A Recent Interview with a Leading Embrodiery Magazine

I was recently asked a series of 10 questions for a magazine called Cross Stitch Collection, the leading needlecraft publication in the UK. The interview request came from one of our newest licensees in the UK - Coats Crafts. They’re the premiere needlecraft company in the UK and throughout the world, a 260-year-old company now based in 67 countries. We’re selling the Thomas Kinkade Collection premium items under their Maia brand.

I was very intrigued by the questions and answered them very carefully. Here are the first two questions with my answers:

Where do you get your best work done?

In the sunshine. I love nothing more than setting up my easel outdoors, and thankfully in California that is possible much of the year. If I am bundled up well enough, I even enjoy painting in the rain. Luckily since I am an oil painter, the oil paints will not run even in a drizzle. My studio work is done in a cottage built in the 1930’s that sits amidst rolling gardens in Northern California. Where I live, anything built that long ago is considered a historic relic. Naturally in England such structures would merely be clutter that gets in the way of the truly historic structures. When I lived in Gloustershire for a period I stayed in a cottage that was almost a thousand years old. Now that is what I call inspiring.

We know you’re a talented artist, but confess one thing you’re absolutely terrible at?

Gardening. I am much better at painting gardens than planting them. I have always dreamed of tending my own garden, but find that I prefer the creativity available when you start with a blank canvas and add strokes one-by-one to create garden color. As a painter, my garden can emerge all at once, rather than over a period of months.