Welcome to my online gallery. My goal in painting is to astonish myself and to share this sense of wonder with others.  I want the viewer to feel involved in the act of painting, to be aware of the brush strokes and the sensuousness of the medium as much as the subject matter of a piece.

Oil on linen is my medium of choice.  I enjoy painting wet on wet, sliding one color over the other to achieve richness and vibrancy.  I like to take risks and make new discoveries as I paint.  The color that I respond to when I paint is not necessarily the color that I see as a casual observer of a scene.  Colors emerge that excite me. Shapes become simplified, more abstract.

The act of painting transforms the way I see the world. 

 © 2004-2007 Gwen Cates - all files, photos, artwork, content