This is the silk painting that I was using as a demo piece on Saturday. I finished painting it today but it hasn't been steamed or stretched yet which is why it looks wrinkled. Also, the white lines will be brighter once the resist is washed out. At least I finished painting it. : )
This is a design I have painted before but the first one didn't have a border. I'll post the first painting at the end of this post. This one also has lighter flowers.
These flowers are Clivias, also known as Kaffir lilies. Typically they are orange but a few years ago I saw some pale yellow ones that I had to have. They are a lot harder to find than the orange ones. The yellow is such a soft yellow for the garden. Usually yellow flowers are pretty bright.
I was so happy when I finished painting this without having any bloopers. I was really nervous painting the black. It's really easy to flick the dye while lifting the brush and have it go in the worst places. That would have ruined the whole painting if black had gotten on the flowers or leaves. Originally, I painted the border a flat green. The flowers are so delicate that I didn't want a busy border to clash with that. After painting the border, it looked really blah to me so I held my breath as I added a different color.
When a color is added over an already painted area, the underneath color is activated enough to cause hard lines very quickly so it's impossible to get a smooth color wash. The effect is actually pretty cool but it would be hard to control the effect on a border because I have to start in one spot and switch off painting in both directions so that the dye doesn't dry and create an even harder edge. I added salt as I painted to create a more overall texture. I'm actually very happy with it. The salt drew the color that I added (brown) but didn't lift the original color (green) so the color mix is really pretty.
Below is this painting with the green border before I added the brown and salt.
And here is the original silk clivia painting I did a couple of years ago. After I steamed it and washed it, I noticed a white area (you can see it in this photo in the lower left corner area) in the black background so I repainted it and re-steamed it. I learned a lesson. The black and oranges bled in a couple of areas so even though most people think it looks fine, I could never sell it so I've always intended to re-paint is because I really like the design. This photo was taken before I re-steamed it so you can't see the color bleed.
Which of the three versions do you like best?
Silk Clivias II
Image Size 22" x 22"
Silk dyes on silk
Category ›
flowers painted on silk
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hand painted silk
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nancy goldman
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silk paintings
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yellow clivias
