“Moving Forward” A celebration of momentum

Mooneyham Art invites you to the kind of art exhibit “Moving Forward” that comes from living fully, breaking open, rebuilding, and choosing wonder, with consistency that is evidenced with time. Nancy Early’s journey from the Midwest to California and back to the St. Louis region mirrors the spirit of her fluid acrylics, nothing stays still, everything transforms. Early’s “Abstracted Landscape” series embodies this evolution, letting color, water, and intuition carve new worlds. Each piece reflects the belief that growth comes from experience, resilience, and the courage to follow the next adventure wherever it leads. This free to the public immersive experience blends abstract art with the technicolor sounds of Psychedelic Symphony, glutinous deserts and community.
About the Artist:
Born and raised in the Midwest, Nancy moved to California as a young adult. She immediately fell in love with the abundance of nature found in California and spent over two decades drawing and painting florals, landscapes, animals, and marine scenes. She returned to the Midwest after 3 decades when she found love again after a failed marriage and the implosion of the economy in 2008. For a brief time, the second marriage was great, but alas, not sustainable. She found herself searching for work and a new life and found St. Louis to be a perfect place to start again. She finally found her people in the creative and blues music scene of this area, plus a new love with a musician that totally gets the artist’s mindset.
Nancy has created a body of work she calls “The Abstracted Landscape.” In these flowing acrylic paintings on canvas and board, she developed a unique view of land, sea, and sky. She abstracts the view by letting the flow of fluid acrylics create a sense of place. The painting can go in many directions. It could become an idyllic view of a pristine lake, crashing waves, a desert storm, or a scene that might exist in another world.
Nancy tries not to force the painting to become something real. She just tries to guide the colors to resemble what could be found under water or up on dry land… a sense of place, real or imagined.
Nancy earned a BA in computer video imaging from Cogswell College in Sunnyvale, Ca., graduating magna cum laude and valedictorian. She went into web design and usability research and had a decades-long career in web while always painting and showing alongside the day job. In 2025 she closed her computer and notebook and jumped into art full time. She currently runs a studio gallery in the McKinley Park neighborhood of St. Louis.
She teaches her abstract techniques privately and at demos and workshops.
Her award-winning work is in private collections throughout the U.S. and Australia.
“I love the freedom of fluid acrylics. With my fingers, a squirt bottle of water, and with my composition and realism painting skills in mind, I manipulate wet paint and guide it as it dries. I am often surprised and delighted with the outcome. I never know for sure what the painting will become. Every piece is unique and a blast to create.
I especially love teaching this technique to the realist artist to help them break out of being detailed oriented and frustrated when a painting doesn’t come out ‘just so.’ In this style of painting, ‘just so’ doesn’t exist!”
Event Details:
Location: Mooneyham Art, 305 State St. Alton Il
Date: August 15th 5pm-9pm
Live Music: Psychedelic Symphony
Food: Deserts and beverages will be provided
Official facebook invite: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DG4vR1xN7/