Painting Picture Frames

I sometimes paint picture frames to a colour that suits the painting. I usually use artists' acrylics or Dulux eco range. The frames for little group of lavender themed paintings above were transformed from various browns to a soft grey with a hint of aqua using Farrow and Ball's skylight.

Inktense on Silk Part 1

This lavender field was painted on damp silk using Inktense blocks, It is approx  4in square

The manufacturers say these can be used on silk and when dry are permanent. Silk paints are usually fixed by ironing. I ironed this. 

Below is my sample to test the colours to see if they are colour fast when washed. 

I will also test the colours to see how light fast they are but that takes time.

The sample on the left was cut in half and the right hand side washed. The right hand photo shows before and after washing. I didn't notice any colour running in to the water though the sample on the right has gone a little lighter.

I also tested some other aquarelle sticks on damp silk. I didn't cut these samples in half but just washed the right hand side of each.
D    Daler Rowney's Aquatone
CD Caran d'Ache Neocolour
L    Lyra

With these I could see the colour coming out into the water. The manufacturers of these makes don't claim that they are colour fast.

The Inktense blocks seem to have done the best on washability.
I am not sure that I would use any of them for silk scarves.
They would be good for making silk painted cards or small paintings and are more portable for working outside or on holiday. They would be ideal for groups of children to use.

Canna Durban silk painting

  Canna Durban    silk painting by Tessa Spanton (c)

                                   
I have several paintings in 'Art for Gifts at Christmas' until 24th Dec 2013
The one above is in the window. It is in a light hardwood frame size 23x27in
at The Corner Gallery, Carshalton Beeches, Surrey

I grow these cannas in my garden and draw them at different stages as they grow. I did a series of paintings from my drawings inspired by the way the colours glow in the sun.

I painted using successive layers of colour and clear outliner resist. No size or thickener was used.
I draw on the silk with a pencil and then wet the silk. It wouldn't work using a fade away marker as it would vanish when the silk was wet. The colours are brushed onto the wet silk and go beyond the pencilled shapes. I used iron fix paint for this but steam fix can also be used this way. Clear outliner is then applied to some of the pencil lines. Then paint is brushed to one side of the line to cut out the shape.
It needs some planning as to which colours will work over which. The outliner lines will not be visible if paint is only put on one side of the line when finished a sharp edge is created. If painted both side of the line then the line will be the colour of the first layer as in the pink edge of the stem of the central flower. Depending on the painting I might repeat this several times building up more layers and depth of colour.

Paintings from Tresco

 Island Dreams    oil pastel by Tessa Spanton (c)  2013

Scilly Blue  oil pastel by Tessa Spanton (c) 2013
Gimble Porth, Tresco, looking towards St Helen's Lighthouse


 Both paintings will be on show with the Dorking Group of Artists exhibition at Denbies, Dorking from 9th - 12th October.

 I have painted on the beaches of Tresco in different seasons and times of day. Although there is beauty on a misty day it is the incredible blues and turquoises of a sunny day when set against the whiteness of the sand that inspire.
Tresco is one of the Isles of Scilly, set in the Atlantic like little gems almost 30 miles SW of Lands End.

Working with Silver and Copper

On Friday I had a taster lesson in silversmithing with Aileen Hamilton at her studio in Redhill
 (details here )
 I thoroughly enjoyed trying something new and it was a treat to learn with Aileen.
She showed me some techniques and we tried them out on copper first.
I tried embossing the copper with various hammers and stamp like tools
Photos below
Top and bottom right
Amazingly the embossing on the top and bottom left were done by a dried leaf and some lace. These would be too fragile to hammer so each was laid on a piece of copper and were passed through a roller mill.

 Some of the tools I used.

To emboss the copper I hit the top of this tool several times with a hammer.

Annealing  The copper is heated then cooled in water to make the metal softer to bend. 

 Here the ring has been shaped, soldered and cleaned ready to be filed and polished.

I then chose how to decorate the silver. I enjoyed this part the best.

I then went through the other processes as described above for the copper ring.

Here I am trimming the ring to my size.

 and here it is soldered, cleaned filed and polished. I am pleased with the result and most satisfying to try something new to me and have some insights into an age old craft that goes back millennia.

florum 2013 Exhibition of Botanical and Floral Works

' Daylilies' silk painting (c)  Tessa Spanton SWA

 florum's 10th anniversary exhibition runs until 5pm on Saturday so if you haven't already been there is still time. I have 7 paintings on show plus prints and cards.

http://www.florum.co.uk/exhibition.html

florum 

Exhibition of botanical and floral works

7^th – 14^th SEPTEMBER

KWT Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, Bradbourne Vale Road, Sevenoaks TN13 3DH

more than 60 invited artists

all works for sale 

many different media

prints and cards

free admission and parking 

credit cards accepted

“It was certainly the best looking exhibition I’ve attended in terms of botanical artwork”  

(Katherine Tyrrell, one of the UK’s foremost art bloggers at http://www.makingamark.blogspot.com)

Our 2013 visitors said…

“It is so exciting to see something of this quality”
“This exhibition goes from strength to strength – every year better than the last!”
“An incredibly high standard – brilliant work”

http://www.florum.co.uk

Poppy in the Lavender watercolour (c) Tessa Spanton SWA

Marbling at Art in Action

In July I spent a day at Art in Action, one of my favourite events of the year. It is held over 4 days in the beautiful grounds of Waterperry House near Oxford. There are some truly superb works on display and as well as watching artists and crafts people at work there is a chance to ask questions and several opportunities to try something new.

This year I tried a taster a marbling taster with Hikmet Barutçugil from Istanbul. I wanted to do a tulip and the results are shown above. I have done a bit of marbling on silk as described in a previous post and would like to do tulips on silk.

Hikmet works on silk as well as paper and also does yardage.

The photos below show Hikmet's wife demonstrating some of the steps involved. 

1 For marbling on paper natural dyes are used. These are splashed or carefully dripped onto a soft gel  like layer made from water and gum arabic.

2 The dyes are manipulated in various ways. The second photo shows the pattern floating on the gel .

 3 a monoprint is made by lowering a sheet of paper onto the surface then carefully pulling it off.

Each artist /crafts person contributes what they consider their best piece for a display that fills a large marquee. Hikmet won the Best in the Best of the Best at Art in Action last year. Shown below.

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