Gretchen Warsen

The good parts get saved and the better parts-the precious bits that I fall in love with easily but are notoriously distracting-they get ruthlessly covered over for the benefit of the whole. I work best on a large scale so that there is enough room for all the things-repeating marks, opaque patches of acrylic color bumping up against translucent fields, drawn lines, scrapes, smudges, and smears. I paint fast, but not just intuitively... I love to draw and have found that pulling colors, shapes, and compositional ideas from real-life sources: interior design magazines, children's book illustrations, technical drawings, or a still life setup, keeps the painting fresh and bold and can bring an element of unease or a strangely-recognizable weirdness to the piece.

When I'm in the "flow state" in my studio, I lose track of time and, at best, even myself. In just one painting, there are so many previous paintings, worlds covered by new worlds. 

I grew up in an old farm house near the coast of Maine-an environment perfect for observing and exploring. I majored in art at Bates College and spent a semester at the Tyler School of Art in Rome.

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