still life silk paintings

During the second week of spring break, I ran an afternoon camp called, "Landscapes and Still Life".

One of the project the campers explored was creating a silk painting using a vase of flowers I had arranged in the studio.

This time I did the resist a little different, I had them use a small paintbrush rather than the narrow nozzled tubes. I thought it would challenge them to keep their lines loose.

Before starting, I put out what I like to call "magic paper", it is a grey paper that you can practice brush strokes with water but dries quickly so you can do the whole thing again on the same piece of paper. Warming up with this paper prior to beginning drawing on silk with resist on a paintbrush helped significantly for the campers to get the idea of the process.

The biggest challenge was not getting too much resist on the paintbrush. Young artist always have a hard time believing that the resist is going to continue to spread after the initial application on the silk. If too heavy handed, they will end up with nothing more than a white blob on the silk as all the lines converge.

The campers applied their resist at the end of day, so began adding the dyes at the beginning of the next day of camp. They were so excited and I challenged them to limit their palette to three colors. I also suggested their colors be in the primary color families so they would have the ability to mix additional colors.

So some chose pink as their red or purple as their blue, as long as they were in the primary color family they would be able to do some interesting mixing.

After learning a few blending techniques and getting comfortable with applying the dyes on silk with a scrap piece of silk I had set up, they began.

The results were beautiful.

11 year old

8 year old

11 year old

silk scarves for Mother's Day

The elementary class painted silk scarves for their mothers to give them on Mother's Day.

9 year old

There is something so special getting to be apart of the holiday through a child's eye. The kids could not of been more excited about creating something special for their mothers and they took such care with their work. If love could be in an object, these scarves are full to the brim with love, more love, and love to the moon and back. 

6 year old

Each child could create a scarf design of anything they wanted, but they all gravitated to flowers. All of them worked out their sketch on paper prior to transferring it onto the silk, which I had mounted prior to their arrival for class.

10 year old

When they were happy with their flower, I placed a book under the silk for them to be able to trace the flower over and over on the scarf to create a design.

6 year old

Once child just decided to wing it and drew her flowers all freehand and different sizes.

Then they began to add the resist. I had a piece of silk on a hoop for them to practice on until they were confident enough to work on their scarves. Each child put every last bit of resist on those scarves and I could not be more proud of their resilience, as it takes a long time to cover everything in resist.

Then it came time to paint. Oh did they have fun. By the time the hour and a half class was over, all of them had just begun to start their backgrounds on the scarves.

The next week, they spent the entire hour and a half painting. They quickly learned they could force the dye by scrubbing on the silk with the paint brush. They also learned they could create light washes of color by adding more water. And they all loved the process of blending two colors together!

And no silk painting project is complete without adding a bit of the beloved salt.

At one point one of the girls sighed heavily and stated how tired she was from all the work of painting in the scarf. I laughed and reminded her how many nights her mother had gotten up with her, sooooo tired, but never complained because of how much she was loved. The girl smiled, we all laughed, and she went back to work.

They all came out beautifully. I know they will be very cherished by the mothers. In fact, one wrote me the sweetest note on Mother's Day after she opened her gift. She was thrilled and her daughter had been so excited to give it to her, she woke her up at 6am!

6am! Happy Mother's Day!

Once the girls had all finished painting the scarves, I set the dye, washed out the resist and gave them a good iron.

We had a bit of time left at the end of the class and so the girls took the leftover dye and created cards. Honestly it was an afterthought on my part, but they came out beautiful and were works of art in themselves.

Double present for the moms!

Which for at least one mother was a good thing since she was receiving all her goodies and the ungodly hour of 6am.

Happy belated Mother's Day everyone.  

6 year old

silk painting on canvas board

This is one of my all time favorite projects to do with children, silk painting.

It is a medium that absolutely every age group is successful at, all ages are fascinated by the process, and is enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

For the "Creatures Big and Small" camp, I decided to have the kids create a silk painting and then applied it to a canvas board for display.

I tacked each piece of silk onto some old embroidery stretcher boards that I have collected from the needle arts guild where I'm a member.  Every now and then a member will bring in old stretchers they no longer want and I quickly gather them for just this purpose.

4 year old

Each artist created a simple sketch on copy paper. I showed them how to use a window as a lightbox (along with a lightbox that I have in the studio) in order to keep finessing their sketch without having to erase and redraw everything. 

10 year old

When each child was happy with their sketch, they traced it lightly onto the silk with a water-soluble pencil. Then that evening after camp ended, I added the resist over their lines. This is a part I usually let them do, but given the very young age of a couple of the campers, I decided that it might be a bit frustrating for them. Since I literally just trace over the lines they drew on the silk, the integrity of their artwork isn't compromised with me taking charge of this step.

7 year old

The next day, I showed them on a scrap piece of silk some of the interesting things they could do with the dyes and then let them get to work.

