Holiday Fair Isle Sweater Poster

A fair isle jumper painted in gouache on textured white paper, laid flat with the sleeves spread. The yoke runs through bands of red flecks, green zigzags and small cream diamonds, with ribbed cuffs and a ribbed collar in solid green. The brush marks are left visible inside every band, so the knitting reads as painted rather than printed. There is no body in it and no background behind it, which turns the garment into an object. Christmas is implied by the pattern and nothing else. The paper texture shows through every brush mark, which keeps the garment from looking like a product shot.

The white ground makes this one of the easier seasonal prints to place: it lifts a pale wall without committing the room to a theme. It suits a bedroom, a hallway or a living room, and it works particularly well in a vertical pair with another painted garment or still life. Frame it in light oak or white to stay with the paper; black gives the pattern more snap. Keep a mat board if you want the painting to float.