Painting and designing are my life. As a silk painter, I feel blessed that people love my hand-painted, one-of-a-kind designs inspired from nature. As one buyer recently said, “From flower close-ups to dramatic landscapes, Tina’s exquisite art lifts my spirit every time I see it. I love the vibrant, shimmering quality of her silk art, and it’s also irresistibly touchable.”
But recently, I have found that demand is outstripping my ability to create new pieces, making it hard to keep them on the shelves. And since my creations each take long hours to paint, many people who really appreciate them can’t afford to buy them.
Thinking about this problem, I have been dreaming, researching and planning how I can bring my art to more people in a more affordable way. I have experimented with reproducing my art as wearable silk, and have gotten strong preliminary orders and sales from my test market boutiques. As a result, I am excited to pursue the path of creating “art to wear.”
These pieces will take the form of gorgeous silk scarves, shawls, and ponchos, all printed with my colorful paintings. I have tested the quality of the silk reproductions done by a respected textile printing company, and found the results meet my high standards. The resulting pieces have great depth of color and the silk used has a wonderfully fine, floating quality.
My objective is to market these unique pieces of wearable silk art via wholesale trade shows, with a focus on high-end fashion boutiques and retailers. My larger goal is to share the beauty of my silk art with more of the world.
My Artistic Journey
I've always been creative and excelled in art. In college, I started studying art therapy, but soon realized that creating art was my true passion. However, I never felt a strong pull toward any one medium. After dabbling in many different techniques and mediums, I moved away from fine art toward a more practical approach and earned a degree in business. My business training is now proving vital in my endeavors because it has prepared me to take my art to this next level. Through conducting market research, writing a business plan, managing cash flow, calculating investment needs, defining my market and finding my products unique niche “Silk Squirrel” is on its’ way!
After college, I went to work for an international jewelry designer. My career was extremely rewarding – I was involved in all aspects of jewelry design and creation, and travelled to many trade shows across the US. However, the travelling and extreme time demand of meeting those fashion deadlines took a strain on my husband and our new baby girl. Both my husband and I traveled for work, but quality child care was scarce. We eventually realized that one of us needed to stay home to care for our daughter and our new son. So I changed direction again, earned my preschool certificate and opened my own child care and preschool center.
That was over ten years ago. My child care endeavor has been very successful and rewarding. But I needed something more. One night a few years ago, I was invited to an adult art night to paint a silk scarf. I had not painted for 15 years! But when I touched the dyes to the silk, something in me came alive! It was like being awakened after a long sleep. I couldn't stop painting! I had finally found my art medium, and my wandering art spirit had found its true home! Never have I felt so in tune with what I was meant to do.
As I began silk painting for myself, exploring the medium and the dyes and honing my art design skills, people and businesses started ordering my art. The iridescence of the silk, the floppy squirrel hair brushes, the texture of the fabric and the rich dye colors set themselves apart from any other medium. I found that watercolor paper and canvas simply could not compete with the versatility of silk. I would stay up all night in the calm of a quiet house, designing and painting! I have since taken a few workshops from Master Silk Artists from San Francisco, Washington and learned new ideas and techniques at a specialized retreat in France. More recently, I have begun teaching silk painting classes myself, as the Resident Artist at Yosemite for the past two summers, at a week-long workshop in France, and at Eureka Studio Arts.
Much as I love the fine art world, I believe my artwork also has the potential to be accessible to a much broader range of people in the form of wearable silk art. As I began to redesign my painted wall art into wearable silk art, I realized that I must find a way to increase the production, because there are only so many hours in the day! I began researching and sourcing how to edit and redesign my original artwork into a wearable silk art form. The Silk Squirrel Wearable Art clothing line was born!
But recently, I have found that demand is outstripping my ability to create new pieces, making it hard to keep them on the shelves. And since my creations each take long hours to paint, many people who really appreciate them can’t afford to buy them.
Thinking about this problem, I have been dreaming, researching and planning how I can bring my art to more people in a more affordable way. I have experimented with reproducing my art as wearable silk, and have gotten strong preliminary orders and sales from my test market boutiques. As a result, I am excited to pursue the path of creating “art to wear.”
These pieces will take the form of gorgeous silk scarves, shawls, and ponchos, all printed with my colorful paintings. I have tested the quality of the silk reproductions done by a respected textile printing company, and found the results meet my high standards. The resulting pieces have great depth of color and the silk used has a wonderfully fine, floating quality.
My objective is to market these unique pieces of wearable silk art via wholesale trade shows, with a focus on high-end fashion boutiques and retailers. My larger goal is to share the beauty of my silk art with more of the world.
My Artistic Journey
I've always been creative and excelled in art. In college, I started studying art therapy, but soon realized that creating art was my true passion. However, I never felt a strong pull toward any one medium. After dabbling in many different techniques and mediums, I moved away from fine art toward a more practical approach and earned a degree in business. My business training is now proving vital in my endeavors because it has prepared me to take my art to this next level. Through conducting market research, writing a business plan, managing cash flow, calculating investment needs, defining my market and finding my products unique niche “Silk Squirrel” is on its’ way!
After college, I went to work for an international jewelry designer. My career was extremely rewarding – I was involved in all aspects of jewelry design and creation, and travelled to many trade shows across the US. However, the travelling and extreme time demand of meeting those fashion deadlines took a strain on my husband and our new baby girl. Both my husband and I traveled for work, but quality child care was scarce. We eventually realized that one of us needed to stay home to care for our daughter and our new son. So I changed direction again, earned my preschool certificate and opened my own child care and preschool center.
That was over ten years ago. My child care endeavor has been very successful and rewarding. But I needed something more. One night a few years ago, I was invited to an adult art night to paint a silk scarf. I had not painted for 15 years! But when I touched the dyes to the silk, something in me came alive! It was like being awakened after a long sleep. I couldn't stop painting! I had finally found my art medium, and my wandering art spirit had found its true home! Never have I felt so in tune with what I was meant to do.
As I began silk painting for myself, exploring the medium and the dyes and honing my art design skills, people and businesses started ordering my art. The iridescence of the silk, the floppy squirrel hair brushes, the texture of the fabric and the rich dye colors set themselves apart from any other medium. I found that watercolor paper and canvas simply could not compete with the versatility of silk. I would stay up all night in the calm of a quiet house, designing and painting! I have since taken a few workshops from Master Silk Artists from San Francisco, Washington and learned new ideas and techniques at a specialized retreat in France. More recently, I have begun teaching silk painting classes myself, as the Resident Artist at Yosemite for the past two summers, at a week-long workshop in France, and at Eureka Studio Arts.
Much as I love the fine art world, I believe my artwork also has the potential to be accessible to a much broader range of people in the form of wearable silk art. As I began to redesign my painted wall art into wearable silk art, I realized that I must find a way to increase the production, because there are only so many hours in the day! I began researching and sourcing how to edit and redesign my original artwork into a wearable silk art form. The Silk Squirrel Wearable Art clothing line was born!