tashina knight

What could be more magical than a tree??
This one is acrylic, ink and colored pencil on watercolor paper.

This is my first drawing for Illustration Friday. I’ve always thought that spiders looked like little aliens checking out our world. This is what I think their world looks like.

Jane Sassaman is known for her quilting but in the past few years she has designed some dazzling fabrics for FreeSpirit as well. Her new collection, Butterfly Garden, continues her lifelong theme of flora and fauna. Her inspirations include William Morris and Kaffe Fassett.  Jane is not afraid to make unusual color choices. Notice in the first fabric photo that the background is a cherry ice cream pink.  She breaks up the background with dots of aqua blue, a color used in the butterfly’s bodies as well as the center of some flowers, tying the whole composition together visually.

Jane studies flowers in nature, then simplifies and stylizes and arranges the resulting composition. She keeps in mind always the medium she is designing for whether it be fabric, quilt, or rug. As she says in her book The Quilted Garden, "As designers begin working out ideas on paper, they must be mindful of the ultimate medium they are designing for. Each medium has its own particular beauty as well as its limitations, whether it is wood, metal, glass, or fiber. Designers should have respect for the materials and the craftsmanship it requires. They should take advantage of the medium’s unique characteristics and illuminate them."

I had an a-ha moment this week. I’d been looking at various books in my collection, trying to decide which direction to take my art in. What do I want to do next? What to call myself? Quilter? Painter? Doll maker? I’ve been away from doing artwork - except for a painting here and there- for a number of years. During that time I’ve kept up with the craft world by reading books and magazines. There are so many things I’d like to do, so many types of art out there and there is no single one that draws me to it to the exclusion of others. 

While looking at Susan Sargent’s new book The Comfort of Color this week, I realized that what I really am is a colorist. I am interested in quilting- but mostly because of all the luscious colorful fabrics. I am interested in interior design, fabric design, enameling, etc….but what I’m really interested in is how those media allow me to combine colors. Mixing color when lampworking glass is so different from choosing colors when piecing quilts, but I find each medium fascinating.

In this blog, I’ll share some of my own work as it progresses, but my main intention is to open a window into the art and craft world through color. I hope to show quilters some wonderful interior designers, inspire jewelers with color combinations used in knitting, and discover for myself what colorful direction my art will take next.

Welcome.