Artist Taylor Mouroufas
Congratulations to Taylor Mouroufas for earning her place as a Finalist in the Boynes Emerging Artist Award 7th Edition!
Who are you?
My name is Taylor Mouroufas and I’m a self-taught oil painter born and raised in California. My artistic beginning started as soon as I can remember. My mom says that as soon as I could hold a Crayola marker I was drawing and making art, and I haven’t stopped since. It’s always felt like it was something I was meant for; the truest longing I’ve ever experienced in my life was to make art. I always knew that no matter what happens in my life, being an artist was who I am and what I would always be. Growing up and on into where I am today, I have never pursued any formal training in art.
“Kalamata Morning”
Oil on Wood Panel
By Taylor Mouroufas
What inspired you to utilize painting as a medium?
As a creative person in general, I’ve tried many other mediums including ceramics and photography among others like colored pencil and charcoal. Painting always felt more comfortable to me. While I still do enjoy using colored pencil, painting in all forms is what I’m most drawn to. With my style of realism, I find that painting (specifically in oils) allows me to achieve the exact amount of detail I’m going for in each piece. The boldness of the colors allows me to create light and shadows within those details that create the illusion of realism. I feel the most satisfaction from painting and while I’m certainly open to all other mediums, this is my ride or die medium!
“Crashing Waves”
Oil on canvas
By Taylor Mouroufas
How would you describe your work?
I believe my artwork invokes a sense of wonder and emotion in all who view it. My work is not bound to a certain niche subject. My years of intense self taught study and practice has allowed me to create art that captivates the eye. No matter what I create, I strive bring a level of realism that invigorates the senses which further entices emotion to come forth. My approach is rooted in my desire to capture beauty in the world, and there's beauty to behold in all things. Since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I paint a wide variety of subjects. I realized early on in my career that of course I have favorite subjects, but I couldn't limit myself to just one. Like most painters, I could stick with just seascapes or portraits only, but where's the growth or fun in that! I want to appreciate and learn the intricacies and complexities of everything in this world. So I paint crashing ocean waves and water scenes, sprawling landscapes, dramatic cloudscapes, people, animals, architecture, botanicals, and still lifes. I do not back down from a challenge and I do not shy away from all details hidden within the subject. I push myself and my abilities every time I step in front of my canvas.
“Tennessee Bound”
Oil on canvas
By Taylor Mouroufas
Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind "spirits"?
The inspiration behind this piece was simply me wanting to create a dark still life scene with the contrast of unique light to break through the darkness. The way light reflects and shines through glass and liquid is a fascinating phenomenon. It would be a welcome challenge to capture it through paint. Since never one to back down from a challenge and I always strive to paint intimidating subjects so I decided to take this painting head on and try to achieve as much detail as I could.
“Spirits”
Oil on Wood Panel
By Taylor Mouroufas
Can you walk us through the technical steps of creating "spirits"?
I found an excellent reference photo and used it to create the painting and immediately went to work on it. I had started by painting the entire wood panel black and then went into shaping the bottles with just their light reflections alone. I used the negative space where the background comes through the glass and the many different colors of light to create the bottle out of nothing.
The experience painting this showed me the vast amount of colors the light reflected onto the glass bottles. I found myself rarely using stark white. The highlights were mostly blues, browns and grays, while I would make those highlights pop in some areas with pure white. Overall, when breaking the painting down into obscurely small details, it’s almost like painting an abstract piece. I’d make the random seemingly nonsensical shapes and then step back to see that it somehow materialized into a perceivable object. That was the most interesting aspect of this piece. How the abstract technicalities all put together can create a realistic effect.
“Lovers’ First Step In”
Oil on Canvas
By Taylor Mouroufas
Have you experimented with other mediums?
I have! I have dabbled in watercolor, gouache, acrylic, colored pencil, and charcoal for a good amount of my artistic journey. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to finally coming around to using oils. I was adamant about using acrylics, colored pencil, and watercolor for many years and while I found enjoyment in it, deep down I knew I could do better and delve even deeper into the level of detail I was wanting to achieve. I found that through oils and I’ve never looked back! I will of course work in a specific medium if a client wants it but my default will always be oils.
“Lion of Judah”
Oil on Black Canvas
By Taylor Mouroufas
Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your work?
