Brush to Palette Knife - Laurie Moore

When starting into a Masters of Fine Art we were told that if we did not have a style we would eventually acquire one. The more we painted the sooner it would come. I knew I was a Realist Painter, that was the reason I applied to the Academy of Art College (now University) in San Francisco. So off I went and bought all my supplies, anxious to learn my craft and as much as I could from every teacher.

Unknown at the time was a required expressionistic painting class. I would never have taken it if it was not required. The College had the philosophy, the broader the base of learning the higher you could attain. Learning all I could was my goal to meet the requirements of the instructor. I did not realize how pivotal the class would become at the time. I was not young and impressionable! I was nearly 50 years old!

What you will see in these works is my foray into expressionism with my realism twist. Being free I used my left hand and a palette knife to aid me in the assignments. Squinting a lot was something else we did to see overall shapes and the movement of color through the painting. “Dragon” and the a few before are examples of this time period.

The following year quick studies was an elective class, where I painted “Copper Pot.” Every 20 minutes we changed our location and started a new painting. A valuable class, but sometimes high in stress. So to relieve the stress I switched to a palette knife. Oh, what would the instructor say? He turned his head from side to side and stood with arms folded. His final pronouncement was “you should vary your strokes.” Then on to the next student.

After graduation I sometime went to a friends studio to paint. A discussion of palette knife painting ensued, with “Tomales Bay” being the paintingstarted and later finished in my studio space. That was an AHA! Moment for me. I painted more and more palette knife paintings after that time. At present almost every painting is a palette knife painting. - Laurie Moore