NATCHEZ — When it is cold outside and too wet to play, Patricia Knight knows just what to say.

“Paint, draw, sew and design — That is what I’ll do today?”

Knight, a multi-media artist in Natchez, has a full bag of tricks from which to pull.

Knight said having a long resume of skills came in handy when she was working fulltime in New York as an art educator. Now she said having so many different interests keeps her busy in her home studio.

“Working with so many different types of art, has made me a better artist in the individual mediums,” Knight said. “Artists who concentrate in their one medium will say they are a master in that area, but I can use different elements of all these areas together in my art.”

She paints, both acrylic and watercolors, draws using pencils, colored pencils and ink, makes jewelry and does digital painting. She has also done metalsmithing, paper sculptures, graphic design, sewing and designed, illustrated and published two comic books.

One of her biggest recent projects is linoleum cut art.

Linoleum cut arts is the process of using pieces of linoleum to print a design. A design is drawn on the piece of linoleum and then different areas are carved out using a sharp knife. Ink is then applied to the surface and printed on paper or fabric. To apply different colors and accent different features, layers of the linoleum are carved away and then printed over the first layer of ink.

Knight began working with linoleum cuts seven years ago.

“I really like it because every one you do is an original,” she said. “Yes, you can do a series of prints that look the same to the average person, but each time you are making the print yourself.”

She said similar results can be obtained through digital methods, but she prefers the hands-on technique.

“Doing it on a computer, you don’t get the discrepancies, the imperfections that you expect with handmade art,” she said. “Those are the type of details that make the prints originals.”

Examples of Knight’s art are on display at ArtsNatchez Gallery on Union Street in downtown Natchez.

She is also doing a linoleum cut exhibit in February during the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.

Knight earned both a bachelor’s degree in studio art and a master’s degree in art education.

She began her career as a working artist focused on illustration and drawing while working in the marketing department at Kodak and later worked as an art teacher in schools before moving to Natchez after her husband got a job in town.

But she said her artistic nature began showing up in early childhood.

“I grew up in the country, and for the most part we had to entertain ourselves,” she said. “We didn’t have the video games and things children have today, so I drew.

“Today I still take a sketch book and camera with me everywhere I go in case I see something interesting that needs to be captured.”

While Knight said exploring different types of art has opened new opportunities for her, her first loves of illustration and drawing are the starting point for all he projects.

“Everything I do starts with a picture in my head,” she said. “I’m a very visual person, to the point that when I’m taking a test, I visualize where the answer is on the pages of books.

“When I’m starting a project, I have a picture, a drawing, of what it will be in my head from there it is just my imagination.”

Knight said being an artist isn’t something she could ever, or would ever, want to escape. She said, art is, in a way, what gives her life purpose and sets her apart.

“With art I feel like I’m earning my air,” she said. “A lot of times you can go through a day and say ‘What did I do today that makes me different from a chimp?’

“Art is what makes me who I am because I’m literally creating something out of nothing.”