6 year old

They had so much fun watching different colors run together and were fascinated as the dyes moved across the silk and then were stopped by the resist.

5 year old

The loved adding water drops and salt to create different effects and even when the silk was completely covered in color, they still wanted to add more just because they didn't want the project to end.

9 year old

When they were finished, I set the dyes and washed out the resist. Then when the silks were dried used matte medium to apply them to the canvas board. Then the next day, I gave each child the opportunity to add black line with a permanent marker since the resist left just white lines. In some cases where the resist just left a big while "hole", (like the eye of the flamingo above), I encouraged the artist to go ahead and draw in an eye and such. Then they signed their works and were done.

5 year old

They were so proud of their finished pieces and it was a joy to watch them get so excited as they watched the dyes move and the salts do their magic right before their eyes. Silk paintings are always one of the hardest projects to watch leave the studio as I so enjoy having them on display but I hope, no I know, the artists will enjoy them for many years to come.

preschool silk paintings

A couple of post ago, I showed some portrait works the preschool class did of their favorite stuffed animals. That same day, they also drew their sketches on a piece of silk that I then traced over with resist to paint the next week.

Well, they took them home this Tuesday and precious does not even begin to describe the final results.

Using dyes on silk was a great lesson for preschoolers. It gave them a great chance to explore color and was overall just a fascinating experience for them to watch what dye does when applied to fabric.

I only gave the three-year-olds red, yellow and blue dye. The rest of the colors you see on these works they created on their own.

All these amazing colors created by three-year-olds!!

"Lovie"

Once finished, I set the dye and then removed the resist in warm water. I then ironed the silk and adhered it to canvas for their families to hang on the wall.

Because who wouldn't want to hang these on the wall?

"Jemima Puddle-Duck"

If you want more details to the project, leave a comment and I will share them with you.

"Bunny-bun"

I hope the children enjoy these paintings of their favorite stuffed animal for many years. I think this was a wonderful way to immortalize their first loves for them to look fondly back on the rest of their lives.

Because who in this world doesn't remember their first beloved stuffed companion and wouldn't like a picture to remember them by?

"Rainbow Bunny"

silk painted scarves

The last holiday workshop I ran at the studio was creating silk painted scarves.

I have found over the years that children love silk painting and without doubt, a project everyone feels successful with at the end regardless of skill level.  

Each child created their own design and transferred it onto the silk with a water soluble pencil. To save time, I already had the silks mounted, so we just place a book underneath the silk in order for them to trace their designs.

I always have a test fabric mounted in an embroidery hoop for each student.  This gives them a chance to experiment with the resist and dye prior to working on their piece. They quickly learned how much pressure to add to get the resist right and a variety of ways they could apply the dyes.

Then they got to work adding the resist to their scarves! They quickly realized that this takes a long time!  I used a water soluble resist and found that by the time they finish the entire work, the first part was dry enough for them to start applying the dye right away. I had figured I might need to use a blow dryer, but in the end, that was not necessary.

Then it was time for the fun part, adding color! It looks a bit messy at this point with the resist and the water soluble pencil in the mix, but I assured them it will look quite different once we set the color and wash the silk out in the sink. As you can see, they had salt available too to add for texture.

When working on a silk, I have found that it is best to have them work on the subject matter first. Then based on the time left, I can judge how much detail they can add to the background. If needed, like in the case of this workshop, you can just wash in a color quickly to complete the project in time and still have a stunning work.

Look at these results! I believe everyone of them was created as a Christmas gift, which is why I did not want to post them until after the holiday. 

I ran two classes, the workshop and a private group created by a parent.  

(Yes! I am happy to run a weekly class or a workshop for a group of four or more students at a time that works best for the group.)

13 year old

When the artist started this scarf, she was thinking of giving it to a friend. By the end of class, she was not sure who she would give it too. I love the leaf montage and think she did a beautiful job adding the color.

13 year old

This artist made her scarf for her mother, she loves poinsettia flowers. She was concerned her mother wouldn't like it, can you imagine something this lovely not being liked by anyone? much less her mother? No doubt in my mind it was a huge hit Christmas morning.

13 year old

I unfortunately cannot remember who this artist created her scarf for but I do love that the reference used for this design was actually a succulent plant, not a rose! Such a cleaver idea.

