Inspirational Silk Painting from Nature – Book Review

Inspirational Silk Painting from Nature – Today’s Book Review

Inspirational Silk Painting from Nature - Book Review by Teena HughesRenate Henge wrote “Inspirational Silk Painting from Nature” in German in 1988, and it was soon translated into English to become a well-known book for all budding silk artists.

Renate takes us on a journey and talks about finding the inspiration for our painting everywhere we look, and especially in nature. Liberal uses of water on silk paintings can turn them from stark shapes to suggestions of mountains, forests, lakes and more. Creating rain drops on a landscape can be easily achieved using several different techniques.

But be prepared to go with the flow – experiementing with silk painting can bring unexpected results, and so it’s important to have an open mind to allow the possibilities to take shape and form. Another great point made is that it’s absolutely possible to put a silk painting aside and come back to it later to add more dyes, water, other elements to enhance the original painting.

Summary: Inspirational Silk Painting from Nature

Some of the photos are obviously quite old in this 25 year old book, but the concepts and the techniques are still very much in use today. It’s a great little book and one worthy of being in your silk painting library. It might be a bit hard to find, but I did locate a few copies on Amazon:
Click to review / buy from Amazon: Inspirational Silk Painting from Nature >>

Cheers,
Teena

New Free Membership is launched!

The New Free Membership is launched today

Free Membership - Silk Painting - student showing her silk scarf

Above: a Student with her handpainted silk design

I’m so very proud to advise that I’ve opened the doors to my new Membership level, which is free membership to parts of my silk painting Members’ website.

This is the second Membership Level launched since November 2011, when I opened the first Online Silk Painting 6 Week Membership Course.

At the end of the six weeks of training on how to paint on silk, I can now encourage the Students to sign up for the Free Membership level so they can keep involved with my latest news and new silk painting course updates.

I’m very pleased with the progress of this Membership site, and today I’ve launched 3 Modules inside this new free Membership:

  • Blog
  • Video Tutorials, and
  • Calendar of Events.

I will soon be launching other Modules:

  • Articles
  • Audio Lessons, and
  • Book Reviews & Recommendations.

I look forward to creating a community where other silk artists – new and experienced, can join the conversation and inspire each other.

JOIN NOW!

Cheers

Teena

http://how-to-paint-on-silk.com

How to Create a Heart for your Silk Painting

How to create a heart for silk painting - use as a templateI’ve created a very short video tutorial to show you how to create a heart for your silk painting projects.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-nu-I2sFrg[/tube]
Video not working? You can also view on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-nu-I2sFrg

In the video I show how to use a triangle shape and a circle or two semi-circle shapes to create a heart. Sketch onto paper or cardboard, cut it out, and then use it as a template for your silk painting projects:

  • create several hearts in different sizes
  • create some hearts wider or longer than others, for variety
  • paint them in different shades of the same colour, or in different colours
  • use for Valentine’s Day, Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries, Babies, and special occasions of all kinds.

I’d like share a Silk Painting question I’ve received from a few people …

Q: “I’ve never painted on silk before – is it really possible to learn from videos?”
A: My answer is, “Yes! You can definitely learn from videos!”.
I believe that this is a marvellous way to learn, and it actually has many benefits over a classroom situation:

  • in a classroom, you are one of 8 or 10 people vying for the teacher’s attention; with a video, you can pause and play as many times as you like, until you get it right
  • in a classroom, you generally need to take your own notes while the teacher is talking; with a video, you receive documents to download which include lists of products, step-by-step instructions, checklists etc
  • in a classroom, you have a set time-frame in which to learn, paint, test the techniques, pack up; with a video, you can take as long as you like, and paint in your pyjamas or in a sarong – at midnight, dawn, 5pm – whatever time suits you.

You can go back to your videos/DVD as many times as you like and HEAR the instructions as well as watching them again; in a classroom you don’t have this luxury, if you miss what’s been said, the time has passed.

Next email!!

Stay tuned for my next free lesson on painting on silk! If you have a question or comment, please fill in the form below, or use one of your preferred places to post messages – I’d love to hear from you! Here are some of the other ways to connect with me:

Cheers
Teena

Video: What’s Inside the Membership Area?

Today I have a little video to show what’s inside the membership area – I’m still tweaking to get the “look & feel” just right, but there is plenty of content!

  • over 6 hours of video
  • tons of PDF documents to download
  • Checklists to get you started
  • Instructions & detailed printouts to put in your Silk Folder.

What’s Inside the Membership Area? Students painting on silk

Ready? Here’s the video:

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/v/vLNvnZ-xVf8[/tube]

“What did the students think?”

Here are a couple of emails from some of the Students:

“Hi Teena! I am having a great time following along and learning how to paint on silk! I can now access all the links and see all the videos. I find them easy to follow and understand, and love hearing your Aussie accent! Thanks for a great course so far, and I look forward to the upcoming weeks!” Karen-of-Canada

and

“Teena Teena Teena!! Your excitement is contagious, even if across the miles!” Maryruth, USA

and

“Thank you Teena for your patience and help during the course I have enjoyed every moment and couldn’t wait for the next Video!” Pam, Australia

What a great bunch of students I had the pleasure to meet and share my knowledge with – I had a blast!

If you’d like to be one of my students, please pop over to this page to read more about the courses, & sign up if you’d like to learn silk painting >>
Teena

 

The first Online Silk Painting Course is a success!

I’m so thrilled that my Online Silk Painting Course has been so well accepted by the first batch of students from around the world! Here is one Student’s silk piece:

Online Silk Painting Course - Student example 01 from Maryruth

We’ve had so much fun getting to know each other, and to watch my students explore, learn and create over these past weeks has been such an honour and a joy – I can’t tell you how excited I’ve been to see some of their handpainted silk results!