Visit the Studio with Rachael Wren

This week we submerge ourselves in the geometric abstract realm of painter Rachael Wren's atmospheric landscapes. Her meticulously built-up color layers draw the viewer in, inviting us to slow down and enjoy nature as we walk through her quiet forests of vibrating trees. As the world buzzes around us with a flurry of holiday spirit, let's take a moment to snuggle up close to a fire, take a page out of Rachael's studio practice and enjoy the present.

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

My paintings combine aspects of landscape and geometric abstraction –– I am fascinated by the challenge of bringing these two seemingly unrelated elements together. I am interested in dualities such as structure/space, order/chaos, repetition/randomness, and rationality/intuition.

Geometry informs the structure of a painting. Ideas for composition usually begin in my sketchbook, with quick diagrammatic drawings to figure out the placement and rhythm of the verticals within a grid. I think of a painting like a building, it needs a strong underlying framework in order to stand. I leave the grid lines visible, as a scaffolding to then “hang” the more random marks of color upon. The geometry supports the atmospheric space, keeping the air in the painting anchored.

Color, which in my work is related to landscape light and atmosphere, is the more intuitive part of my process. I begin each painting with a particular idea about color that comes from a memory of something I’ve observed in nature. Sometimes I keep thinking back to that initial impulse, working to capture the feeling of it throughout the process of making the painting. Other times, it is just a jumping off point and the color evolves in a different direction.

Geometry and nature come together visually in many ways within my paintings, most directly through rhythmic verticals, which I think of as trees. Spaced and patterned across the canvas, tightly grouped horizontal marks of varying color create the vertical forms. The final result is a receding, deep forest of color, geometry, and atmosphere.

Ultimately, I am aiming to create a sense of place that the viewer can enter into, both with the mind and the body. The paintings have a breathing quality, a quiet vibration created by the push and pull of mark and color. They are slow to make, and that time embedded within them asks viewers to slow down too; to look carefully and allow the layers of making and meaning to unfold.

Where do you get your inspiration?

I am inspired by the colors, rhythms, and sensations of the natural world. I am especially intrigued by moments in nature when edges between things seem to disappear and atmosphere becomes more present. It’s an experience that can happen during a snowstorm, being in a thicket of trees, or at dusk –– when the colors of the world seem to blend together. In my work, I aim to echo the feeling that being in the landscape evokes, rather than depicting an actual location.

What materials do you use? And why?

My primary medium is oil paint. I build up each painting with many layers of small brush marks of subtly shifting color. Each mark is its own solid color with a defined edge, but together they accumulate into a soft, hazy, deep space. The color interactions that emerge from the layering process create a sense of shimmering light and atmosphere.

By using a uniform paint stroke method all over the canvas, I weave together form and space. The two intermingle — each one is part of the other. At times, the vertical forms, or trees, seem to be dissolving into the space, or air, around them. I have always been intrigued by the fact that in painting you have to give space a color and a shape. It can’t be empty or unconsidered. In my paintings, I want the space to have as much presence and physical reality as solid objects.

I spend as much time mixing colors on my palette as I do putting paint on the canvas. I work over the entire surface of the canvas with one layer of a single color mark at a time. Each layer involves a gradation of that color, from light to dark, warm to cool, or saturated to neutral. I mix a color, apply it to one band of the canvas, go back to the palette to change the initial color slightly, and continue. The gradations generally involve six to eight steps, or variations.

My process is slow, with the possibility for color to change a lot over the course of the painting. Working with oils adds to that slowness, forcing it. I wait for each layer to dry before working on the painting again, which means that I never work on the same painting two days in a row. I am forced to pause and work on something else in the interim. This allows time for me to analyze a painting at each stage of its development and consider how the next color layer will interact with everything that is already on the canvas.

Although oil paint has the inherent potential to be shiny, I keep mine matte. I want the sense of light in the paintings to come from the color relationships I create, not from the medium itself. My method of juxtaposing small, repetitive marks of both contrasting and harmonious color creates a sense of luminosity and visual vibration.

