I create paintings using silk as my canvas and liquid dyes as my paint. I have always been a lover of nature and am often awestruck at her design and color. Most of my work is inspired by my Caribbean roots (I was born in Trinidad), and my paintings are a celebration of the vibrant colors and exotic flavor of the tropics. For me, silk is the perfect medium for this expression - it has a luminous quality that allows the transparent dyes to sparkle with wonderful brilliance. The dyes, which are painted in layers with a paintbrush, spread as soon as they touch the silk. The way the they move and blend on the silk is like a dance, which I find endlessly fascinating. The silk itself becomes part of the process in that its texture, weight and weave dictate how the dyes interact with it. Since the dyes are impossible to control completely, the end result is quite unpredictable, but that’s exactly what I love about it – each painting is an adventure. I want people seeing my work to share that adventure with me… to smell my flowers, hear my birds... to revisit some exotic place that they have been, even if only in their imagination. |
