Studio Visit with Libby Moore
Libby Moore, Australian still life artist.
Studio Visit with Libby Moore
Words by Madeline Young and Libby Moore, Photographs by Madeline Young.
I recently had the pleasure of visiting still life painter Libby Moore in her beautiful, purpose-built home studio in Sydney. Tucked away in a quiet street, the space is full of soft light, calm energy, and the quiet charm of everyday objects. Libby welcomed me in with a hot cup of coffee and many many short bread biscuits. It was such a treat to see where she works, hear about her process, and get a glimpse into the thoughtful way she approaches her painting.
Libby’s newest solo exhibition Dancing on Glass and Skipping with Light opens this week at The Corner Store Gallery. Doors open April 23rd until May 4th, AND you can meet the artist on Saturday April 26th from 2pm at the gallery for the official opening, we’d love to see you there! Shop the Exhibition here.
Libby chooses her favourite objects form an extensive collection and arranges them with fresh flowers in her studio.
Tell us a little about your background, how long have you been painting?
I started painting and doing commissions here and there when my children were little and when my youngest daughter started high school I became extra serious, determined to make a success of it, and started entering lots of art prizes, revelling in writing the artist statements as I’d originally done a degree in languages after school.
What drew you to still life painting as your primary subject matter?
Having been a graphic designer before having children, I then taught myself to paint and was drawn to the way I could choreograph still life subject matter. I also like having total control over selecting the objects which feature in my work. Based on their own unique personalities, I can incorporate things that bring me joy visually and tactilely and therefore are the most rewarding and satisfying to paint. I really enjoy the process of setting up a still life scene and imagining they’re actors on a stage and how one object might take offence at another object I’ve positioned it beside. Sometimes it can take a couple of hours to get the dynamics right amongst a group of head-strong glass and ceramic characters.
Libby Moore, Am I In The Right Place? 2024, Acrylic on canvas, 53×53cm framed in raw oak.
How do you choose the objects you paint?
Over the years I’ve accumulated a plenitude of objects to choose from and usually select at least one voluptuously shaped vessel for each painting. These are important to me because they symbolise the female form and each piece is significant to me for some reason whether it be because they belonged to my mother, grandmother or great aunt, or have been made or given to me by family or friends.
Are there recurring objects in your work that hold personal meaning?
Apart from the curvaceous coloured glassware which features heavily in my work, my great ceramicist friend from art school makes some particularly voluptuous objects which I just love painting and paint often. I really enjoy capturing her wheel thrown and hand-built pieces as I’m rewarded with discovering new colours in the glazes she’s used, and finding different contours from different angles or in different light, every time I paint them.
Libby’s fabulously colourful collection of vessels in her studio.
Can you tell us about your studio setup and any rituals or routines you have when painting?
First thing each day before going to my studio I walk our dog George, and during this time ideas arrive in my mind, percolating and developing into things I record in my phone so they’re not forgotten. Once in the studio (a good-sized skylight-filled room in our house jam-packed with books and children’s toys as well as all my art materials, all the stuff I’m working on and a corner where I did all my BFA uni study for the last three years) to prevent any creative blocks, I sit and look at work that’s on the go in a deliberately unhurried way, searching for improvements to make, and then I get stuckinto them. That way I start the day being productive and that then leads to more subconscious creativity.
What’s something in your studio that you couldn’t live without?
Apart from my actual favourite acrylic paint colour, Antique White, I’ve become very attached to the two multi-layered sets of blue metal drawers on wheels which help give people (and me) the impression I’m organised. They hold all my tubes of acrylic paint, oil paint, gouaches, print-making supplies, stationery, peppermints and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
This is George, he’s very very sweet!
If your paintings could talk, what do you think they’d say?
I sometimes paint landscapes and portraits but something I’ve never explored is the abstract so I think the paintings would probably tell me to chill out, break free, loosen up and give abstract painting a crack.
How do you stay creatively inspired between bodies of work or exhibitions?
I usually work on two or three things at once which feed my creativity and means if I finish something there’s always another artwork I can carry on with. By switching between projects I look at the work I’m returning to with new eyes and my approach then stays fresh. At the moment I’m working on four different works: a biggish installation incorporating printmaking, a 1 x 1 metre much larger than my usual size painting for a group show later in the year, a special birthday present commission and a set of small paintings for a competition.
Libby Moore, Sing To Me! 2025, Acrylic on canvas, 43x43cm framed in raw oak.
Libby Moore’s beautifully lit purpose-built studio in Sydney.
Some of Libby’s new painting for Dancing on Glass and Skipping with Light.
Libby Moore, I Can’t Go Past You, 2025, Acrylic on canvas, 33x33cm framed in raw oak.
Details of Libby Moore’s studio.
Libby starts a new composition.
Favourite colours are never far away.
Libby Moore, Stop Right There! 2025, Acrylic on canvas, 63x63cm framed in raw oak.
Libby creates a new scene with her favourite objects.
Inspiration is everywhere.
Libby Moore in her studio.