Plein Air Art Podcast · PleinAir Magazine

Larry Moore on Creativity and Artistic Growth

February 9, 2024·1 hr 23 min·5 clips

Larry Moore says plein air art often looks the same, but stage artists usually jump out because they have found their language.

1. Plein Air Art Podcast episode 256 centers on Larry Moore and his thinking about creativity, plein air painting, and artistic growth. 2. Eric Rhodes hosts Larry Moore, who is described as a communicator for 45 years, a mural, apparel, graphic design, advertising, illustration, and fine art artist, and a creator of books, workshops, videos, and a new Creativity course. 3. The episode asks why Moore is less focused on plein air now and how he uses that shift to talk about originality, experimentation, and voice. 4. Moore says he started painting outdoors in 1984 in Florida, where he could work outside while his wife read on trips. 5. He says his first major plein air event was Carmel in 2002, where he saw Point Lobos, Garrapata, and Big Sur and decided he wanted to do the circuit. 6. Moore describes the plein air field at that time as small, with few events and a strong California center. 7. He says he became friends with many western plein air painters and later began focusing more on studio work and narrative pieces. 8. Moore says he is in a growth phase after his book Fishing for Elephants and is now questioning why he once tried to fit in. 9. He contrasts fitting the plein air model with doing what he now does in the studio, which he describes as messing around and having a blast. 10. He says artists who jump out usually have already gone through the learning phase of drawing, values, and color and have developed a unique language. 11. Moore says that representational painting requires time because it takes years to become adept at rendering three-dimensional space on a flat surface. 12. He says most artists eventually ask, after learning the mechanics, “who am I in this process.” 13. Moore argues that one way to grow is to stop assuming that painters are supposed to work the same way as everyone else. 14. He says he and others often borrow from admired artists, then later realize they need to become themselves instead of copying another style. 15. Moore compares art learning to music, saying piano players first learn sheet music and later may start composing their own work. 16. He says his Creativity course focuses on studies, play, exploration, and putting unlike things together to solve visual problems. 17. Moore and Rhodes discuss copying paintings in gouache, breaking them into smaller studies, and adapting ideas back into original work. 18. The interview has a conversational, exploratory tone, with Rhodes prompting examples and Moore answering in a reflective, process-focused way. 19. Painters who want to develop a personal visual language will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a pure demo without theory may skip it.

As heard by us

A plainspoken conversation about craft, medium shifts, and learning by doing.

Larry Moore's visit stays most interesting when he talks about what happens to the maker while moving between pastel, oil, gouache, airbrush, scratchboard, and amberlith.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A recovering plein air painter explains why a shift in mediums can change how you paint.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Plein Air Art Podcast