This last Saturday I led a Beginning Silk Painting class at Loft Art Supply in Athens, Ga. It was tremendous fun and it was so exciting to see how the 6 participants approached the design process and to see how their completed designs turned out. I was so worried that our three-hour time frame was not going to be long enough (I had visions of people trundling home with half-finished silks), but everyone finished their paintings -and they were all very beautiful! Here is a photo essay of the experience:
1) The supply table set up.
2) Describing the process.
3) Beginning to design.
4) Consulting on design ideas.
5) Rene describes the process of drawing with resist to keep the colors from mixing together.
6) Transferred design on silk.
7) Amy applying the resist for her design.
8) Mary begins to paint with dye.
9) Jon’s color choice matches his shirt!
10) Rene and Amitabh discuss creating colors.
11) Ken decides on purple.
12) Alice brought flowers for inspiration.
13) Jon’s koi in process.
14) Amitabh’s architecture - almost finished.
15) Mary is proud of her finished silk!
16) Amitabh’s finished design.
17) Amy’s finished squares. She may color the background - we’ll have to wait to see!
18) Alice’s flower scarf - complete!
19) Ken’s purple design - finished!
20) Jon’s koi is ready to swim away!
Now the artists will take their stretched silk home and set the dye the next day. The colors will be even more vibrant once the silks are washed and off the frames.
Wouldn’t you like to come paint silk, too?