Opening Art and Soul

Elia Powers

Artists go to great lengths to develop a rapport with loyal

collectors. They may include biographies or autographed letters with

their works. Costa Mesa artist Tracey Moloney likes to get even more

personal: She comes right into her clients’ kitchen or living room.

“People like talking to me while I do my paintings,” said Moloney,

a muralist who specializes in home interiors. “I like to find out

about people’s lives and do pieces that represent them. That’s why I

make so many visits. It makes each project unique.”

On Friday, Moloney is inviting clients and friends to visit her

new second home, a 1,000-square-foot studio and gallery in a busy

Costa Mesa shopping center.

She began her one-woman company, My Art and Soul, 10 years ago.

She bought the studio, which had been vacant for the past five years,

and opened it for business last month.

The two-room gallery, painted red, white and gold, is filled with

Moloney’s handmade jewelry and original oil paintings. Many of the

latter are portraits of Newport-Mesa landmarks, what she refers to as

“disappearing Orange County.”

“I started by painting old cars and cool neon signs,” she said.

“It turned out many of the stores with the signs were being knocked

down. Over the past 10 years, I’ve tried to capture them before they

disappear.”

Among her finished projects is a commissioned painting of 2W

Market, a neighborhood store on Balboa Island that closed its doors

in early March after nearly 26 years of operation.

Moloney is an ardent antique collector, and everything about her

studio screams vintage. The words “Cal-flavor,” which appear on old

orange crate labels, are painted on a cinderblock wall. A decades-old

refrigerator with sliding drawers sits in the back room.

A trunk dating back to Moloney’s San Francisco college days serves

as a coffee table in the main room. It is covered with bumper

stickers, and she encourages gallery visitors to add their own

message.

Moloney, a New York native, likes to express herself by painting

big.

“That’s what I’m attracted to,” she said. “Murals give you endless

options -- you can wrap them around a room and change the whole

mood.”

That’s what she’s been doing for five years at the Kraus residence

in Newport Beach. Moloney painted bedroom wall murals for each of

Angela Kraus’ three children. And when they wanted a change, she did

it again.

She transformed a room with clouds and airplanes to one with

surfboards and palm trees. She changed outer space to the Balboa

Pier, and swapped pink-and-white stripes for clouds and a hula

dancer.

“She and I have kicked ideas around for years,” Angela Kraus said.

“I’d say, ‘Tracey, I need this room to change.’ I’m at the point

where I can give her a concept and let her go.”

For another client, whose parents owned a vegetable stand in

Seattle’s Pike Place Market, Moloney painted a view of the market on

an interior wall.

Moloney said her projects take anywhere from one week to two

months and range in price from $1,000 to $30,000, depending on her

involvement.

Her most recent focus is painting portable murals on canvases that

can attach to walls. She is sometimes asked to paint designs on

furniture and other items.

But Moloney said she is ready to think small again by creating oil

paintings on regular-sized canvases.

Although she is out painting murals and making house calls during

the week, Moloney spends Saturdays and Sundays in her studio,

painting landscapes and beach scenes in the gallery window.

“I’m inspired all the time,” she said. “Hopefully it makes people

want to come inside.”

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at

[email protected].