Meet the artist behind our designs

10 Nov

Meet the talented Sarah Jane Lightfoot - Modstitch illustrator and all around amazing human being. We sat down for a chat with Sarah to find out what inspires her art.

1. What's your background?

I studied Textile Design at Uni and, since graduating have worked in the fashion industry for the last 12 years. My current 9-5 is working at Peter Alexander, where I get to draw flowers and dogs and work on incredibly fun licenses and collaborations.

Outside my 9-5, I love to illustrate and paint botanicals and I try to get involved in as many exhibitions as I can. Currently, all my spare time is consumed with a picture book that I'm working on (which will be out at the end of next year). The book brings together my two big loves: illustration and nature - and I’m extremely excited about it.

2. What does your work aim to say?

I've never been one to seek meaning in my artworks. I enjoy the process and techniques required to create something, rather than aiming to say anything. But I love painting nature. It’s a constant inspiration to me. So I guess my aim is to create art that accurately reflects the beauty and importance of the natural world.

3. Who or what are your biggest influences?

Nature is my biggest influence. Going for walks and noticing what flowers are in season; from wattle in July to all the beautiful hydrangeas in summer (my favourite season). I also love to follow artists on Instagram and Pinterest. There are so many amazing local artists creating beautiful work at the moment. They provide me with a constant source of inspiration and do influence my work.

I especially love artists who paint ordinary objects or landmarks in a unique and magical way. My favourites are Marc Martin, Robert Bowers and Georgie Daphne. My very biggest influence, however, is my grandma, Cecelia, who also painted botanicals and designed cross-stitch. I have one of her paintings and it's quite surreal to look at it because it is very similar to my style of painting. Before she passed away she created a botanical cross-stitch for each of her children. My dad's is a Poppy and it's huge - over a metre tall! She created it without a pattern too, just went for it with a needle in hand. It's amazing.

4. Which current art world trends are you following?

Because of COVID, everyone has been restricted to their own neighbourhoods. And this is showing in their artworks. There's been a trend to photograph, draw, paint and create images that these artists see on their daily walks. Sketches of roses over a picket fence or photos of the golden hour reflecting off the neighbours tin roof. Little moments of wonder in their current groundhog days. I'm loving this trend of capturing the beauty in the mundane and keenly following it.

5. What process DO you use to create a Modstitch design?

The first step is to sketch up the concept based on creative direction from Candice. Designing usually involves a few thumbnail sketches of what I'm thinking, followed by some internet research and then a final sketch. I usually like to use procreate on my iPad so that I can play around with colours and press undo if needed.

Once the design is looking good it's time to get it ready to convert into a pattern. This is all done in Illustrator, where I plot out each of the little squares and recreate the artwork as close to the original as possible. This is what I like to call the Tetris stage and involves finding the perfect spot for all the little squares.

Once I think it's looking good and represents the original design I make sure the colours are working and see if any two colours are close in tone or shade. If there are two colours that are too close together I go through and put a symbol on one of the colours so It's easier to read that pattern. Then it's ready to go!

6. Do you have a favourite Modstitch pattern and why?

My favourite Modstitch patterns are definitely the three new indoor plants. Despite my love of plants, I'm not exactly the best at keeping them alive so I love that I can stitch one up and hang it one my wall without having to worry about watering it!