The ability to create a successful study in the field is important, but the painter's challenge does not end there. In order to make a living and succeed as an artist, you must be able to successfully translate the ideas you developed in the small field study into a finished painting on a larger canvas. This is not easy. many artistic principles and theories are involved and will be discussed as Jay completes a 30" x 40" landscape from an 11" x 14" field study.

Jay Moore grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, spending nearly every waking moment outdoors: fishing, camping, swimming, and absorbing the subtleties of nature that every good sportsman and artists needs. “My bond with nature formed early and became deeply rooted,” he says. When he began painting he did only plein air paintings for five years and honed his observational skills. “Spending so much time outdoors,” he says, “you get in tune with nature’s rhythms. What the temperature is, when rain is imminent, what month it is by the water level in a stream. Once you understand it on that level then you can interpret it a lot better.”

He graduated at the top of his class from the Colorado Institute of Art and worked in graphic design and illustration for several years. It was a plein air painting workshop with the master landscape painter Clyde Aspevig that convinced him to concentrate full-time on painting.