I have a silk commission piece to do and figured I'd better refresh my skills. Lot's of color and a little whimsy in this practice piece. I have to figure out a background for this but it's a fun start. I've forgotten the in's and out's of silk painting and its only been a couple years.

What a fun weekend. It started off Friday night with an awesome cocktail party on Dan and Donna's beautiful boat, great food and people! Then Saturday was busy with oil painting. Linda mentioned she liked the one I did of the waves rolling in so i thought I'd try another one for her. and today was silk painting. Still on the beginning end of the learning curve there but it's all fun. I tried the turtle logo that I see all over the islands. 

Huge learning curve again on the silk but I think I've got the answer to the black resist redepositing on the silk thanks to Daniel Jean-Baptiste who is very giving of his knowledge and experience. This is the first piece I've mounted to a canvas and I like it. I need to tweak the composition a little bit but not bad for a first attempt at exotic fruit and mounting a silk. I think this will look great in a plain black frame. Until I can find someone here to build me the open frames at a reasonable price I'll keep mounting the silks on canvas. 

I saw this awesome picture of tropical fruit on a couple different sites and had to try it in silk. So i dug out my silk supplies and am working on it this weekend. I hope to have the painting done tomorrow. I think I'll try this one mounted on a canvas or a board. I need to find someone to build me some frames down here. I really like them mounted in the open frames but I don't have any frames here so I'll try mounting this one. 

The rooster and heron are washed, ironed, stretched and in the frames. These are the open frames, perfect for hanging over a half wall or open stair railing. I'm really happy with how they turned out. They have that lovely glow that you can only get from silk. 

He's still hanging on the stretcher but he's done. The background turned out ok, now he just has to sit for a couple of days before i heat treat him and the heron. I darkened the background on the heron, not sure if that will stay or not but it looks much better. I love these silk pictures, they almost glow on the silk. It's really hard to capture with a camera. I hope to get them in the frames next week.

I got some color on the rooster today. He is looking good. I'm not sure about the white feathers, they are really light blue, might have to do some texture on them. I'm playing with some salt for the background pattern but that will have to wait until Thursday. I found my other camera, right where it was suppose to be so I took another picture of the heron. I think he needs a darker background. I haven't tried repainting over the silk paint, I hope it works. 

I got some color on the heron today. I can't find my other camera and this is the one that makes the colors all look wonky. This one has an orange cast to it and all the colors are washed out. It looks WAY better in real life color wise. I'll get the rooster tomorrow and try to find my other camera. 

The heron is on the silk and resist has been applied. The darker lines are done in black resist, the lighter lines are in clear which will leave the white of the silk as the lines. Found out today that we are not having company this weekend so I should be able to get started painting these soon. It just depends on how hot it is upstairs. Maybe I can work up there in the mornings. 
Have a happy Fourth and a great weekend, everyone!

Wow time flies. It's been a really busy week here. I did get this guy draw out, on the silk and the resist applied. I have another heron draw out, I wasn't crazy on how the last one turned out so I thought I'd give it another shot. It's still a pretty steep learning curve with the silk. This guy is kind of skewed in the photo. Not sure when I'll get to paint him, probably after the weekend. Have a great fourth of July Weekend!