William K. Moore is a Los Angeles based artist who paints in oils and watercolors. I first noticed Moore’s work on his painting blog and was captivated by the snapshots-turned-watercolor paintings from many areas south of the US border.
Full of quirky titles and captivating stories from places in Mexico, Colombia, and elsewhere; Moore’s personality and painting style merge effortlessly in one of the most intriguing painting blogs I’ve come across.
His oil paintings are all plein air studies (that I‘ve seen anyway), and really show a strong knowledge of color theory and color temperature.
Here’s one of his paintings, titled The Stables - 5 runs through iT.
Moore’s experience as a watercolorist shows strongly in his oil paintings. Although using oils, he still allows different hues to blend right on the canvas by adding strokes of alternating colors on top of each other. Instead of bleeding into each other like watercolors would, they mix visually, creating some texture too.
He’s not afraid to throw in vibrant color and beautiful white highlights either—and actually, I think Moore would find it impossible NOT too do so.
By using both warm and cold colors in this next painting, Senda NaturaL - Autry Museum - L.A., William K. Moore painted a gorgeous example of a clear California day.
Within the tree-cast shadows there are different shades of blues, pinks, and mauves—all cool colors that echo the blue sky and cause the “atmosphere” of the painting to seem crystal clear.
Moore’s use of directional brush strokes (horizontal on the ground, and vertical in the concrete walls) help to establish space as well as visual weight to the structure. And of course, those simple brush strokes which are almost randomly placed to depict foliage are clear indications of his watercolor techniques crossing into oils—making a quite beautiful Impressionist style of painting.
As much as I like Moore’s oils, I would be remiss not to include some images from his vast collection of watercolor portraits
Each of his portraits captures the spirit of an individual, and in a place that many of us will never see firsthand. I think everyone should appreciate his talent and willingness to preserve these experiences for us.
Click any of the three watercolor thumbnails (and the oil paintings further up) to be taken to a larger image at his website, or just follow this link to visit William K. Moore’s painting blog.