Taylor Binda

 What’s the meaning of your business name?

i have my mom’s maiden name, binda, which is a town in italy where my maternal grandfather’s side is from … i sign my paintings “binda” to honor that heritage & essentially to carry my lineage/history forward in a new way… as for tay and toast … i got that from my maternal grandmother that we called nini, from her cure for all the things “tea and toast” she always pronounced toast like “toe-est” … very irish, gaelic of her … grandma’s are the best :) i miss her everyday

 

 

 

i’ve always expressed myself by way of color & form, from the way i dressed to the color on my walls. painting took a more forward role in my life in late teens as a way to navigate feelings, deeper thoughts, and essentially to process all of the above. i was really moved by a color theory class i took in fashion school at 18 and it was then that i started applying more paint to canvas and became obsessed with mixing & making colors.  

 

 

neon pink acrylic paint, palette knives, turquoise deep heavy body acrylic paint, canvas, linen, watercolor paper, flora, oil pastels on occasion & always titanium white acrylic paint - i never use colors straight from the tube, i always mix - mostly with leftover water from cleaning my brushes so it’s ends up adding to the tone

 

 

lol, always & foreve … i’d say less of a decision & more of like i had to.

 

 

mostly! my grandmother was always my biggest fan & encouraged me to live a life i dreamed, she trusted i could do anything i put my heart into… my mom is super creative when it comes to interiors & personal style so i learned a lot from her - she was a single mom for the first part of my life and has always inspired integrity & dedication, but being a painter was not always understood as far as making a living goes… listening to my own inner guide & my circle of artistic friends has been the biggest encouragement of all (even when the inner critic gets noisy) 

 

good question… mostly the physical act of painting, getting all the feelings & moods & thoughts & wonders from the inside - out … coffee helps ;)

 

 

What makes you stick with it? i never get tired of mixing color, applying paint & color to any & all surfaces … i stick with it out of sheer magnetism, i feel drawn to certain colors at certain times & feel the need to explore them & their relationships (self reflective) … being in the studio is where i feel the most free & connected with myself

 

sometimes there are years and years of layers to a painting, sometimes i paint one in a day … i am currently working on expanding my offerings for my paintings into thoughtfully designed & useful products & textiles …. and also that i work with textiles as yew gals know … wild flora is an another aspect of my studio practice, harvesting color from nature & applying it to textiles & teaching workshops

 

currently, the limitation of space at my home studio (always craving to paint larger) & staying organized with all the details, aka looking for a new space & art assistant … & in times like these, spending time with other artists & traveling, two of my biggest sources of inspiration, are quite limited so i find that challenging these dazeee