The art of silk painting is an ancient traditional art form from Japan.

Most people are familiar through Japanese silk kimonos. I actually learned to paint on silk while living in the French Alps. I took one short introductory class and decided it was for me! Then was a long road of trail and error and lots of experiments. Now I have over twenty years of experience.

I love teaching painting on silk as everyone has a great time making something beautiful, whether or not they have much art experience. I have taught in elementary schools, colleges, senior centers, and privately in my studio. I now offer a beginning, intermediate and advance class with small classes in my studio in Santa Fe. Classes are usually intense and full day. I like to give students an opportunity to play and explore at their own pace. I encourage experimenting and am very open with sharing information.

Basically the process is simple yet involved. Starting with stretching the silk on a frame, similar to canvas. If you are going to draw, I start with a finished drawing , black line on white paper. Using a light table the drawing is transferred to the silk using a resist solution. Once I have the line as I want, then comes the painting. I paint with Japanese watercolor brushes and paint for silk. This paint is water based and spreads and flows onto the silk. There are many different types of silks and silk velvets and many different painting techniques to choose from.

After the painting the paint is set into the fabric with a heat steam. Then washed ,dried, ironed and sewn. My big paintings involve a lot of drawing sessions with live models; women and birds, or my imagination. Of course when dealing with art to wear, there is a lot of design involved with the fashion and patterns and putting that all together with the fabrics.

What I love most is after you have your painting you can do a lot of different things for your finished product, as you see here on my web-site!

Feel free to call me for upcoming class schedules and let me know if you are interested.