I believe that the body and face will always be of serious interest to human beings.  Through them we discover psychological and sociological truths about our condition.  My recent paintings include single figures and multi-figures.  To me one person in one picture plane is enough of a challenge to make an interesting painting.  I also want to take my ideas beyond that.  Combining figures is my way of telling stories.

I draw exclusively from live models, but my work is not intended to be a realistic representation.  I don’t want to replicate a city park or a mountain or make a copy of someone or something.  My aim is to interpret and communicate the sensation of seeing in all its complexities.  Toward this end, I prefer to use invented color and spaces. 

"The drawings marked instances in which the eye, the hand, and the emotions were in concert. (I would say "seamless" concert, if that adjective hadn't been used to death.) That unity, that momentum of coalescing elements --that's what Gretchen strives to achieve in her paintings."

Jan Avgikos, NYC Art Critic