From Textile to Canvas: How My Fashion Background Influences My Art

From Prints to Paint: How Fashion Shaped My Art (But Fine Art Set Me Free)

If you’ve been following my creative journey for a while, you probably know I didn’t start out as a fine artist. For years, I worked as a fashion print designer - creating custom patterns for brands, following trend reports, and keeping up with the fast-paced rhythm of the fashion industry.

And while that chapter taught me so much about creating wearable and on-trend commercial art, these days you’ll find me with a paintbrush in hand, lost in my own world of florals and colour on canvas.

So, how did I arrive here, and how does my background in fashion still influence my art?

Fashion Trained My Eye (and Gave Me a Solid Foundation)

Working in fashion gave me a solid foundation in creating design-led and commercially appealing art. I learned how to spot emerging trends, build a cohesive collection, and pay close attention to detail, especially regarding colour and composition. In fashion print design, you can’t just throw a bunch of motifs together and hope for the best. Everything needs to flow, respond to a consumer need, and fall effortlessly on the human body.

That constant exposure to trend forecasting and seasonal palettes sharpened my instincts and helped me build a strong visual language. Even though I’ve shifted away from fashion, that eye for balance and colour harmony is something I still carry with me every time I step in front of a canvas.

Designing for Fabric vs. Painting on Canvas

Let’s say… It’s a totally different world.

Designing prints for textiles is a highly technical process. You’re always thinking about repeat structures, correct file setup, production constraints, and how a print on textiles will move with the body or drape on fabric.

Painting on canvas? There’s more room to breathe. Rather than designing for a product such as a garment, there are no repeat tiles to line up, no colour separations to prepare, and no client asking for multiple colourways. Just me, the brush, and whatever’s coming through in that moment.

It’s more fluid, emotional, and intuitive. And while it took some time to let go of the need to make everything repeat perfectly, I’ve come to love the freedom of creating art from the soul.

How Textile Design Still Shows Up in My Art

Although I no longer design fabric, my background in fashion print design continues to influence how I approach my paintings.

I’m always thinking in layers - how shapes, textures, and negative space play together, much like building up a complex repeat pattern. I still love to use bold, expressive colour palettes (thanks to all the inspiration from fashion trend reports). And I still gravitate toward rhythmic and organic floral motifs.

Sometimes I even paint in a way that mimics the flow of a pattern, letting the movement of the brush echo the idea of repetition, even though it’s not literal. My past life in fashion print design still influences my work, but now I get to bring that sensibility into something that feels more freeform and soulful.

Creative Freedom > Creative Briefs

At the end of the day, fashion provided me with structure, skills, and a profound appreciation for visual storytelling. But fine art gave me permission to be myself.

I chose this path because I wanted to create from the heart, rather than following new trends on the runway. I wanted to make work that reflects where I am, not where the trend cycle says I should be. Most of all, I wanted to slow down and reconnect with the joy of making without worrying about deadlines, deliverables, or client approval.

Fashion will always be part of my story. But painting is where I feel most at home.

Carolyn