Silk Painting

A private class at Art for Fun in downtown Phoenix was a great was to do some painting on silk. Instructor, Barbara, showed me how to use water based resist to 'draw' out my design on a silk handkerchief. 

I quickly drew out some desert cacti using the resist, applying it through a fine 7mm tip on a small squeeze bottle. It was tricky to get enough resist coming out without there being blobs, too much or too little. I did a few practice shapes on a practice cloth. 

Using paintbrushes, paint, and water I painted the shapes outlined by the resist. On the prickly pear shapes I used salt to create texture. After the cacti were painted I did the background. 

Once the piece dried we immersed it in a fixing solution and stirred it for five minutes. Rinse. Dry. Voila. Silk painting!!