Diane and her Art for The Casual Lifestyle.....

Diane Knott can't remember a time when she didn't want to be an artist. "Class artist" throughout grammar school, she attended college and studied both fine and advertising art in NJ. Although born in Olean, NY, where she spent her first 5 years, she grew up in NJ surrounded by centers of History and culture that have inspired her love of nostalgic themes. Her earlier years, in the home of her grandparents are the inspiration behind most of her kitchen and garden images. Today, she and husband, George, live in the beautiful Pennsylvania mountains in a small cottage overlooking lush hills and valleys, farms and woods. These views, her home and garden, and her growing years are a constant source of material for her ever-growing portfolio.

With two successful business ventures behind her, Knotts in Wood and The Pumpkin Basket, she is well acquainted with the wholesale and retail gift market, as well as the needlework and picture framing industries. Today, as a full-time watercolorist, she has her images produced on a variety of licensed products that continue to grow in number.

Diane began her career in art licensing in 1999 after realizing that the production work she was doing for their own wholesale business was much too limiting. Having so many more ideas than she could implement was frustrating. She wanted to be able to create designs for products that were beyond their manufacturing capabilities.

In the year 2000, a referral by a marketing company in Massachusetts, a company who already repped several of Diane's many licensed products, led her to a ceramics manufacturer in New Jersey. Through them Diane had many highly successful ceramic candle accessories custom created exclusively for Yankee Candle Company.

Additionally, in the summer of 2003, Diane personally approached David Peha of Clothworks/Fabric Sales Company, Inc. in Seattle, WA by submitting a number of her designs for possible art licensing on quilting fabrics. David's response was immediate and positive. To Diane's delight, because she has been a quilter since the 1970s and because she has sewn and loved fabric and all types of needle arts since she was 10 years old, Diane now has several successful fabric collections with the company. Four additional collections will be available this year, "Bedtime Stories", a children's/baby flannel group; "Castle Beach", something for stitchers and decorators who like a nautical theme; "Broom Sweepers", which is a whimsical and colorful Halloween line; and lastly, "Let It Snow", which is, of course, for Christmas and the holidays.

Today, Diane licenses her art exclusively through the energetic and highly successful team of Linda McDonald, Inc.

Diane and George enjoy traveling to England, the Southwest, through the Finger Lakes Region of NY state and New England. Her plein-aire images of English cottages are among her favorites to paint. She is an avid photographer and when not painting, can usually be found with her nose in a book or her hands engaged in some form of needlework. She and George have two daughters, Holly and Danielle. Holly is an accomplished photographer and art quilter, and is also a website designer. Her artwork can be seen here. Danielle, a talented singer, is currently an editor for a theological publishing company.