Stacey is an American gestural abstraction painter working in collage and mixed media. We first met her at a gallery exhibition in Santa Monica and are happy to share her amazing work.   As a self-proclaimed recovering perfectionist, she paints to escape a world of precision, instead employing abstract undefined shapes, textures, and layered tones. Her work is described as “delicate and ethereal, awash in a translucent haze.”

MANAROLA (Acrylic on soft fabric, yarn, cotton – 52”w x 62”h x 2”d)

With an early professional career in law and finance in 2014, Stacey left it all behind to pursue her passion for interior design (her side hustle) full-time. As an interior designer and home stager, she needed large-scale paintings for her projects (see why we love her work!). She quickly pulled out her painting techniques learned years earlier alongside her grandmother in her painting studio before she could read or write to create her paintings.

SHE SELLS SEASHELLS (Acrylic on soft fabric, yarn, cotton – 42”w x 42”h x 2”d)

Her notable visual style, influenced by color-field painting and lyrical abstraction, involves collaging layers of varying translucency over rough, nubby textile grounds. Stacey cites Georgia O’Keeffe as the longest-running influence in her work. What’s not to love in these tonal ethereal works that feel thoughtful and aspirational?

ROCKLOBSTA, diptych (Acrylic on soft fabric, yarn, cotton – 60”w x 50”h x 1”d)

Warnix sites other heavy influences on her work, including Helen Frankenthaler, Jeremy Le Grice, Rita Ackermann, Richard Diebenkorn, and Cy Twombly, which can be seen in ROCKLOBSTA, a monochromatic graphic form study. She states, “Although free-spirited scribblings feature prominently in my early layers while finding my flow, they seldom show through to my final layers.” 

RHYTHM OF THE RAIN (Acrylic on soft fabric, yarn, cotton – 50”w x 50”h x 2”d)  

Employing methods to silence her perfectionist traits, her paintings feature gritty, tactile details and small imperfections that melt into subtle tonal variations and ethereal obscurity. These effects are amplified when her paintings are viewed from a distance.

I FEEL YOU CLOSER (Acrylic on soft fabric, yarn, cotton – 38”w x 42”h x 2”d)  

Compositions like in I FEEL YOU CLOSER employ her use of gestural marks and hazy, fleeting memories. These large-scale abstract works feel both dreamlike and familiar. Warnix works out of a picturesque hilltop studio in the Texas Hill Country. When not painting, she can be found working on restoring her 110-year-old home; for more information or to purchase Stacey’s work, visit staceywarnix.com.