More Sea Views

This silk has writing worked into the ocean water, and lots of colorful coral, seaweed, etc.  The lion fish looks better than it does here because I outlined it with an iron-on copper and gold gutta, so some of the details stand out more.  Silks can be reworked, you can reapply resists, and over dye.  I generally feel that I have put in enough hours with a one time attempt.  Sold!  Don't you just love the coral!

Fascination with Ocean Critters

In my living room for about seven years, I have hung a trio of ocean silks.  They each feature sea dragons or sea horses.  At about the same time I met my first 'real' sea dragons; and have had a fascination with Weedy and Leafy Sea Dragons every since.  Since then I have acquired several sea dragon videos, and have seen the real critters in Chicago and Philadelphia.  Several of my calendars and Christmas cards have featured these critters, too.  Soldlll!

Sunset on Silk

This silk is just for fun.  I just kept adding colors, and kept washing them over the wet silk.  It only took about fifteen minutes to paint. So much fun to watch the dyes interact with each other.  35"x35".  Donated to a worthy cause!

Steaming

Once I decided to work for a year on silk paintings, I decided the only sure way to success was to invest in a steamer.  This is a commercial chimney which is about seven feet tall, so tall I need to keep it in the garage.  

When four or five silks are painted, they are wrapped in newsprint and steamed for about 90 minutes.  That is not the end of the process, though.

This piece is my '70's silk.

It is 35"x35" and looks nice of my studio wall.

A Years Worth of Silk Painting

I dedicated 2008 for designing, and painting silks.  Usually my 'spare' time is used to work on calligraphy, but 2008 was my 'Silk Year'.   Every weekend I was in the studio experimenting with new techniques, with different silks, and with different resists.  The results were usually quite nice.  This is the beginning of the dragonfly piece you first saw!  35"x35"

Why Paint Silks?

Painting silks is an awesome process.  It is a true art.  

(Some of you who saw my other blogspot will recognize some of my words.  I have had to start over because of an e-mail address change, so I am sorry that this seems a little disjointed.)  This was actually one of my last silks painted.  This silk has a design woven into it, so trying to paint the peacock feathers into the already present design was a challenge.  12"x60"

Writing on Silk?

Writing on silk is not an easy proposal.  The resist has to 'feel' like ink, but not spread like ink. Some precision is lost whenever writing on fabric, but the results are quite stunning.  This piece was done twice because the 'red' (which I used to make the browns) in the first piece ran into my lettering.  The size is about 35" x 35" and this is meant to hang on the wall as a piece of art.