About Moonlighting

Welcome to Moonlighting! My name is Andrew Moon and this is my on-line gallery.

I’m a self-taught artist, working mainly with oil and acrylic. Although I like to explore a range of subjects and settings for my paintings, I often return to portraits and people, drawn back by the challenge and intensity of the human form.

I like to find inspiration for my art in the realist styles and dramatic techniques of a range of Old Masters – an approach that is less about current fashion than enduring quality and appeal. I like to work with an emphasis on the harsh lighting contrasts of chiaroscuro, seeking guidance from 17th Century masters such as Caravaggio, Velazquez and Rembrandt.

Often when I think of ideas for a new painting, it is patches of bright light that I see first, followed by colour, and then a story that grows around it. I always try to carefully consider these key components and balance them. And while it’s the light and colour that capture a viewer’s attention, it’s the story within each piece that makes the painting unique.

My paintings are exhibited periodically, but I also work to individual commissions. I find that my work appeals to people with a taste for the colour and lighting of the Old Masters, and who like their paintings to tell stories.

I paint from my studio at home on New Zealand’s sunny Kapiti Coast.