We recently connected with Christine Adele Moore and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Christine Adele thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I’ve been making a full-time living as an artist since the age of 22, and I haven’t had a regular paycheck-type job since high school. In college, I took on any artistic odd jobs I could find to cover spending money. I was fortunate to have parents who paid my tuition, which allowed me to focus those years on artistic growth and self-development.

I began studying fine art at the University of Delaware, spent a semester at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and later transferred to New College of Florida in Sarasota. Just before my final semester, I received a mural commission in Naples, Florida with a budget of $8,000—enormous money for me at the time and more than enough to cover my entire next semester’s expenses. I decided to take a sabbatical from school to pursue it. That project led to another, then another, and before long I was booking work months in advance. I realized I was already doing what I loved full-time, so I never returned to complete my BFA.

At first, I worked directly with homeowners, but that naturally evolved into collaborations with interior designers in Southwest Florida. That shift was pivotal. Working with talented designers brought stability and constantly pushed me beyond my comfort zones—whether it was a trompe l’oeil mural, a complex multi-layered wall treatment, or transforming a room into a cave. It was stressful, yes, but also exhilarating, and it gave me a wide range of tools and techniques that continue to inform my work today.

About seven years ago, I transitioned into showing my work at art festivals around the country. That move gave me more freedom, greater visibility, and the opportunity to connect directly with collectors. With that freedom has come something even more meaningful: the ability to invest myself fully in creating work that uplifts the human spirit. A big part of what I do now is trying to inspire and raise the vibration of my viewers—sparking a butterfly effect that, in some small way, contributes to a better world. It has been such a juicy reward after decades of pushing, striving, and facing fear after fear with challenging projects and difficult environments. Now, to be able to paint with complete freedom and create custom work that truly touches people’s hearts feels like a gift. Looking back, I don’t believe there were any shortcuts—I needed to put in those 26 years of hard labor to arrive at this fruitful place of joyous creation.

The common thread in my journey has been resourcefulness. Each stage—murals, designer collaborations, festivals—taught me new techniques, new materials, and new ways of solving creative problems. All of that now comes together in my current mixed-media and sculptural work, where I use whatever tools and processes are necessary to capture and share the beauty of the world as I see it.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I don’t think I’ve ever not been an artist. My mom was an artist so the idea to just create and express yourself in a visual way was just there. It just was. I evolved into what I do now through a process of 26 years of intense artistic interior design projects.
. Something that I think is rather unique about me as a visual artist/painter is that I really enjoy doing commissions. Being an artist whose skills were geared toward an interior design focus, I had to stay within a certain color-way and keep consideration all of the home aesthetics in creating whatever project was required. This experience has given me a keen ability to listen to people and intuit what they are hoping to experience in their home from a custom commissioned piece.
I believe that art can be truly art, meaning inspirational, meaningful, impactful, and yet also have the ability to be in harmony with someone’s interior. Two things can be true! When I create a custom commission for someone, and it moves them to tears, and it looks like the missing piece to a puzzle that you didn’t even know that you were missing, it is one of the biggest joys in the world and I feel so grateful, SO GRATEFUL, every time it happens. I feel so lucky.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

In everything I do, not just my artwork but in every interaction with other people, I strive to leave them happier, more peaceful, and more at ease than when I met them. I want my artwork to radiate love and light and give to people that kind of energy. I want to be a force for good in the world.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think non-creatives would have a hard time imagining how a painter has to get in a very specific place to open up the channels from the visceral self to the canvas. There is a zone, a sort of half conscious, half floating space, that you have to be in. Many non-creatives think it’s OK to just walk in and talk to an artist but they don’t understand that interruption breaks a flow. It takes time and energy to get back into that flow. Of course, being a mural artist for so many years I’ve grown pretty good at constantly switching back-and-forth between my attention to the canvas and the attention to whoever is innocently asking a question at an inconvenient time. What I found helpful for me is to listen to audiobooks while I work. It provides a nice bridge for me. It lets my hands work intuitively while my conscious mind absorbs the words. Of course frequently I have to rewind the story because I get lost in the work but that’s all part of it.

Image Credits

All images were taken by me I own the rights to all of the images and all of the artwork.