10 year old

This artist created her scarf for her grandmother, who is also a textile artist. Her work is on display at the Seymour Art Gallery gift shop and she creates these lovely fabric dolls and felted fairy shoes. The  felted shoes she has made special for her granddaughter were the inspiration for the scarf she in return made for her. Isn't that special? I know her grandmother will cherish this gift.

grade 3

This artist came into the studio knowing exactly what she wanted to create for her mother. She wanted an abstract design in warm colors because her mother loves the sun and warmth. After a discussion together, she decided to work with overlapping circles (great sun reference) in a mixture of warm colors. She focused on color mixing and adding salt for texture. It was a joy to watch her get lost in the process for creating this scarf.

grade 3

This artist wanted to create a holiday scarf for her grandmother. How cute is this holly scarf going to look worn during the Christmas season? I would be thrilled if I was her grandmother.

grade 3

Another lucky grandmother! Such a cute design and I love how each flower has it's own unique design based off of the same repeated drawing.

grade 3

This artist came to the studio knowing she wanted to create a cherry blossom for her grandmother. We spent quite a bit of time up front working out the sketch working side by side drawing. I showed her how to break her reference first down to shape and then work out detail. Once I could see her confidence grow, I left her to work with some of the other girls. When I came back, she had the most stunning drawing worked out that led to this beautiful scarf. She was quite proud of herself in the end.

grade 1

This scarf speaks volumes to how forgiving silk painting is with children. Talk about a child who came to the project with complete abandon and a zeal for adding dye to the silk.  This scarf was all about the process. She LOVED watching the colors move on the silk, blend together, and was quite involved in experimenting putting different colors on top of each other. As she finished the first flower, I was quite worried she would just have a brown mess at the end but reminded myself to trust in her process. There was lots of dye, lots of salt, and lots of excitement and laughter while creating this scarf and in the end, it came out lovely. 

No need on my part to worry at all that she would not be happy with her scarf when finished- she was thrilled and quite excited to show her dad when he arrived at pick up. I know her grandmother will be quite thrilled to when she opens it up on Christmas morning.

I unfortunately forgot to photograph the last scarf created in studio. It was in a private class I ran for a mother and daughter the day before Christmas. It was quite special too and in my rush to get their projects finished for them for Christmas, I did not remember to take out my camera. The daughter made a scarf for her Aunt of her black lab, Sadie, that had passed away. Such a heartfelt gift that I know probably meant the world to her Aunt when she opened it on Christmas.

So impressed with each and every artist who worked on these scarves. I love doing this project almost as much as the kids love working on it. I'm guessing they made for a very merry Christmas for the lucky people who received them.

still room in the silk painting workshop this sunday

When my youngest child, who is now in University, was in grade 4, her teacher asked if I would create silk painted scarves with the class for Mother's Day. Thankfully the woman I chaired the Art Docent program with was a silk painter and shared with me her extensive knowledge.

The project was not only breathtaking, but the kids LOVED it and in the end, had something that would be cherished by their mothers forever more.

I still get messages from some of those moms who I am friends with on Facebook telling me they still wear their scarves.  Mine is one of my most prized possessions.

I have been hooked on this medium ever since and it is by far one of the most popular things I introduce to children.

Over the past couple of years, there have been some very amazing works.

For some of the projects the silk has been put on canvas.

And others have been done as scarves, especially around holidays.

Like this special scarf created for Mother's Day. The artist created a self portrait and then a portrait of both her sisters. She also drew her mother's favorite mug including a hot cup of coffee with steam billowing up in the shape of a heart. 

These are the things her mother loves most in the world.  

Her mother loved the gift and hopefully dad didn't feel like chopped liver for too long since he wasn't included in the "most loved" scarf items....

Last Christmas several scarves were created for special people in each artist's life.

Like this budgie scarf for a grandmother how loves her pet birds.

When she opened the gift, she did not even realize her granddaughter had made it at first.  She assumed it was store bought! If that isn't a compliment to the artist!

Another artist created a scarf for her grandmother too.  

This  beautiful scarf was done all in purple because it is her grandmother's favorite color. It was quite amusing to listen to her describe her grandmother's love of purple, right down to wearing purple eyeshadow.

This artist created a scarf for her mother last Christmas of her childhood cat. A cat the mother loved dearly and has shared stories with to her daughter. It is painted in her mom's favorite colors, purple and pink.

And then this boy who created the most amazing abstract scarf for his mom.

Sounds like she was the envy of her friends when she wore it. 

This Sunday from 2-5pm, I will be running a workshop in the studio where each child will have the opportunity to create a stunning scarf for someone they love. A scarf that without doubt will become a cherished possession of the owner.

More importantly, there is a pride I see in the kids who create these wearable artworks. Last year Christmas morning could not come quick enough for the artist, not because of what they were going to get but because they could not wait to see the reaction of what they were going to give.

Yes. The true spirit of the season.

So I hope you will be able to have your child take advantage of the opportunity to create a silk scarf on Sunday. Like those kids who have done this before them, they will fall in love with painting silk.

(evident by how many students signed up already have done one or more before!)

But more importantly they will be excited this holiday season for all the right reasons, the gift of giving. 

Register at KudzuStudio.com

Sunday, December 13.  2-5pm. $100.00 including all supplies and appropriate for ages 5 and up.