Hello, My name is Kay Quist and Decorative Painting is my passion! When I think about my earliest recollections of “art work”, the first thing that comes to mind is being four or five years old and having a fascination with the magical, to my young mind then, boxes of “Crayola Crayons”.  Those boxes with tiered rows of many colors held my attention for hours on end as I transferred that wonderful wax to the paper landscapes of my imagination. When I was a little older, my young artistic interest was further piqued as my parents introduced me to the wonderful world of water colors with gifts of those intriguing  little tin boxes of “pads” of colors that could be transferred to paper by means of a wetted brush.  I’m not sure what the genesis was for my predilection and early interest in drawing and coloring. I like to think that there was some psychic connection to my great aunt Millie – whom I never knew –  and who during a period of her life was engaged in producing – painting and firing in a backyard kiln – sets of gorgeous China ware, many pieces of which I am lucky enough to own today.

During my school years, particularly high school and college, I pursued my interest by taking many painting/art classes including instruction in commercial art and art history.  I expanded my interest to ceramics and China painting, influenced I guess by the luminous pieces on my shelves that were produced many years earlier by mysterious Aunt Millie who died in the early 1900’s. Many hours of “pouring molds” for a local ceramics studio, financed my painting classes in those days!

In the mid seventies I discovered Decorative Painting and became “hooked” immediately, going through the “baptism of oils” and spending hours practicing the basic brush strokes to produce leaves, daisy flowers, strawberries and all the rest.  I have been totally enraptured ever since. Like many of my sister painters (and even some brothers!) I began to paint items that I could sell at local boutiques. This led to early efforts to design and paint some of my own one-of-a-kind pieces to sell which in turn developed into opportunities for teaching classes and producing instructional books and pattern packets.