Tessa Spanton SWA Artist, tutor, writer
TESSA SPANTON SWA ARTIST, WRITER AND TUTOR
Welcome to my blog.
This is where I write about some of the things that inspire my work,
news of exhibitions and works in progress
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Silk Painting Demonstration
I was invited to do a silk painting demonstration and talk at the Feltham Art group. It was a friendly and lively group which made it a pleasure.
I demonstrated painting irises, one of my favourite flowers.
I did the drawing at home and outlined the flowers and leaves with gold gutta to act as a resist and keep the colours within boundaries. Colours spread fast on dry silk. The gutta had gone a bit thick and was rather difficult to pipe from the nozzle but it looked OK. I painted mostly wet on wet and had rather more leaks through the gutta than usual, so I had to work at speed and use the hair dryer often. I quite like a bit of colour flowing into the background and and vice versa into the flowers. I soften the leaked colour with water and dry immediately. The thing to try to avoid is when a bit of colour leaks through unnoticed and dries with a hard edge looking like a bubblegum bubble. Although even those can be turned into something else such as an extra leaf or petal.
I have a bit more work to do on this painting. Back in my studio I used a different tube of gutta and have gone back over some of the lines to make a more waterproof barrier. Then I will make the background colours much stronger especially behind the leaves. I will show the finished painting in another post.
One of the group asked whether metallic gutta could be used on watercolour paper. An interesting thought which I shall experiment with and report back in another post.
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5 comments:
Great to see you at work - I love iris too.
Hazel
www.artinwax.co.uk
Great blog Tessa, you've got me even more excited about the silk painting workshop that I've got lined up for January - I can't wait to learn how to do it and have a go myself! Although I fear it will be another expensive hobby to add to the list :/
I am sure that was a very interesting workshop! Love your silk paintings!!
Don't worry Stephie it's no more expensive than watercolour.
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