I’ve experienced a wealth of valuable occurrences just this year alone that have all served as lessons. I wouldn’t call them failures per se since they’ve all served as stepping stones to get me to where I need to be and obtain knowledge that I need to have. I’ve learned that having a contract for commissions is very important and no matter how excited you are to start the piece, never start it before the contract is signed! I had to learn that the hard way. I’ve learned that I should never undersell my work. Many times I’ve found myself putting in way too much time and effort into a piece and that didn’t translate into the compensation I was receiving. I’ve had to learn that my time is valuable, my skill is valuable, and my work is valuable and I need to act accordingly.
“Self Control”
Oil on Canvas
By Taylor Mouroufas
Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?
I only started taking my art seriously and striving to make a full-time career out of it in January 2022. I would break down my biggest success into 2 separate occurrences because both were based off of my goals that I made for myself in the short and long term plan for my career. I was accepted into my first gallery only a month into this endeavor. Being accepted into a gallery is something that young Taylor would be so proud of. My second biggest achievement would be being honored as a finalist in this outstanding competition. I cannot express how joyful I was to learn I was named a finalist among 30 other amazing international artists for this award. It truly made me feel so humbled, accomplished, seen, and confident in my abilities as an artist. It has given me so much motivation to work even harder towards pursuing a full time career as a painter.
Can you tell something you wish you had known before or when you began your career that would have really helped?
Comparison is a thief of joy. I would find myself comparing my artistic journey to other more successful artists and I would deep dive and try to dissect what they did exactly to achieve their success so I could recreate it exactly hoping for the same results. It took me a while to realize that every artist’s journey to their definition of success is different. Artistic success is not cookie cutter and it’s impossible to follow someone’s footsteps to a T and expect the same outcome. My journey is my own and I will get to my version of success by taking my own steps, not recreating someone else’s. You can be inspired by other artists of course. You can incorporate some of their important aspects of success into your own path but acknowledging that they are a whole different person and what works for them may not work for you is vital to understand.
“Dr. Pepper Can”
Oil on Canvas
By Taylor Mouroufas
What projects are you working on currently?
I do have a few fun projects I’m working on at the moment that I’d be happy to share! There is a secret project I’m working on that I cannot share yet but I cannot wait to announce when the time comes. Though I can’t divulge any specifics, I am currently finishing up an album cover commission. This is something I’ve never done before and the subject matter intensely forced me out of my comfort zone, which was incredibly exciting! The finishing touches are being made and I couldn’t be more proud of the outcome. As far as works-in-progress that I can share, I am working on 2 different large scale landscape pieces. One is a commission of the beautiful acropolis in Greece and the other is a landscape in Iceland. Both are 24” x 36”.
“Psalm”
Oil on Canvas
By Taylor Mouroufas
What is your dream project or piece you hope to accomplish?
My dream project is currently sitting in the spare room of my house coincidentally! Painting on a very large scale has always been a dream of mine and I have a blank 36” x 84” canvas patiently waiting for me. However due to how massive it is I haven’t quite found the right subject for it. One day when the time is right and I have found the perfect subject, I will make that painting my magnum opus. I look forward to that day, but until then I have more learning and growing to do.
As a finalist, do you have any advice for artists who want to submit to awards, competitions, residencies, etc.?
My advice would be to not underestimate yourself. It’s okay to have doubts, that’s part of being human. But don’t let doubts consume you. Submit your work anyway. So many times I’ve submitted my work to awards and competitions and have been pleasantly surprised by the outcome. You will never know what will happen unless you try. I’ve used that mantra across all aspects of my art career but definitely when it comes to submitting my work. The worst that could happen is nothing comes from it and you move on. When you move on, you keep working on yourself and your craft, and then try again! What’s meant for you is already yours and nothing will stop it from reaching you.
“Living Water”
Oil on Canvas
By Taylor Mouroufas
Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists/photographers, what is your advice?
Never stop learning. Don’t ever think you know everything there is to know about your craft. Creating art means having a constant pursuit of knowledge, growth, and increasing maturity no matter what phase you’re in or level of achievement. Make art for YOU. Every artist out there will agree that there will be many people telling you what you should create. While comments like that usually come from a place of good intention, what matters most is that the art you’re making fulfills you. I’ve experienced the vast contrast of creating something you aren’t passionate about and dreading working on it versus being so excited about a project you’re creating and feeling the indescribable bliss and joy you will have when making it. Choose that joy every time.
To view more of Taylor Mouroufas’ work