"Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?" That is what the paint seems to say to me as soon as I brush it onto georgette and lift the tip off of the silk. The color is soaked up like a sponge, and while very beautiful, absolutely refuses to budge another inch. And the battle of painting on georgette has begun. Unlike silk habotai or charmeuse, which allow the paints to simply run and flow so fluidly, painting on georgette is quite the challenge! It takes twice the amount of paint, and a whole lot of patience.
From my traditional fine art education, I was taught to never let any white of the canvas show through. Well, I am sorry, to all my former art teachers, but for these georgette silk paintings, I am just going to have to leave some white showing through because I could not, for the life of me, cover every inch without ending up with quite a few more grey hairs!
But despite my frustrations, the final result, of a hand painted, sheer silk piece is of course very rewarding. I love how translucent it is, and how all the colors become naturally lighter and darker in the sunlight and shadows, even more sensitive to the changing light than the more opaque silks.. Today is the day before my birthday, so in completing four silk georgette pieces this wonderful afternoon, the satisfying feeling of accomplishment I now bask in is my early present to myself. Happy Birthday to me, and Georgette, this isn't over yet between us!
