The color of creativity
Suzie Harrison
In the early ‘60s, Tracey Moscaritolo was in the Marine Corps,
stationed at El Toro. Art was secondary in her life. But she soon
discovered Laguna Beach and sculpture along with it. Her first medium
was metal, but she felt there was another creative side to her.
“I came to this place where I kept visualizing color,” Moscaritolo
said. “I kept feeling inside that it was a spiritual direction, that
I wanted to use color. I wanted to paint.”
This decision brought her to take a risk, to have the courage to
change.
“I began to study with seasoned painters who helped me develop my
eye and my talent,” Moscaritolo said. “It was instant, exciting. I
had found my passion.”
Finding her passion was a rough task during a time in the ‘70s
when she was agoraphobic and couldn’t be outdoors very often.
“I spent a lot of time indoors and with friends,” Moscaritolo
said. “I didn’t know what was wrong with me, I just thought I was
weird. I didn’t have a name for it.”
To help her overcome her trepidation, she found things to do to
help overcome her panic attacks.
“I would go some place and sit for two minutes, then the next day
five minutes,” Moscaritolo said. “The rule was, I can stay if I can
go.”
She said that she believes the combination of her very supportive
friends, courage and faith got her through it.
“I was in the Sawdust at the time and I remember how difficult it
was once the show started for me to be there,” she said. “But I am
persistent and somehow got through it. Friends and a strong sense of
humor really helped.”
Moscaritolo has had friends in Laguna Beach since the ‘60s and
great friendships, which continue to this day.
“Now , when I see the crowds coming, I am absolutely delighted,”
Moscaritolo said.
“I think it helped me develop spiritually. That experience only
makes me appreciate the freedom and spontaneity I have today, when I
can stand on a cliff and paint and totally lose myself in color and
light,” Moscaritolo said.
She said it wasn’t until she began to paint that she found her
true path in life.
Moscaritolo was born in Boston’s West End, where her surroundings
were mostly asphalt, concrete and brick buildings.
“But from my window I could see a small part of the Charles River
and I made a sketch of that view,” Moscaritolo said.
“The West End was torn down, families scattered throughout the
suburbs of Boston and a government center was created,” Moscaritolo
said.
Looking around her gallery, she pointed to the bright little
houses that are often featured in her paintings, saying that that
displacement could well be one of the reasons she paints her happy
little houses.
For six years Moscaritolo has been showing her work at her studio.
“When I first put some of my paintings in my window, I was so
scared people wouldn’t like them,” Moscaritolo said.
She would watch their reactions as they walked by.
“Some of them would stop and look ... and even come in and tell me
how much they loved the colors and my artwork. I can’t tell you how
satisfying that is,” she said.
She has an unconventional approach and is not hung up on realism.
“I am very inspired by the surrounding beauty, and it comes out in
my own impressionistic interpretation,” she said. “If I like painting
the sky yellow or the mountain blue, I do.”
She said she likes to apply her own colorful and exciting
interpretation to her paintings and that her work has been described
as sophisticated simplicity.
Laguna Beach is a place she would never think of leaving and loves
all it has to offer to its artists.
“I am crazy about living here, being an artist, having the
opportunity to work as an artist and sell my work, Moscaritolo said.
“It just doesn’t get much better than this.”
Moscaritolo’s gallery is located at 422 N. Coast Highway. She can
be reached at 494-7200 or via her Web site, at www.Moscaritolo.com.
* SUZIE HARRISON is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline
Pilot. She may be reached at 494-4321.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.