Susan C. Moore

Susan was born and raised in Charlotte.  When she was about 12, she spent a weekend with an older neighbor while her parents were out of town.  The woman was an artist who, not knowing how to entertain a 12 year old, gave her a set of acrylic paints, some brushes, a metal lunch pail and began showing her how to paint.  Susan was hooked, and for the next few years painted on paper, wood, canvas - even rocks.  It was one way she passed the time when she and her parents were at their vacation home in the NC mountains.  She especially loved painting flowers and trees in the fresh air of her favorite place in the world!

With the exception of a semester art class in high school and a very boring “Art 101” in college, she is self taught.   A few years ago, she decided to tackle a portrait of her husband’s beloved horse, “Buck”.  The process was so wonderful!  After that, she did small paintings of architectural elements and family pets.  

A last minute decision to attend a 3 day plein air workshop in Ashe County in 2016 ignited a long sleeping passion!  The combination of being in the mountains and painting outdoors opened a whole new world.  Over the 2 months of summer break from teaching that year, she painted more than a dozen paintings, some en plein air, others from photographs she and her husband had taken in the mountains. The next 2 summers she attended other plein air workshops in the mountains with different artists.  She works in Open Acrylics and Oils, as well as some mixed media.  Most of her work is Representational Impressionism, but she has found a new freedom and passion in creating abstract, mixed media paintings with oil, cold wax and anything that looks interesting to see what happens!