Monday, May 12, 2014

Silk Hibiscus

Silk Hibiscus
Image Size 8" x 10"
Silk dyes on silk
I'm going to be the demonstrator for the Tustin Art League on Wednesday and I will be showing how to paint on silk.  I will be showing the serti techique that uses a resist to control where the dyes go as well as the watercolor technique, which uses no resist and creates blurry colors. I also want show an example of how the dyes are controlled when using an all-over resist.  I have an all-over resist that is made by Jacquard called No Flow which I've used in small areas of other silk paintings that I've done but I've never coated the entire piece of silk and tried painting on it.

That is what I did with this painting.  The No Flow keeps the dyes from spreading and they act more like regular paints would on paper or canvas.  It was fun trying this technique but I missed being able to get the dyes to flow together and give that beautiful blended effect that can be achieved using the watercolor technique.

I also tried this same technique using spray starch as the resist.  It didn't seem to resist quite as well as the No Flow - the edges fuzzed a little bit - but it was almost as good.  I tried painting using the starch surface first and had okay results but I felt that there was something missing so I added some broken lines of black resist to create a look of pen and ink along with the color.  Here is that one:

I think I need to add some indications of other flowers and leaves loosely in the background.  I'm not crazy about this composition but I drew it in about 5 minutes so that's why it is as it is.  I learned that salt doesn't have much of an effect on this treated surface which makes sense because the salt can't draw the moisture out of the dyes like it can on an untreated piece of silk.

Overall, these two paintings were a fun experiment and I've added another technique that I can talk about during my demo.  Now, I just need to figure out what I'm going to paint that night.

If you are in the Orange County area and are interested in learning the basics of silk painting, you are welcome to come to the meeting.  It will be held in the board room of the Tustin Unified School District building at 300 south C street, Tustin.  The meeting starts at 7:00.

11 comments:

  1. Bonjour chère amie,

    Cela aurait été une belle expérience que de participer à l'un de vos cours. Dommage que vous soyez trop loin pour moi ! Je suis certaine que beaucoup vont répondre présent.
    J'aime ce bel hibiscus ! Sa fraîcheur et sa délicatesse s'ajoutent à la tendresse de ses couleurs.

    Je vous fais de gros bisous ♡

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  2. I think both pieces are masterful, Nancy. I honestly think I like the 5 minute drawing piece the most! Something about those "ink" lines that always draw me in and I love the flowers themselves. What type are those? Wish I could attend because I'd love to meet you and learn from you!

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    1. Thank you Sherry. I wish you could attend too. I do feel that some day we will meet but for now we will settle for being blogging friends.
      The flowers in the 5 minute drawing are fuchsias.

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  3. Wish I was close as know you will captivate them all and this looks so interesting. Perfect for my feature my friend? Like the background illusions in the top and love the colors on the bottom. Not sure I get the entire process yet but does look like you have a good deal of flexibility. Nice Nancy and unique work.

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    1. Thank you Nelvia. It's a fun process and and I always enjoy working with the silk paintings.

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  4. I wish I can go when you demonstrate how to paint on silk..SO interesting!!! The silk Hibiscus is beautifully painted....!!

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  5. Thank you Hilda. I wish you could attend too.

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  6. Nice work on the hibiscus, Nancy! Painting on treated silk has such a different feel and look than the flow-y dyes doesn't it? Sometimes I like having the control but eventually miss the fluidity and go back to watercolor technique. I think your audience will be fascinated by seeing both techniques!

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  7. Thank you Deborah. I just got back from the demo and I really enjoyed doing it. I was nervous because I don't usually like talking in front of people but demonstrating something I love to do was pretty easy.

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