Kate Steane is sharing notes she made during Leonard Thompson's recent talk and workshop.
Silk Painting by Leonard Thompson Summer 2012.
Notes by Kate Steane.
He usually uses iron fixed paints – these fix with
the use of a hairdryer. The images are considerably paler on the back, but this
does not matter for a picture. He uses habotai silk, medium wt. (8); this is
pinned onto a frame so it is taut with three pronged pins (several in each
corner). The paints are like ink, (Setasilk about £4 each). He keeps notes of his
colour mixes – how many drops of each colour. He uses a number 8 brush to paint
and a foam brush to wet the silk. As soon as he reaches the effect he wants,
he fixes it with a hairdryer.
Sequence: Wet the silk, dry off excess with kitchen towel.
Blob on three colours, leaving some gaps. Either sprinkle Jacquard's silk salt
or dishwasher salt over the silk. Flick clean water by tapping the brush. Leave
to one side and much later the effect of the paint drawn to the salt begins to
show.
Other techniques: Pale shadows on silk. Distress scrim (bandage, open
lace, feathers) and arrange on wet silk; press it down, re wet from back. Dilute
colours (with water) unless a very dark effect is required. He likes to work
diagonally with the paint – cover the whole area with several colours. As it
dries with the hairdryer then the colours darken as the paint moves away from
the scrim which is damp for longer.
Using stencils – cut overhead projector film with a scalpel.
Again dilute colours (with water) unless a very dark effect is desired; get the
colours wet and sloshy, put the stencil down and use the hairdryer. The stencil
quivers when drying; the paint is set when all is dry. Then it can be made wet
again, using the same colours but even more dilute and twisting the stencil (he
used an isometric grid for his pattern) and drying again.
Gutta Resist :There are three sorts of gutta – white, silver and
colourless. He uses the last slightly diluted and put into a dispenser with a
nib; when he squeezes the dispenser it flows and stops when he releases. The
colourless gutter line is used during creating the image and removed by washing
the silk. In his paintings he paints the palest colour first, then gutters up
and then the next palest colour – need
to use colours that mask each other.
Each of his paintings is carefully
planned; he makes a sketch which he tapes to the back of the frame then carefully builds up details. On average each picture will take one week.
