Painting a bright future

Since beginning painting 16 years ago, Tamara Moore’s method has remained the same; channelling her emotions, thoughts and surrounds into her art to create distinctive pieces.

While her method has not changed, her journey to becoming a professional artist has seen her overcome self-doubt.

Her career in art began as a result of a sleepless night while working as a mortgage broker and caring for her kids as a single mother.

“I couldn’t sleep, I really couldn’t sleep and I had these canvas and art supplies that I’d bought and I just thought, I’m just going to paint and I did,” she said.

“I had sheets on the floor because I didn’t have an easel or anything like that, and I don’t particularly paint with an easel anyway and I just started slapping paint on a canvas and playing around.

“I felt so much better afterwards and I thought, this is what I want to do. I had been pushing myself in a direction that wasn’t particularly me for a number of years, that to actually honour that creative side again kind of opened the floodgates.”

Tamara says her all of her art is purely an expression of herself.

“I have no influences whatsoever, everything is an expression of what I’m thinking or feeling, or what is going on around me and I don’t exactly know how one piece is going to end up once I start it, it can be really different to where I thought it was going,” she said.

Her road to becoming a working artist has not always been easy, and she has struggled with self-confidence and imposter syndrome.

“It wasn’t until I got the studio down at the Rabbit Hole and even then at the beginning I felt like an imposter, I was like I really don’t belong here, I’m not a formally trained artist, I’m not a proper artist, so it took me a while to work through that and just be confident in who I am and my own style.

Part of Tamara’s journey as an artist included a three-month hiatus from her residency at the Rabbit Hole.

“I didn’t really feel like an artist, I thought I was just wasting my time being in there, I thought I was just dabbling around.”

Tamara said she had learnt to accept her creative method and artistic style.

“There is an element of naivety in my work and I don’t follow rules, and that works really well for me, so I embrace that now,” she said.

“In that three months I felt like I grew within myself, I grew into myself and then I stepped back in there and I did my thing without holding back, without overthinking, without considering all the time how others would view my work. I think I needed to step away for that three months to get to that point, and when I came back I was like — bring it, lets do the thing.”

When not busy with her art, Tamara is a devoted St John Ambulance volunteer at the Bridgetown sub-centre.

Her journey to becoming St John Ambulance volunteer is no less remarkable than her artistic journey — she was inspired to join after accompanying her mother in an ambulance after a heart attack.

“She had another heart attack on the way,” Tamara said.

“It was really bizarre because it wasn’t terrifying for me, it actually ignited something that I didn’t realise was there, and I thought that I want do this. I joined a year and a half ago, did my level one, my level two and now I’m one of the main people on the roster.”

Tamara’s work is available to view at the Rabbit Hole in Bridgetown.