spends his days traveling the country in search of the perfect spot to set up his easel and create a magical and incredibly lifelike masterpiece. For two years, Moore will take excursions — sometimes by bush plane — to grizzly country in Alaska or the most sought-after fly fishing holes in Canada, in preparation for one show.
Since 2006, he has been building an eclectic portfolio, storing away 27 of his best pieces in preparation for an exhibit at Saks Galleries, a premier showroom that has operated in the same location at Milwaukee Street and Second Avenue in Cherry Creek for the last 50 years. The one-month show starts Dec. 5 and runs through the end of the year.
Gallery owner Mikkel Saks first noticed Moore’s work about 14 years ago, shortly after Moore turned his focus toward becoming an oil artist. Since then, his artwork has been the centerpiece of 10 wildly successful one-man shows at Saks.
Not only is it rare to be selected as the exclusive artist for a month-long solo show, it’s even more extraordinary to sell the entire collection, as Moore has done on several occasions.
“Jay is the current living embodiment of a long Colorado landscape tradition,” Saks said.
“At the turn of the last century, it was a guy by the name of Charles Partridge Adams. Today it’s Jay Moore.”
And just what is it that draws him to the incredible scenes that play out in his paintings? Simply put, it’s “wanderlust,” a word defined as “a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.” He places pins in a 3-by-4-foot map to remember where he has been and denote his favorite locales.
“It’s not just painting off the side of the road,” he said. “You kind of have to be adventurous.”
Moore does not hesitate to hike to the top of a ridge just to see what’s on the other side. Excitement abounds when he scours the map and finds a new waterfall or a distant lake he has never seen before. Then comes the tough decision on what time of year would be best to visit in order to show off the natural features.
With no set schedule to follow, Moore spends weeks alone in the wilderness, usually returning with a dozen to two dozen field studies, which are small-scale oil paintings used to guide the final piece.
He often has to be quick about it because of changes in weather, lighting and atmospheric conditions. Moore begins with a pencil sketch that dictates the composition of the painting, takes photos of the scene, then moves on to the field study. He creates tiny, yet masterful translations of the beauty in front of him, sometimes in the worst of conditions.
“It could be sunburn, it could be wind, it could be bugs, it could be cold, it could be animals,” he said. “A lot can happen in a few hours.”
Moore has been commissioned by multi-millionaires, who fly him in helicopters or small planes to isolated areas to paint a specific scene. The business, while extremely lucrative, can also be perilous.
Moore recounts with great ferocity impassioned stories of dangerous situations, some of which have nearly resulted in his demise. He talks about his run-in with a family of badgers, getting hypothermia and suffering from severe snow blindness in Rocky Mountain National Park.
In one particularly gripping tale from 2005, he speaks about nearly drowning when he was swept off his feet crossing a swollen river 100 miles from the nearest village, King Salmon, Alaska. With his chest waders on, a fly fishing pole in one hand and an expensive camera in the other, the 6-foot 3-inch man attempted to cross, but was soon taken by the strong current. As water began to pour into his waders, sinking him closer to the bottom of the 42-degree river, Moore almost resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die.
“I thought, ‘This is it. This is the end,’” he said. “At that point, I knew it was my life or my trip. I knew the trip was pretty well signed off after that.”
His head underwater and his legs immobilized by the weight of the water in his boots, Moore dropped his camera. He closed his eyes and, just using his arms to swim, “went for it” and felt the current loosen its grip as he was washed out into a large lake into which the river emptied. Shaking off the horrifying ordeal, Moore bravely crept back into same waters within a few hours to do some fly fishing before the bush pilot returned.
At first, he downplayed the seriousness of the incident, but later realized his good fortune when the townies at the local bar raised their glasses in a toast to Moore’s unlikely survival. A fisherman who attempted the same crossing a few years earlier never got the chance to make the return trip home.
“When they toasted that I was still around, then I was like, ‘OK, that was close,’” he said.
Still, the dangers of being an artist pale in comparison to those he would have faced in his initial dream job of being a professional stuntman. Besides, art better suits his way of life.
“Being an artist melds my two loves,” he said. “One is creating and the other is being outside.”
Moore’s success is not only a benefit to him, but to those lucky enough to have a painting grace the walls of their home. Saks, an expert in contemporary Western art, said photographs do little to capture the “feeling and all of the elements” in the way that a truly remarkable painting can.
“What is tough and what Jay does that is unusual is there are a lot of people who paint landscapes. To do it well is a whole other thing,” Saks said, adding one of Moore’s paintings can serve as a lifelong window that looks out onto someone’s favorite scene.
Moore, who honed his skills at the Art Institute of Colorado, is also sharing his talent with the masses through an instructional video that follows the progress of eight of his students. He has created a publishing company, mentorship program and www.jaymoorestudio.com, where art collectors can peruse samples of his brilliant work and find out when and where his next show is scheduled.
One of Moore’s best pieces, a work featuring grazing horses titled “Hazard Creek Backlit,” is on permanent display as part of the Western art collection at the Denver Art Museum. Three other pieces hang at the Pioneer History Museum in Colorado Springs. And just last month, he signed on with Hadley House, a publishing company that will distribute reprints of his artwork. Moore recently found out that four of his paintings are being turned into puzzles. As another reliable source of income, Moore receives royalties from reprints sold to framing shops and large stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Now he has his sites set on opening a gallery in Parker within the next few months. Not bad for a guy who at 24 years old spent an extended period of time living in a tent and bathing in a river while trying to make it as a professional artist.
In a true testament to his influence, Moore’s two sons, Wyatt, 11, and Luke, 7, have shown a profound interest in following in their father’s footsteps. Wyatt, in particular, impressed many with his winning cover art for his elementary school’s yearbook. He even got up at sunrise with his dad during a summer camping trip. The two set up easels side-by-side on a lakeshore and painted the same scene. Wyatt’s work now hangs in the family’s living room. The boys periodically have their own neighborhood art shows, selling their pieces from between 5 cents and $2. When it comes to career choices, they could do much worse.
“It’s a great life if they can do it,” he said. “It’s not about talent. It’s about whether you love to do it.”
World-renowned artist calls Parker home
Moore to be featured at Cherry Creek art gallery
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