Vivian Moody is an Atlanta artist whose earliest recollection of an interest in art was from an elementary school field trip to Warm Springs, Georgia, to visit the Little White House. "I was more fascinated by the unfinished painting of Roosevelt than I was the house. It captured my imagination, and I dreamed of being an artist. Today, I feel I'm equally as comfortable painting people's faces as well as those of horses, canine friends, and other animals."

In her animal work, Vivian was originally inspired by English sporting paintings. She loves to do a bit of "interior decorating" with pets in their own home to make the painting more special. She tries to find that special "something" to show a pet's character, whether through a cocked head, a tucked paw, and, most of all, those loving, soulful eyes that adore you and would follow you anywhere. Because they provide viewer's with unspoken words, the eyes are the most expressive -- and perhaps the single most important part of the animal portrait.

Vivian works in many different art mediums, including pastels, but always comes back to her first love -- oils. She combines in her portraits a slightly impressionistic background with a higher level of detail in the face of the portrait subject. Her studies of children depict the faces of innocence while capturing their distinct personalities.