The Judicius Use of Black in Painting

Black is not actually a color, but it the absence of any color. However "black" is color used in painting as a dark tone. It can indicate darkened

or shaded areas of the painting. It can be the actual color of an object, for example a black cat or a black umbrella. Black can be cool, warm or neutral

in tone. Many artists prefer to mix their own black from a dark blue  plus dark brown, Prussian blue and burnt umber are popular colors used to make black.

the most common black paint in the art world is lamp black which comes in a tube, jar or pan, depending on the medium the artist is using.

There are several ways to successfully add black to a painting. Layering is one of the best ways to "build" a black or dark area of a

painting. Paint in washes or glazes first, then add glazes of color, alternating with the black for the first few layers, finishing with the

color of the object.  Another method of adding black to shaded areas is to add thin lines of black against the edge of the underlying object,

then dilute the lines to gradually fade it out to nothing. This is shown in the photo below, on the left with the leaves.

Keep in mind that there is a thing such as too much black. It can turn a painting into a disaster. Less is more  when using black. Black is a staining color

which cannot be completely lifted to reveal the original color. Many times it must painted over, with many coats, to return the original color.

The best way to determine the placement of black tones in a painting is to really study the subject for light and dark areas and plan

 the painting around that. Many artists make sketches showing light and dark areas before beginning to paint. Planning a painting this

way will help adding the dark and light areas to appear naturally in the finished painting.

water color on silk and paper

This is the experiment piece the first is watercolor on silk, the second is watercolor on paper, using the same image for both. If I decide to frame either piece, they will have to be under glass, the silk will have to be mounted on a board first, my preference is the silk piece for its depth of color, it just looks richer. The silk I use is habotai or China silk which is a very smooth surface to paint on. I also sprayed it first with magic sizing to help control the absorbancy of the color. The magic sizing allows more time for manipulation of the paint in the surface before it sinks into the silk. 

My consensus is that watercolor paint on silk grounds works well. I've learned that this method is actually an ancient chinese technique, watercolor or silk, since silk was available before paper was. At any rate this experiment blends two on my favorite mediums, water color painting and silk painting. I'll do it again, use watercolor paints on silk, that is. :)

Is it Watercolor or Is It Silk?

There are many similarities between watercolor painting and silk painting. Both are done with thin consistency colors whether it be dyes or paints. Both can use blocking agents like gutta, resists, masking fluids, wax,etc. both should be painted with the surface flat to avoid the paint running where you don't want it to go  (unless you want it to run) or to preserve white areas or the painting

The main difference is the painting surface- to a point. If you've ever painted on rice paper or unsized paper like printmaking papers, you know, like silk, the paint soaks right in and can't be easily lifted. However, if you paint watercolors on regular watercolor paper you'll notice the surface is much harder than unsized paper therefore making it easier to manipulate the paint before it dries and even after it dries, the paint can be wet again and manipulated again to some extent.

Silk fabrics tend to be more like unsized rice paper  in that it is very absorbent and color, once applied is next to impossible to lift out without leaving a mark on the silk surface. Silk fabric can be sprayed with sizing to help prevent the color from soaking in so much, yet it still leaves a brush mark that results in a hard edged noticible spot on the silk. 

Another big difference is that silk fabric/painting can be made into garments, scarves, banners, and such while watercolor paper cannot, should not, be worn as clothing elements. I guess that's a given in the nature of silk fabric.  I guess it's possible to sew watercolor paper but I can't see it as being practical, maybe in a haute couture piece, but that's another post entirely.

Below are two examples on the same design, one on silk and the other on watercolor paper. On the silk, I used silk paints instead of dyes ( never had good luck steaming dyes) and the watercolor uses regular watercolor paints. I'm currently experimenting with watercolor paint on silk. We'll see how that goes.  Perhaps the two can be blended into an interesting effect. 

Anyway, these are just a few differences in using two mediums which yield a very similar effect.

The painting on the top. is silk, the one on the bottom is watercolor. The paints on the watercolor tend to sit on the surface giving a brighter color than that on the silk, which soaks up the color , giving it a softer,mulled tone, I've learned that watercolor & silk painting is very similar in technique, only with a few differences.

New painting

This new silk painting is done with 18" x 36" silk habotai, sprayed with one coat of magic sizing, no resist or gutta was used here. I used Dynaflow and Setasilk paints instead of dyes. Copic alcohol based markers were used to outline some of the petals on the flowers. Here is the finished painting and the drawing used in the painting. This is just some of what can be accomplished in silk painting. Everyone has their own unique style for paintings, which makes the " Mark" of the artist, I.e. You can tell which artist painted the piece by the style of the painting itself in most cases. I plan on painting the same design, on 18" x 24" in watercolor and see which I like best, so look for a comparison painting once it's finished.

Enjoy, happy painting.

Water based Resist & Magic Sizing Do Not Mix

Just learned something important. I applied a water based resist to a drawing on silk to paint, let it dry, then sprayed the whole piece with Magic Sizing.once it dried it disentragrated the resist I'd just applied. So if you're using both Magic Sizing and water based resist, Spray the sizing FIRST, Let it dry, THEN apply the resist to the lines of the drawing. Fortunately I'd colored the resist so I had faint liines to go by when I applied the resist the second time. I've used the two substances together before but I'd always sprayed the sizing on the silk first, then applied resist as desired.never had a problem till I reversed the order. Lesson learned. I won't make that mistake again. Now that you know, maybe you won't either.