Fireweed Mountain Meadow
Hand Painted Silk

I am constantly inspired by the beauty in nature; colour, shape texture, pattern. Much of my work is inspired by hiking, as is "Fireweed Mountain Meadow", with the Three Sisters Mountains in the background.

I take photographs and combine them with inspiration from other sources including my back yard, magazines, museums, other artists' work, etc. Flowing lines, simplicity and use of bold colour is characteristic of my work.

My preferred medium to work in is painting on silk. My drawing is done on paper, to scale. This is then traced onto silk using a blackened resist called gutta. This resist acts as a dam, holding colour into particular areas.

Once the resist lines are dried, the silk is suspended in a frame and the colour is painted on to the fabric with brushes. The colour is a dye made especially for silk and is very liquid in form. It bleeds up to the resist lines on the fabric. I work to blend colours into each other on the fabric surface.

This piece has about 15 base colours and additional colours result from blending colours on the silk. Once the dye dries, the fabric goes through a four hour steaming process to set the colour. The fabric cures for a day or so. Then it is washed to remove any dye that did not adhere to the fabric. The piece is then sewn and finished to hang.

For further information on the process and to see other hand painted silk images, you can go to my website www.silkconcepts.ca.

Suggested Reading
Three books to check out are:

• A Creative Guide to Painting on Silk by Angelika Orthaus;
• Silk Painting, The Artist's Guide to Gutta and Wax Resist Techniques by Susan Louise Moyer;
• Painting on Silk by Pierre Bruandet.