Silk Painting Art

Brushing soft paintbrushes over smooth swaths of silk and seeing a beautiful image form is quite a lovely thing to witness and without doubt even better to execute ones-self. The result is luxurious and delicate, and surprisingly diverse.
Kate Cumberland works from a lovely light studio in Sparrabosch. There she paints for her own creative pleasure and also offers lessons to those wanting to learn.
Silk painting, Kate explains, is working directly on a canvas of pure silk material. The silk is cut into the chosen size and pinned taught across a wooden frame. One then designs the desired image onto the fabric and proceeds to use special silk painting paints and other materials to create a finished work of art.
The silk used needs to be pure -- not treated at all, and when it is stretched over the frame it must be taught enough to bounce a small coin off its surface. This allows one to create without running into problems such as pooling of paint or creasing the fabric. But even though this luxurious fabric appears to be so very delicate, it is surprisingly resilient and that is where the beauty lies in this form of creativity. One is able to be so very diverse -- it can remain a canvas that one hangs on their wall, it can become part of a greeting card, a clothing item; even a tie, and... well land just about anywhere with its own unique purpose.
Kate began her silk painting journey in Bahrain in 2003. After attending many courses with several renowned teachers she ended up being taught by Mandy Southern; the president of the Silk Painters Guild in the UK. With her diverse and privileged silk painting education she found herself in South Africa, offering classes to her own set of students.
Kate was born in the USA, journeyed through 7 different countries, over 3 continents, travelling extensively and living in Europe, Asia and Africa. Eventually her retirement brought her to South Africa where she intends remaining -- at least for the minute.
Kate says that one does not need to be an artist in order to be able to create a beautiful & satisfactory piece of work on silk. She says that for anyone who does not know, once you attend 2 or 3 classes; once one has learnt the basics, you can go home with complete creative satisfaction, not to say that silk painting is simple, it is not, but one can feel happy with the craft right from the beginning. Silk painting is beautifully diverse; there are very many techniques one can apply and so many wonderful products and tools with which to work.
Workshops and individual lessons are available and at a very modest price. Kate offers these lessons almost as a hobby because she loves meeting new people and sharing her passion for silk painting with those interested. The prices of her workshops really just cover the materials that she has to have brought into South Africa. When asked why, she explains that she teaches purely to share her knowledge with others interested and hopes that they enjoy it as much as she does.
Contact Kate on 082 967 4727 and visit www.motionmag.co.za to see a video of this interview where she demonstrates the art of silk painting.

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• Jeff Chipeta
• Colette Murphy
• Kate Cumberland
• Silk Painting Art
• Motion Mag
• Knysna
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• South Africa