More Happy Accidents in Silk

So often, I decide that I want to try something and I have no idea how it's going to work out. I guess that an important trait in art as well as in life is to have the courage to try something new while knowing that you very well may fail.

Something I have attempted multiple times and never been able to do is paint a person's face in detail. Silk isn't easy, and though I know it's possible, I've had difficulty in the past with the human form. Shading in detail enough to create highlights on a face that are relatively realistic is difficult on silk, so what I decided to try this time was painting very pale washes of pink and brown onto wet silk. I was hoping that since the colors were light and I was working on wet silk that I would be able to fade out the edges and create gentle highlights.

I made a sketch and transferred the sketch to silk. I hated the hair - it looked awful...so I changed it, using a technique that I've used in small scale, breaking up the hair in small sections to give the finished piece a very mosaic look...and I'm thrilled with the results. Today I'm going to attempt to remove the old hair resist lines and paint in an abstract background around her.

Silk Painting