Silk Paintings by Warren Hartz

Our silk scarves, scrunchies and clothing are hand painted with silk dyes, creating patterns with resists or salt, which rinse out, leaving the beautiful colors and design.  Dyes become one with the fabric, leaving it soft and silky with a luster and depth that sparkles in the light. I’ve used fabric paints on some ties, though paint does not leave the fabric as soft. (see my Orchids on Black Ties video).
The challenge is that dyes all flow together like wet watercolors unless you somehow control it, so resists and thickeners are often used.

Mountains and Trees Painted on Silk using Dyes

On the left is a silk painting inspired by Cascade Mountain peaks and valleys, as you might see on hikes around here.  I stretched the hand painted silk around a 9″ x 12″ wood frame.

For the “Trees in the Fog” silk painting, I mixed resist made from casaba root with varying amounts of green dye to make the trees appear to be disappearing in the fog.  Again, I rinsed out the resist after setting the dyes, so the finished silk has a soft pleasant sheen.

Paintings hand dyed on silk are very beautiful with light shining through from the back, because of the translucent nature of dyed silk fibers.
UV from bright sunlight will weaken silk, so LED or indirect light is best.

Custom Silk Paintings

Email or call me if you’d like a silk painting.  Silk satin is available in widths up to 45″ or 55″.
You can see my specialty is mountains, trees and other natural subjects such as sunsets and waterfalls, or anything with a simple enough design that it can be outlined with resist.
Fine details are time consuming to paint by hand with colored resists, so often more abstract patterns are created like using sea sponges or leaves to apply resist, or sprinkling salt on wet dyes.

Autumn Leaf Silk Scarf Dyed in Earth Tones

For this autumn leaf scarf, I outlined the leaves with colored resist, then dyed each leaf and sprinkled it with salt.  I then blended the background with dyes applied with Sumi brushes.  Steaming for 3 hours sets the dyes, then I use dyeset and rinse, leaving the silk soft and luxurious with rich beautiful colors.

This 14″ x 22″ painting of Mica Mountain, B.C. I painted with dyes and resists on silk satin, was a composite of 3 photos emailed to me by a bed and breakfast near Mt. Robson, Canada.

Using clear resist for most of the white areas, I brushed on water where I wanted clouds, much like one might do with water colors.

Glacier Peak, North Cascades

Surrounded by other mountains, Glacier Peak makes a classic mountain picture but is not often seen from roads.

The silk painting on the left is based on a photo from a scenic hike up Johnson Ridge near Skykomish, Washington, with beautiful views across the deep forested valleys to snow covered Glacier Peak.

Hot Air Balloons in the Sunset

Graduated from orange to red, to purple, to black, the balloons, sun and water were drawn with colored resist, then the sky blended like watercolors.

Stone Pattern Silk Pillow

Decorator pillows can add some character to your room – this one dyed with a design based on sedimentary rocks.