As the layers accumulate, the painting unfolds and reveals itself. I never know at the beginning what the end result will be. Each time I work on a painting, I respond to what is already on the canvas until it reaches a point where the individual pieces of color seem to cohere into an overall atmosphere. All of the marks that I put on the canvas are visible and most are the shape of the brush that made them. In this sense, my process is revealed to viewers and I invite them to trace it while looking at the work. However, although nothing is hidden, there is still a sense of mystery and wonder at the alchemy of all the elements in a finished painting.

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

I have found that there is not really a typical studio day or routine I stick to. It all depends on where I’m at with the work. I usually have four to six paintings in progress at a time and I go back and forth between them. Sometimes I know just what I want to do to a painting and I can jump right into it. On other days, I spend a long time looking and wait to see which piece calls to me to work on. If I’m stuck and can’t find a way in anywhere, I’ll probably do some drawing, which often helps me look at things in a new way and unlock a new path.

The painting I usually want to work on is the one that feels the furthest from being done. When I’m at the beginning of a painting, I feel most free and experimental. I work faster and with larger brush strokes. My pace slows down as the layers of the painting build up. There are more colors and forms in play that need to be considered and each successive move affects all the ones that have come before. Starting is easy for me, finishing is much harder.

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

Most of the paintings I am working on now are medium scale, 3x3 or 4x4 feet. I also have a few 6x6 foot canvasses in progress, which are the largest paintings I have ever worked on. I’m really enjoying the all-encompassing feeling of working at that “human scale” –– the sense that I’m inside of the worlds I’m creating.

I almost always work in a square format. I know that some artists find the square confining, but for me it feels like the most expansive shape — it gives me the freedom to move equally in all directions throughout the painting. Using a square also emphasizes the geometry of each piece. The grid lines echo the square and return the viewer to the two-dimensional surface. The geometric and the organic are always in conversation; as are the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional. Configuring the natural world to fit the artificial shape of the square highlights the idea that I am not reproducing the landscape but rather reinterpreting it to make my own constructions.

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

I have a new group of paintings in progress in the studio, each of which expands upon my previous work in a slightly different way. I am introducing more diagonals and exploring different kinds of marks. On the whole, there is a sense of softening or letting go of some control.

For the first few months of the pandemic, I wasn’t able to go to my studio. I was mostly making small pencil and watercolor drawings in a sketchbook. I printed out some photos of trees that I had taken and they helped me think about the growth and patterns of nature in new ways. I can sense that the seeds of my next body of work are in that sketchbook. Now that I’m back in the studio, I’m excited about the challenge of translating those ideas into paintings.

Which artists most inspire you and your work?

My top three are Andrew Forge, Jake Berthot, and Agnes Martin. They each had an important connection to landscape that was expressed abstractly. All of their work emits both strength and softness. For me, there is an emotional and physiological response to standing in front of their paintings — a sensation where my body quiets down and I breathe deeper. The sense of slow time and quiet presence embedded in their paintings is something I strive for in my own work.

I am also inspired by my community of artist friends whose work I have watched develop over the past 10-15 years. It is very moving to see that as artists continue to work over a long time span, their work keeps deepening in profound ways.

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

For many years, I balanced other work, mostly web design and teaching, with my studio practice. I have been fortunate that as my career has developed, the balance has shifted, and I am now able spend much of my time painting. I still teach painting and drawing workshops and an occasional college art class. I am also a mom to two young kids, so during the pandemic, homeschooling has taken over a large portion of my days.

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

I currently have a painting on display at the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, as part of the Art in Embassies program (thanks to Art in Res for making that happen!). I also have work in two group shows now: “Darkest Before Dawn” at Ethan Cohen Kube in Beacon, NY, and “Solutions” at Tomato Mouse in Brooklyn. A couple of exhibits that had been in the works last spring were put on hold because of the coronavirus and I’m waiting to find out if they’ll be rescheduled down the road. In the meantime, I’m about to embark on a project that has come about because of covid-related changes: a mural on the outdoor dining area of a restaurant in NYC through the Curbside Canvas Project.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this special peek into Rachael'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 Rachael 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!