Robert Moore and Robbie Moore present a father-son show September 14 2026, 0 Comments
By Kimberly Nicoletti
Robert Moore and his son Robbie Moore both draw inspiration from nature to paint landscapes, which they showcase on Sept. 16 in a special father-son show at Raitman Art Galleries in Vail. They will both be at our Vail location on September 25th and 26th.
Robert Moore has passed down just about everything he knows, from cultivating a deep relationship with nature to fine-art techniques. Robbie Moore appreciates his dad’s generosity in sharing the knowledge he has worked 40 years to accumulate.
Elevations Clarity by Robbie Moore
“I started at the foundation of (shape, values, colors, edges and texture), and my father has helped me make sure that I'm nailing the shapes before I move to the values, and then I'm nailing the values before I moved to color,” Robbie Moore said. “And now I’m moving deeper and deeper into color and being intentional with edges — the composition and directing people’s eye.”
High contrasts, or hard edges, focus viewers’ gaze, while soft edges cause the eye to pass through.
“I’m designing an experience for the viewer within each of my paintings,” Robbie Moore said.
Like his dad, he interprets — rather than replicates — the mountains, trees and other elements of nature he paints. He might reference a photo, but he translates it by reproducing perhaps a quarter of the photorealistic beauty and extrapolating the rest.
“He makes them better than the reference. He can get those subtle, correct relationships … and he takes no shortcuts. He’s after an academic, strong art design. He has very high thresholds for excellence in his paintings, and it comes through,” Robert Moore said.
Light's Immersion by Robbie Moore
Robbie Moore describes it as exaggerating and designing his landscapes according to his eye, or style. His family immersed him in nature from a young age — a passion he has continued. His experiences allow him to categorize a variety of moments and scenes, much like a young child learns to interpret faces in terms of emotions, such as happy or sad, and responds accordingly.
“I know when something doesn’t feel right because I’m saturated in the mountains and have experienced the landscapes that I’m painting. It allows me to have a sense of what is beautiful in a true way versus beautiful in a kitschy way,” he said.
Autumn's Light by Robbie Moore
He enjoys eliciting viewers’ memories of their own time spent in the mountains, which he considers some of the most treasured moments. To accomplish this, he condenses the best parts, highlighting them through his work.
“My paintings over the past year have become truer; they've also become more exaggerated — the feeling and the impression has become more intense but still is relatable to the truth of our individual experiences,” Robbie Moore said.
Like Robbie, Robert Moore’s paintings reflect a love of the outdoors and a strong technique, including gorgeous color progression.
Though most viewers might not be able to pinpoint exactly what strikes them when admiring Robert Moore’s paintings, his son says it’s the complexity, or the “design within the design within the design,” that hits people emotionally.
“(There’s) a hierarchy … you have to design the shapes, and then you have to design the values on top of those shapes, and then you have to design the color within those values within those shapes, and then you have to design the intensity within the color within the shapes, and it just goes on from there,” Robbie Moore said.
Everything from nature’s texture to its color progressions influence Robert Moore. The order that color progressions — or the sequences of harmonious hues — present themselves are particularly important to him, because he’s colorblind and can’t otherwise replicate colors that most others see. He has taken pains to study color theory, which allows him to paint, for instance, backlit aspens with various shadows, lights and colors that warmly reflect up from their base and down from the cool blues of the sky.
“I had to study what creates the order and the (color) progressions that are related to what we see everywhere in nature,” Robert Moore said. “The progressions and strong design are basically what I look for and how I paint.”
Painting with both hands — a technique he started out of necessity when he broke his dominate wrist decades ago at age 22 — allows him to render each side of the scene seamlessly.
“There are natural arcs with each hand — they're opposing arcs, so there’s a natural stroke instead of an unnatural stroke. I can use the other hand and get a more fluid, pleasing line,” Robert Moore said.
Manifest Glory by Robert Moore
His two-handed skill increases the level of complexity and variety within his mark-making.
“Chances are that I wouldn’t make the marks that my right hand makes with my left hand because it would be awkward — it just wouldn’t happen,” he pointed out, adding that it also saves time. “My apprentice is on the other side of the palette, and I just throw my two knives down whenever I need to shift a color, and the apprentice cleans them and keeps a fresh set of the various sizes, (so) I can focus and concentrate on progressions of color and looking at the composition instead of spending my time wiping my knives.”
Just like his son, he grew up in nature and considers it an essential part of him — as well as a reflection of the Divine.
“I see the signature of the divine God everywhere in nature, because you have the unity, or the order, and then you have those progressions and the incredible variety,” Robert Moore said, pointing out how 7 billion people all have two eyes, a nose and a mouth with generally the same proportions, but each person stands out, making him or her instantly recognizable.
Like individuals, each of his paintings carry a distinct signature, which he intends to convey both a sense of peace and the spark of the divine.
“Hopefully, that comes through in my work. I'm not the source of (nature and creation), and (others are) not the source of it,” Robert Moore said, adding that he wants viewers to see “there’s more out there to be had.”
In his most recent paintings, he discovered a greater sense of freedom and expression as a result of mastering shapes, mark-making and other artistic techniques.
The father-son show showcases both painter’s latest works, including at least 10 new pieces ranging in size from 8x10 inches to 4x6 feet by Robbie Moore.
“I’m taking the highlights of my experience in the West and putting it all together into a show,” Robbie Moore said, talking about his subject matter, which ranges from backlit aspens to transparent waters.
In addition to a demonstration, the artists are happy to talk about their personal and professional relationship (each critiques and supports the other), their experiences out and about in nature, artistic techniques, and, of course, the question Robert Moore fields the most: How does he paint such compelling, vibrant and nuanced landscapes when he only sees the world in yellows and blues?
Talking to them is a delight not to be missed.