Katie O’Rourke is a contemporary painter, teacher and co-founder of Upstairs Studio in Montpelier, Vermont near the mountains she calls home. She received a BA in Art Therapy and Psychology from Russell Sage College in Troy, NY. Katie grew up in upstate New York and has lived in various communities across the northeast. She has spent half her lifetime settled in the heart of Vermont and you can see the influence throughout her art. Katie works primarily in acrylics and oils and has participated in both solo and group art shows throughout the United States. She is continually exploring and perfecting new techniques to use in her expressive, bold, organic paintings.
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Artist Statement
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I come to my studio to escape reality, I close the door and leave everything behind. I meditate into a state of creativity. It’s addicting, and it’s a feeling I try to recreate every time I enter my space. I am inspired by rich vivid colors and nature, and often wonder why certain colors resonate with me. I think about them all the time like some love obsessed teenager and this drives me to paint. I hope my work will resonate with someone else and lead to their own love obsession.
I currently paint in both oils and acrylics. Like a true Gemini, I tend to bounce around the studio from one medium to the next. I am easily distracted and fiercely interested in anything new or different. I have to work hard to stay dedicated to my desired craft. I enjoy working in a series because this allows me to comprehensively study a technique and/or color choice until I exhaust it. This intense investigation almost always manifests itself into another exploration. Somewhere along the journey I will feel a spark of intrigue, a what if I did this or what if I did that? Honestly, I don't know why this happens, I only hope it will endure as long as I am able to create.
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