Celine Gabrielle

My work takes from my obsession with fashion and that the clothes we wear is how we tell the world who we are, or maybe who we aspire to be.  Sometimes it speaks our culture and can connect us to a place or time in history. Sometimes it blurs the lines of all that. It always tells a story.

I start with an image or a piece of clothing that inspires me. It has to speak to me. I’m slow. I work in many layers. I start with acrylic to block in main colours and shapes quickly. Then I switch to oils. I take my time carefully studying my references and refining section by section. I love that my paintings look realistic from far, but up close as I work it's just abstract colour and shapes—like an illusion.