SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE  

There comes a time in everyone's life when they realise that their potential extends beyond their current situation.  Such a revelation came to docorative artist Mark Moore by chance - and he has not looked back since.

Born in Gloucestershire, England, Mark moved with his family to New York when he was only six and spent the subsequent 30 years living in the United States.  He began work with his brother as a regular painter and decorator until, one day in the mid 1980's a client asked him, out of the blue, if he could paint flowere on the wall of her bathroom.  Although a little surprised, Mark was delighted to take on the challenge, having always had a certain talent when it came to art and design.  The flowers soon took shape; and as they came to life so too did Mark's new vocation. 

The only blight in his story was the death of his brother in the early 1990's.  It was this tragic event that pre-empted both his and his family's  move to Northern Ireland in 1993.  Mark was now on his own but as determined as ever to go ahead and re-establish his business.

Since then, he has been responsible for the decorating of individual residences, Marlborough Interiors on the Lisburn Road, Cafe' Ceol in Bangor, The Parliment and Shenanigans in Belfast and numerous other places - as well as taking part in a Challenge Anneka competition at Corrymeela, on the North Coast.  It has not been easy going though and Mark has been struck by the diffeneces he encountered in setting up in business here as opposed to in America.  Now, however, he is settled and confident about his role.

Mark maintains that his greatest advantage over his competitors is that he is "a one stop shop".  He will do everything from plastering your walls to decorating them with murals, even painting a watercolour to show you how the finished room or guilding will look.  His other stipulation is that if at all possible he will not copy.  His paintings are original, his designs his own.  His vast amounts of experiene both in America and Northern Ireland, and on the odd excursion to the Republic or to England, have placed him in the pleasant position of being able to decorate anything from a door frame to an entire house, and what's more, to use his imagination to turn his customer's intial tentative ideas into solid, breathtaking reality.  It is Mark's firm belief that "a good decorative artist should be able to make even a bad idea look good."

Judging by his work so far, he certainly lives up to the standards he sets.