Yorkshire

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="600" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoir1-1024x600.jpeg" alt="Jim Moir " class="wp-image-8322" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoir1-1024x600.jpeg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoir1-300x176.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoir1-768x450.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoir1.jpeg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Why did you choose to exhibit at Cartwright Hall? Because I was asked! But it’s a real privilege to be in the Hockney Gallery. When I was young and at art school, I was a big fan of Hockney, so I’m proud to be in there.



Can you tell us about the themes in the Neo Fauna exhibition? Birds are a big part of it. My first show in the Wirral was all birds, across three different rooms, including a crepuscular room. This time I wanted more variety and there are comedy paintings too. There are six big abstract or semi-abstract birds, more impressionist really, done specifically for the show. I wanted it to follow a story as you go around the walls, one painting leading into another.&nbsp;



There are also seven paintings of American couples, like the kind of photos you’d have above a fireplace. They’re based on real ones but distorted, with little stories attached. The final one has seven personalities.&nbsp;



How often do you paint? I think if you’re not in the mood to make art, don’t do it because it won’t come out right. But I paint every day. I usually get up at around 5.30, begin at 6 and finish at 12. I never don’t do anything. But if I’m not painting, I’m out somewhere, birdwatching. If you’re not working, you’re still looking. I’ve got a rule &#8211; if I’m going to paint a bird, I have to have seen it. I take pictures and work from those. I grew up in the countryside, so that’s what I see and always go back to.&nbsp;



What materials do you use? I mostly use oils and acrylics, nothing out of the ordinary. The big bird paintings are all oils. I was always afraid of watercolours because you can’t make mistakes and they do things you don’t expect. You feel a bit like King Canute trying to control water. But you can have a good go at it. Water is my very good friend now.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="600" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Bradford-1024x600.jpg" alt="Jim Moir: Neo Fauna " class="wp-image-8323" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Bradford-1024x600.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Bradford-300x176.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Bradford-768x450.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Bradford.jpg 1220w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Do you prefer painting large or small works? I prefer large-scale paintings, but I know if I paint enough A5 blackbirds, they’ll sell.



How long does a painting take you? It varies. Oils are strange &#8211; you build up layers and they can take five months because you’re waiting for them to dry. I use a greenhouse drying room, which can get them dry in a day sometimes. 



With oils, it’s layering over time. With ink and watercolour, it’s quicker but less controllable. There’s always an element of things going wrong, such as blooming and water pooling. I was painting yesterday and it took about eight hours and then the final stroke went wrong. That’s when you know it’s time to walk away.



You went to art school. How much has your painting style changed over the years? The core of what I do has stayed the same but it’s evolved. I was probably doing more comedy paintings earlier on. Art goes through styles and fashions like anything else and at the moment there’s a trend for loosely drawn, comedic paintings. In that sense, I’m half on the right track. People find accuracy and skill a bit boring now and so you don’t get as many pure landscapes.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="800" height="533" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoirFredOlsen.jpeg" alt="Jim Moir " class="wp-image-8324" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoirFredOlsen.jpeg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoirFredOlsen-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/JimMoirFredOlsen-768x512.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></figure>



Would you have had a career in art if you hadn’t found fame as Vic Reeves? Yes. When I left art school, I went and did Vic Reeves Big Night Out, then ended up on TV. But it’s all still art, it’s just channelled differently. I make a living from it now, so I think I know what people like and what works. But the work I was doing then isn’t that different from what I do now, it’s just expressed in another way.



Your former comedy partner Bob Mortimer once said everyone should go to art school. Do you agree? Yes. And I think they should do more art in schools. I go into schools and talk to kids and they often think art isn’t a viable job. But art school teaches you ways of looking. You’re taught to see things differently, to go outside and really look at what’s around you. People walk around without noticing things. Look at something for twice as long and you’ll find something you didn’t see before.



What’s the biggest misconception about art? People say they can’t draw. But if you can hold a pencil, you can draw. If you draw a tree and it looks like a tree &#8211; fine &#8211; but sometimes the other version is more interesting. You have to be able to do it right to do it wrong and I like seeing how far I can take that. Sometimes you know where a mark should go and you deliberately put it in the wrong place. That makes me laugh. If it’s made you laugh, that’s something. Which artists have influenced you? Hockney when I was at art school. Also Philip Guston and Rose Wylie &#8211; work that some people might think looks terrible at first but it isn’t. It takes a lifetime to draw like a child. I also like Albert Oehlen and Martin Kippenberger &#8211; there’s real humour in that work. 



What do you think about AI and its impact on the art world? If you can fool AI, you’re on the right track. That’s why I like watercolour. AI can’t control water. Humans barely can. There’s always an element of it going wrong. That’s the truth of it. AI can’t control water! Jim Moir: Neo Fauna is on at the <a href="https://bradfordmuseums.org/event/jim-moir/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cartwright Hall Gallery</a>, Bradford until 31 August



IN THE MOOD FOR MORE?



<a href="https://yorkshire.muddystilettos.co.uk/most-read/superflash-newsflash-celebs-abound/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Superflash newsflash: celebs abound in Yorkshire</a> <a href="https://yorkshire.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/creative-crush-list-yorkshire-workshops-that-could-change-your-career-path-or-at-least-your-weekend/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative crush list – Yorkshire workshops that could change your career path (or at least your weekend)</a> <a href="https://yorkshire.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/arts-culture/best-outdoor-art-yorkshire-sculpture-gardens-hepworth-hockney-hirst/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Culture in the wild! Yorkshire’s top outdoor art spots </a>

Muddy Meets: Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves)

You may also like