Stacey Warnix’s Millefiori Collection: Referencing Italian for a thousand flowers, Millefiori embraces the artist’s love of flowers and travel. Gestural marks and​ ​brushstrokes combine to form deconstructed, abstract landscapes that resemble​ ​loosely splayed flowers. The artist builds​ ​dozens of layers of varying translucency to yield delicate, ethereal tonal​ ​effects over raw textile.
Structurally, the artist​ ​renders intentionally vague compositions that are loosely inspired from hazy,​ ​fleeting memories of places and moments experienced during extensive​ ​international travels. By limiting​ ​mark-making to imprecise, free-flowing gestural movements, the lack of representational context conveys a sense of ambiguity and universality that​ f​eels both familiar and imagined, like a bewildering daydream.
About the artist’s​ ​process:
All paintings include​ ​dozens of exceptionally thin hand-mixed layers applied over raw textile and​ ​include elements of collage that set and cure within wet paint layers. The artist has developed proprietary methods that​ ​exploit the molecular resiliency of modern acrylic-based paint technologies​ ​while mimicking the delicate aesthetics of pastel and watercolor applications,​ ​eliminating the inherent lightfastness and sealing challenges associated with
such media.
As a gestural artist, the​ ​artist approaches her creative process with fluidity and flexibility. She starts each painting with little more​ ​than a loosely defined concept or color scheme, laying down base layers with​ ​sweeping strokes and gravitational manipulations, allowing happenstance to​ ​shape the initial composition. Interspersing​ ​pigments and collage of varying translucency over raw, nubby textile grounds​ ​results in tonal and textural variations that convey gritty visual complexity and​ ​texture up close, but amalgamate into ethereal obscurity when viewed from​ ​greater distance.
Embracing the vague​ ​process, the artist incorporates markings that are emotional and often evocative of natural forms – like the wavy undulations of a flower petal or a​ ​weather-worn branch, or the silhouettes of deconstructed landscapes. She works​ ​i​n abundant layers, often numbering into the dozens for a single artwork,​ ​relying on artistic intuition to determine when an artwork is complete.