"Steady the Way" Painting

Contemporary portrait painters, Sonny and Lisa Moeckel, are a married artist duo who collaborate simultaneously on the same canvas using primarily oil paints by combining their abstract and realistic styles to create expressionist paintings. Sonny is an Indigenous artist who grew up on the Reservation. He is Jicarilla Apache and Navajo. Their unique collaborations evoke human emotions and vulnerability through painterly lines and vivid colors. Moeckel Studio’s artwork is included in numerous private art collections throughout the U.S and their work has been featured in many art shows and galleries, and they have won awards together for their art. Lisa has focused mainly on realistic portraiture, while Sonny’s artistic style is more abstract. She has expanded into painting in collaborations with Sonny. They allow the painterly lines to show through in their work to display their process. Their paintings consist of many layers. Each layer takes weeks, and often months to dry. It can take years for one painting to reach completion. Their works express the balance between reality and distortion. When looking closely you can see each individual stroke of paint working together in unison to complete the picture. Sonny and Lisa are married artists and spend most of their free time creating art together promoting collaboration in their work and relationship. Sonny’s culture has inspired many of their works and he hopes to remind people of the importance of indigenous people, and the struggles they have had to overcome, both in the past and present. We want the viewer to experience the spirit of the Indigenous people and the importance of working together in unison.