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.


5 comments:

Art In Wax said...

Great to see you at work - I love iris too.

Hazel

www.artinwax.co.uk

Stephanie Guy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stephanie Guy said...

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 :/

Zuda Gay Pease said...

I am sure that was a very interesting workshop! Love your silk paintings!!

Colours and Textures said...

Don't worry Stephie it's no more expensive than watercolour.