Visit the Studio with Carrie-Ann Bracco

Painter Carrie-Ann Bracco’s work is distinctive, escapist, and stunning. Within her paintings, we summit snowy mountain peaks and get lost in foggy foreign valleys. Let’s take a look inside Bracco’s rich world and studio now.

What materials do you use? And why?

I use oil paint, usually on canvas or panel, sometimes vellum or plexiglas. There are so many different ways that oil paint can be applied; it provides me with so many options. Oil also takes a while to dry and can be opaque, so it’s very forgiving. My painting process includes a lot of subtractive work or “corrections”. I put paint down but then often wipe it and manipulate the paint as a method to better shape the forms . My monotypes on paper are almost all subtractive, where the image emerges from the field of paint rather than the paint being added to create the image.

Since most of my imagery is landscape, I rely quite heavily on photography to gather information and inspiration. Early on, I did a lot of plein aire painting which is crucial to understanding color because the camera may not capture hues accurately. But plein aire painting involved frustrations with changing light, an insane amount of bug bites in the Amazon and seasickness in the Arctic. Ultimately, for me, more precise paintings require studio time. I now use the camera mostly to capture compositions and have a starting point for the image. Once the image is captured, I do quite a bit of image manipulation in Lightroom to adjust colors and values until the image is closer to my memory of my experience of the event as opposed to the “look” that the camera initially captured. Almost every painting I make is sourced from my own photography. The exception was my “Maparau” series depicting an alpine climb with the American Climber Science Program in Peru. At an altitude of 17,000 feet, I was so focused on hiking that I wasn’t able to take many photos. A fellow climber and professional photographer, Clinton Lewis, graciously shared his photos of the climb with me. My paintings for that series draw on a combination of both of our photographs merged together as well as my memory of the experience as starting points for the paintings.

What is your artwork about? What does it speak to?

Most of my artwork is landscape. I am endlessly inspired by nature –– I am constantly in awe of our natural environment and my paintings attempt to decode what makes a scene so emotionally arresting. I’m continually floored by how colors, shapes and textures can have such infinite variety. My landscape paintings are based on my personal travels and adventures. Over the years, I created works based on expeditions in the Arctic, the Peruvian Amazon, Patagonia, and the Andes. Other paintings depict beaches and popular rock climbing destinations.

I also create small drawings that come from my subconscious. These are my “Grover” drawings that depict Grover the Muppet trying to navigate our contemporary world. The images are usually related to my anxieties about political or societal events. These images pop into my mind fully formed; for example an image of Grover sticking his head in the sand while the water rises behind him as he tries to avoid climate change or an image of Grover searching under his bed trying to find a lost America after the last presidential election. After the image appears to me, I pose an actual Grover doll and approach it as a still-life drawing.

Where do you get your inspiration?

My primary inspiration is the environment –– which seems to be an endless fount of inspiration. But I also have a large network of mostly unknown but incredibly skilled artists who inspire me on a daily basis. Witnessing their impressive abilities while creating in relative obscurity inspires me and makes me feel like I’m part of a secret club. I love learning and figuring things out alongside them and being a part of that creative community.

What is your typical routine when you get to the studio? Walk us through a typical studio day.

Right now my studio is at home, the inner room of a railroad apartment, so I walk through my studio probably a hundred times a day even when I’m not painting. When I am working, I like to have sets of paintings lined up. That way, if something is drying or I need a break to think about a work and get some perspective, I can move on to something else. It’s a bit like working on a very slow assembly line.

My process begins with reviewing photographs, planning new compositions, and then figuring out the panel sizes that I need. Once I have decided on a handful of compositions, I get the panels, and “grid up” the drawings onto the panels for scale. Then I work on one painting at a time, starting with the imprimatura. The imprimatura is a quick, single color (usually a warm tone), transparent painting layer that allows me to figure out where all the major lights and darks of the painting will be placed. Then I take it layer by layer until I deem the painting finished.

If the colors in the painting are new to me, I will create a two dimensional “map” of the colors –– I will mix up samples of color and plot them on a chart according to their value, chroma, and hue along with noting the tube colors that were necessary for achieving the mixtures. This helps me remember how to recreate the same color again later if I run out of that specific mixture.

That’s generally my process for “formal” works. I have a much more informal process as well for drawings, monotypes on paper, and experimental paintings. I’ll just have a pile of photo references or ideas. I’ll pick one that matches my mood that day and approach it in an unplanned fashion, usually only working on it for one session over a couple of hours and then it’s “done”. I might make very minor touch ups later, but that’s rare. I think of those works as practices or drills for larger or more time consuming paintings.

Do you work at a particular size or scale? Why?

Currently I’m working fairly small with few works larger than 18x24 inches. The realities of having a small studio space and only being able to work on art part time allows me to finish a smaller painting without it dragging out over too many calendar days. Also, I am in a phase where I am pushing myself to learn and really figure out the nuances of techniques that, up until now, I only knew roughly. If I worked any larger, the corrections I’d need to make as I learn the technique would take up way too much time and would also be a waste of paint. Once I feel like I have a good grasp of a technique I will try it at a larger size.

What are you currently working on? Share with us what is exciting to you about this most recent work.

I’m currently working on landscapes that I’ve found frustrating in the past. Maybe they were frustrating because I was struggling to achieve the subtlety of the greens in the vegetation or because the wave pattern of an ocean scene was too complex for me to draw accurately. I’m trying to slow down and learn what makes an image a hard one for me to create rather than judge myself negatively for not being able to immediately achieve my intention.

Which artists most inspire you and your work?

Historic artists that have inspired me are John Singer Sargent, Edward Hopper, and Kathe Kollowitz. Recently, I’ve been increasingly inspired by contemporary artists that I’ve found via Instagram; especially ones that use paint in creative ways to describe landscapes, such as Whitney Knapp Bowditch, Alicia Renee, Brian Blood, Lynn Boggess and Conrad Jon Godly . I’m also inspired by much of the work that is created by alum from the New York Academy of Art. Some examples are artworks by Alyssa Monks and Lisa Lebofsky.

Do you balance another job in addition to being an artist?

I have a career in technology, specifically Data Analysis and Visualization. It’s a challenge to have two careers and to advance in both of them without feeling like I’m constantly making less-than-ideal trade-offs. However, both of my careers involve communicating visually which I enjoy. I also find a real benefit from toggling between the two careers during the week. The forced break from a current project allows me to suddenly have an idea about how to approach it better when I return to it later. I would not have those innovative ideas if I were just mindlessly focused on executing my first idea for the project.

Do you have any current or upcoming exhibits? Please share!

No upcoming exhibits currently. I’ve been focusing on making art and learning new skills. I’ve also used the pandemic to organize some of my internal art business record-keeping.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this special peek into Carrie-Ann's creative environment! Even in a virtual age, we encourage all budding collectors to take the time to connect with the artists you love directly.

We want to remind you of our awesome artist messaging feature directly on the Art in Res site––reach out now and foster that creative energy! Have more questions for Carrie-Ann on her art and practice? Follow up with her directly via our messenger. We know she’ll be thrilled to answer any questions you might have. Ask about a specific painting or about her specific process in general––either approach works!