Who are your favorite artists?
There are a LOT of different artists in the world. I could talk about my favorite musical artist, which, I don’t know that I have one. Taylor Swift is a logical choice for me right now, but music is too varied to have just one favorite. That’s probably why artist is plural in the question.
However, I thought of two artists whose work is more visual. One is a fiber artist that I’m madly in love with, though I’ve only knit one of his patterns. And that is Stephen West.
He designs such funky cool knitting patterns. A local yarn store in my area had him visit their store once for a meet & greet kind of thing. I don’t remember why I didn’t go, but man I wish I had! I believe he lives in Germany now and has a yarn store there. I have only made one of his patterns, the Doodler. It was a really cool shawl. This is one of his pictures that is on the Ravelry pattern page.
This is how mine came out, though my picture is nowhere near as amazing as his.
One of my favorite designs of his is a shawl that I really wanted to make back when I was a teacher. You know how teachers always say they have eyes in the back of their heads?
Never got around to making it though. It’d be tough to decide which color to make the eye, blue or green. I have one of each color for my own eyes.
Another artist that is on my list of favorites is Lisa Frank. Throwing it back to the 90s, possibly 80s. Y’all know who I’m talking about right? The woman who gave us posters and folders and coloring books and stickers with designs like this one:
My OG best friend and I stayed in touch for many, many years after I moved away thanks to Lisa Frank stationery. We used it to write letters back and forth. We each still have a box of the letters we received from the other. I need to dig it out and reach to the bottom to find some of the letters she sent me on it.
Honestly, it was the colors I think that made us all swoon over Lisa Frank. I read some comments that compare Taylor Swift’s new song “Opalite” (my favorite by the way) to a Lisa Frank poster. It’s what they visualize when they hear the song. They’re not wrong.
Because of the nostalgia and happiness that is rekindled when I see Lisa Frank images, I’ve decided that one of my next tattoos is going to be a Lisa Frank turtle.
I saw a tattoo version of it online and I loved it! It’s going to go on my left forearm because I’ve also decided that I want that arm filled with things that make me happy. That specific part of that specific arm was where I did the most harm to myself when my depression was at it’s deepest and most dark. Cutting myself made me a false kind of happy back then. It’s what I did to feel better. Now, I’d like to fill it with things that make me genuinely happy. The Lisa Frank turtle combines three things I love…turtles, fun and bright colors, and Lisa Frank in general and the memory of my childhood writing letters to my best friend.
I’ll have to find an artist who could do something so whimsical and colorful like that. Maybe I’ll go back to the girl who did my goldfish:
It’s possible that she could become a favorite of mine too. After all people who do tattoos are also artists. I don’t have a favorite one of those yet, but give me enough time and I will.
Leave a Reply