When I first start a canvas, I begin by taking my largest brush, and brushing some color across the face. I usually start with red. Red is warm and emotional. It gives the painting a warm tone and sets the mood. Even though I sometimes cover all the red, you can still sense its presence.

I look for shapes in nature. A cleft in a wall or rock. A string of pools left by a summer storm. The curve of a long sandy beach. The patterns of color quilted on a field. A wandering path through a wall of trees and the play of shadows and light between.

Pastels are closer up. More like portraits. I try to go deep, searching for the essence, the expression of an object. What makes a grapevine so appealing, or a rose so lovely. It is all about color, light and shadows.

In almost all my work, I seek to employ what I have learned from the grand masters of the past. Color, atmosphere, shape, design, light and shadow all work together to give a painting depth and feeling.

I find my subjects all around me. I have camped and hiked since I was six. When my Dad got his first car in America, he wanted to see this beautiful country. And now, whenever I travel it is always with a lot of hiking, walking, biking or snorkeling planned. Cities are no different. In Paris everyone walks. Therefore things are a lot closer together and so easy to see. Cityscapes in Paris and Strasbourg are colorful and packed with interesting shapes, twists and turns. I love the subways in Paris. Racing up and down the stairs to catch a train is great exercise. There is so much art in Paris. It is inspiring and motivating. In Paris, it is all about art, cheese, the patisseries, and food, always food. And ze wine, ah mon dieu, le vin.

I am very lucky my husband loves the same things I do. Nature is inspiring and awesome and so romantic when we see it together.

I love classes. I am constantly learning new ways to paint. I try everything, and incorporate it into my work. One day a 9-year-old girl invited me to learn to sculpt Femo. We worked together all afternoon. I took a class in making journals using Femo covers and watercolor paper. Now I take a small journal with me when I travel, and I have hours of pleasure making small drawings and sketches while Jerry takes photographs.

Yesterday a friend remarked, "Every time I see the one you did of the two people walking together, I chuckle." This is why I paint. I paint for the enjoyment and enrichment of others. If I can make a person stop for a few seconds and laugh, or sigh, or just float to another time or place, I have succeeded.

As an artist, what do I consider my process? When I paint an object, it has to Be the object; it has to shout at me. It has to sing. Or it doesn't feel finished. A landscape has to make me feel like I want to go to that place. It has to draw me in and make me feel like I can walk through it. At the same time, I don't want to reproduce it photographically. I want the observer to finish the painting in their minds. I want to take them to that place.

When I was nineteen, I loved Sausalito. I longed to live in sin on a houseboat, with a poet, and drink aquavit in my espresso, dress like a beatnik, and hang out at Juanita's. All the things good catholic school girls did not do. I rode the Ferry and studied the village from the water until the village was set in my mind, and I painted an impression of Sausalito. Nothing is defined, just general shapes. To this day, people who see the painting still say, "Oh, Sausalito, wow. I used to live right there." And they put their finger on a specific spot.

I have been painting since I was sixteen. I started in traditional oils. Then moved to watercolors. I graduated from California State University, Sonoma with an MA in Counseling. I was interested in Art Therapy working with children and teens. Later, I studied metalworking with Charles Escott, and attended an ongoing life-drawing group.

I did not really find my niche or develop a style of my own until I met Marian Decker at Michael Angelo Studios. I studied with her for three years at her studio, until she emigrated to the artist community in San Miguel de Allende. As our small group got to know each other, and discover each other, I learned that in her youth, Marian lived on a houseboat in Sausalito. She drank Sangria at Juanita's. And she went to catholic school too.

What advice would I give a young painter?

In Art, BE BOLD. Big Brush. Take the houseboat. Easy on the Sangria.

— Shea Moss