In the third and final part of my series about painting layers on silk I have turned my attention to the challenges of starting with darker backgrounds. This is a design that I have painted in more than one colourway. The black and pink version sold, but this royal blue and green has had very few clicks and I have decided that perhaps it’s the zingy green that’s the issue.
So adding a little black to some of the royal blue.
Then overpainting the greens with a soft, pale brown to give some depth to the leaf design and knock back the green a bit.
And, here below shows the contrast between before and after halfway through the second layer.
Finally it’s all done and ready for steaming.
It appears a little muddy in the pictures, but in real life the finished look is more subtle than the original, plain, strong greens and I think for that reason more effective.
More photos of the finished scarf can be seen on my shop. January 2019 update now sold.
Share this:
Agnes Ashe 
It’s beautifully muted in its new incarnation!
Oh thank you. Yes, I definitely think it is an improvement.
I agree. I normally like bright vibrant colours so the original was fine for me, but the transformation packs more of a punch somehow. I think the touches of black set the other colours off.
Yes, I am with you Gwen about bright colours, but in the UK we don’t usually have enough bright sun like you do for bright colours to be a comfortable choice for many people.
I know what you mean. Some years back, after a week in Paris in autumn, I had to tone the wardrobe down to stop standing out as a tourist. But right now, from some over-enthusiastic wardrobe cleansing, and a slight fall in dress size, all I seem to have left is black-white and navy-white stripes. Someone stole my red!
Noooo – bring back the colours!