Silk Painting without gutta

[smallhobbit]

Yesterday's Dare to Dabble session was Silk Painting Without Gutta.  Gutta is the substance which prevents one colour of paint blending into another.  Essential, this was a painting class - and I am no painter.  Maybe, with practise, I could improve, but there a lot of techniques I need to learn first.

Anyway, we began with lots of small pots of paints, paintbrushes and two pots of salt - one with small grains, one with larger crystals.  And some prepared silk canvas stretched over a frame.



Most people simply painted on the silk.  If you don't pre-wet the silk the paint behaves like normal paint.  I was more interested in the idea of the colours spreading together, so I started off by painting water onto the canvas.  After which I painted some blue sky.



My plan was to have various autumnal spots underneath, and this is how I began, with dropping spots of colour from my paintbrush.



I added a third, which was supposed to be a bush with fruit on it.  As you can see, the yellow and orange dots on the right hand side had completely disappeared, and I spent a lot of time adding to them.



By now, I realised that it really wasn't turning out like anything discernable, so I joined up the separate bushes, to create and autumnal hedgerow.



This is the final result.  We're going to fake Jackson Pollock's signature and make a fortune from it!



It was an interesting experiment.  I don't know what those who simply painted made of working on a different material, but for me it was something I'd never have tried otherwise, and it's always fun doing something different.

Comments

[badly_knitted]

Good luck with your forgery ;)

I don't think it's something I would fancy trying, but creativity is about experimenting, and at least you got to try something different.

I'm curious about what the salt was for though...

[smallhobbit]

I should have said the salt was for scattering on the painting. If you look at the two blue sections, the one on the right has fine salt scattered on it, the one on the left has larger crystals (the second from bottom picture shows it reasonably clearly).

It's not something I'd want to do again, but it was interesting to try.

[badly_knitted]

Salt on a painting... I've never thought of seasoning craft!

[smallhobbit]

Yes - unusual, but it changes the texture.

[peaceful_sands]

Having the chance to try something new is always good even if things don’t work quite as we expect or hope.

[smallhobbit]

Definitely. I very rarely regret trying something new, even if I don't repeat it.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I really like it! Despite it not turning out how you envisioned. Sounds like fun!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. I enjoyed doing it.

[adafrog]

Looks fun.

[smallhobbit]

It was - just not very artistic. :D

[adafrog]

*shrugs* :)

[smallhobbit]

:)

[pensnest]

I agree - it's fun doing something you've not done before, even if it doesn't quite go as you thought it would. The colours are gorgeous.

[smallhobbit]

Definitely. We were using silk paints and they were vibrant colours.

[margaret_r]

Well, it was something different to try and the result is really pretty. You should be pleased with your Pollock effort:D

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. It was definitely worth trying.

[rusty_armour]

I've never tried painting on silk. While your artwork may not have turned out the way you'd planned, it's still really beautiful. I love the colour combinations and the way they've been combined. I really like your technique of allowing the colours to spread together.

[smallhobbit]

It was an interesting experiment. For me the possibility of having the colours spread was the attraction, others seemed to prefer simply painting.

[moth2fic]

Even if you wouldn't try again, at least now you know a lot more about silk painting! And your result was perfectly respectable considering it was your first try and considering the the effect you actually wanted!

[smallhobbit]

Oh yes - it was worth doing for the experience. And thank you - had I looked more at what I was doing before I went I might have had a better idea, but I like to just turn up and see what happens.

[debriswoman]

Never tried silk painting…I hope your fortune is made with your forgery:-)

[smallhobbit]

It was an interesting experiment. I suspect you'd do better than I did.