Colorado painter Jay Moore says experimenting with this work is one of the great joys about being an artist. “The last show I did was more exploratory, about me just trying new things,” he says. “I was going well off the Jay Moore beaten path because I had a wild hair to be inspired by new ways and just see what came from it all.”
Grazing Among the Tetons, oil on linen, 24 x 36"
That exploratory period also has another benefit: when Moore returns to what he’s known for, it can feel fresh and revitalized. “In the fall I went up to Grand Teton National Park and was inspired by the landscape up there. The paintings that came from the trip were right over the plate, so to speak,” he says. “It’s that spectacular scenery, it just doesn’t get any better up there.”
Winter Reflections, oil on linen, 18 x 24"
Moore will be showing his newest landscape works at a new show opening August 21 at Astoria Fine Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. One of the key new works of the one-man show is Grazing Among the Tetons, which shows horses in a tranquil scene in front of the magnificent Teton peaks, which frame the horses amid the scenery.
“I kind of obscured the top peak just to make the painting less about the Tetons and more about the horses that were grazing there. I actually saw these horses, which was fun for me because so often we see buffalo or bear or other animals in this scene,” the artist says. “The whole valley was bathed in this amazing sunlight. They had all this grass to eat and it was just pastoral and bucolic. I’ve painted this area many times before, but I felt like I was seeing it all with a fresh eye.”
The painting has a personal significance to the artist, who was standing in front of the scene when he made a call to his 86-year-old father who had taken a turn for the worse in his fight with Covid. “I was basically saying goodbye to him on the phone. I had been in touch with my brother, and we had learned that he was so weak and was unlikely to pull through,” Moore says. “I was just bawling on the phone, just experiencing tons of emotion. I hung up and really thought that was the last time I would talk to him.”
Autumn Morning, Jenny Lake, oil on linen, 6 x 12"
Miraculously, his father turned a corner within a day and slowly started to recover. “It was agony to ecstasy in the period of 24 hours,” he adds. “He’s still weak, but he’s pulling through. He’s one of those people who is just well liked by everyone, and there is so much love for him.”
September Perfection, oil on linen, 6 x 8"
Other works in the Astoria show include some classic Moore water scenes, September Perfection and Winter Reflections, as well as an outstanding 6-by-12-inch landscape titled Autumn Morning, Jenny Lake. —
Upcoming Show
Up to 10 works
August 21-30, 2021
Astoria Fine Art
35 E. Deloney Avenue, Jackson Hole, WY 83001
(307) 733-4016, www.astoriafineart.com
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