We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Larry Moore a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Larry, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

As much as I would like this to be the story of how I came up with an international package delivery system, it’s not that. I’m an artist, which one might consider a choice, but in my case, it was simply a series of choices made over the years.

I first started drawing and painting as a kid, then airbrushing t-shirts for fun, then surfboards, murals, and vans. This didn’t really feel like a career to me, so a major in graphic design led straight to a career in the commercial arts, including art direction, graphic design, and illustration. I did make the choice to go freelance 5 years into my commercial arts career. That was a good decision.

The real idea came when I realized I had a creative tool set that most artists didn’t have: the ability to solve problems creatively. My idea was to write a book on the creative process for artists. Not the anecdotal kind, or a step-by-step technique book, but a workbook for artists to expand how they think about art and art-making. And I wasn’t a writer, the project took three years.

I didn’t write it because I thought I’d make money; it could have been a waste of time. I just felt it was an important thing to do.

Larry, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I gave up my life in the communication arts and went straight to fine art and teaching workshops full-time once Fishing for Elephants: Insights and Exercises to Inspire Authentic Creativity was written and published.

As an independent artist, I don’t provide a service or cater to market needs. I cater to my own curiosity. I am not locked into one thing, which is generally the smart choice; I follow my gut, and it’s worked out. I followed the tenet presented by Kevin Costner’s character in the movie Field of Dreams: if you build it, they will come. If you are authentic and true to yourself as an artist, people will find you.

But the service I do provide through writing and teaching workshops is creativity in art born from the decision to write the book. It connected me to a market desperately looking for what I had to offer. Proving Ray Kinsella was right.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The life of the artist is a bit like opting to sail across the Atlantic alone, but without the potential for drowning. It’s a risk. And right up front, one has to choose which is more important, making money or being true to oneself. I learned early on to do what I wanted rather than focus on making money, knowing that the two can be mutually exclusive.

As an illustrator, I wanted to do more narrative works rather than, say, packaging or product art. In a mid-sized city, there wasn’t much of that, so I set out to find it. I offered my services to every dance troop, theater, and our city opera. I worked for whatever they could afford with the proviso that I had creative autonomy.

One relationship with the local opera company lasted ten years. 45 paintings of every opera that was performed at that time. That work, which I did for next to nothing, led to national notoriety and a show where I sold all of the originals. I learned from this event and others like it to trust myself, follow my gut, and play the long game.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This is for the artists out there. The biggest realization I had mid-career was that who I looked to as artists, that is to say, who I was influenced by, were not who I was meant to be; they were just who I admired. Once I realized this, I stopped looking to others for solutions and started focusing on what was important to me.

This was the beginning of the path to authenticity. Learning to trust my own judgement. And the lesson for anyone, especially artists, is to be yourself. Be yourself unapologetically.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.larrymoorestudios.com/
• Instagram: larry_moore_studios
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larry.moore.429939

Image Credits

photos by larry moore