Palette Knife Painters, International: Jacobean Crewel, by New York artist, Celeste Plowden

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Jacobean Crewel, by New York artist, Celeste Plowden

Because I was a textile designer, my eye is often caught by historical fabric and needlework patterns. This is one such modern interpretation of a popular 17th c. crewelwork design, painted wet on wet, blending the colors like needlepoint. 16x16 acrylic on gallery wrap canvas, sides painted, wired and ready to hang, UV varnish. Available for sale at

Saatchi Art

I learned the art of acrylic and pastel painting through private instruction, after having spent my career as a designer of printed fabrics in the New York market place. I am a graduate of the College of Design, Art and Architecture at the University of Cincinnati, with a major in the History of Art, 1977. Later, I studied printed textile design at Parsons School of Design, in New York. Immediately afterward, I began free lance work for several design studios in the garment district of NYC, where I did re-coloration work for printed apparel fabrics, and sold my own designs through Bread and Butter Designs,also located in New York. In addition, during the 1980's and 1990's, I designed a number of needlecraft and stencil books for Dover Publications. Currently, I am working on a series of exotic birds and other animals done in acrylic paint, with a palette knife, for texture and brilliant color. I consider my paintings to be representational or impressionistic in nature, and I use fantasy colors because what I see often makes me feel these colors,and what would make an interesting composition, rather than using realistic colors.