A VAST Encounter with Silk Painting

Melanie from The Creators Palette and Marionette

Belonging to VAST, an online art group through Etsy, has brought me several blessings. I met my good friends Schar and Dava (who both live on Kauai), and now I have had the pleasure of meeting in person Melanie , a wonderful lady and artist! She and her husband came to Kauai on vacation last week, and one of the activities that she made time for was my Silk Painting class! We had a great time talking story about art, Kauai, and life in general. Here's a peek into the class:

I teach the French Serti Technique and this is what Melanie is doing to create her lovely plumeria design. From Dharma Trading Co: "The Serti (closing or fence) technique is the silk painting technique where designs are formed with gutta or water-based resists, which are applied to white silk that has been pre-washed, dried and stretched (on a stretcher). Once the gutta or water-based resist has dried, it acts as a barrier for the dye or paint—keeping the color within the outlined areas of the design and allowing you to achieve sharply defined borders. (Without this barrier, the dye or paint would flow into more of an abstract, undefined pattern.) After the dye or paint has been properly set, the clear gutta or resist is removed and a defining line the color of the original fabric remains. Colored guttas and resists are also available that are meant to remain in the fabric."
I decided to paint a silk scarf with Koi fish. You can see my underdrawing (the purple pen) where I made some changes while applying my resist.

Here Melanie is applying her silk paints beautifully to the plumeria design.

My koi fish are now ready for a colorful background!

Here Melanie is using my "secret weapon" to make the designs in the background of the scarf. Can you guess what it is?

The background is still wet, but it is almost complete!

Melanie's plumeria scarf is gorgeous as it dries on the frame!

Hope you can join me for a Silk Painting class one day! For more info on classes, please visit my art class blog at www.kauaiartclasses.blogspot.com .

Mahalo for visiting!
Marionette
www.kauai-artist.net