Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Renata Radcliffe's 'Listening to the Poppies Grow...' silk painting is part of her exhibit at Gallery Saratoga.
Artist paints her palette on silk
By Shari Kaplan
Challenging, sensuous, unforgiving and beautiful--these are among the carefully chosen adjectives Renata Radcliffe uses to describe that which she loves.
She's not talking about her husband, with whom she shares the home that also houses her studio--after so many years of marriage, she says they understand each other pretty well.
The relationship that keeps Radcliffe on her toes is the one she has with the delicate, yet demanding, medium on which she paints--finely spun fabric derived from raw material produced by those hard-working caterpillars known as silkworms.
A collection of the San Jose resident's silk paintings are on display through May 31 at Gallery Saratoga, 14531 Big Basin Way, Unit 3 in the Saratoga Village. The colorful show features some of Radcliffe's favorite themes: landscapes, florals and animals. People appear in some of the images, as well.
Ever since she was 4 years old, Radcliffe says, she has been a painter. While living in Hawaii during the late 1950s and early '60s, she became fascinated with the technique of Chinese brush painting. She enrolled in art college and learned about this technique and others, including oil painting and collage. Upon settling in the Bay Area, Radcliffe began teaching the art of oil painting, which she continued for 30 years.
While visiting her sister in Switzerland about 10 years ago, Radcliffe attended a class her sister was taking in silk painting. She discovered she loved this medium, as well, but did not decide to concentrate solely on it until just last year, when she sold all her oil painting supplies.
"You have to be not only an artist, but also a designer and almost a chemist to work with silk," she says of the habitué silk, silk crepe and satin she paints on. "Each one responds differently--and immediately! Once you put the dye down, that's it."
Although she calls silk an unforgiving medium, she says she enjoys persuading it to say "OK, I'll do this for you." Because silk will only take so much dye before it becomes saturated, there's a real art to knowing when to stop adding color, she says. The dyes themselves are usually one of two types: head-set Dekka and steam-set Jaquard, both imported from France.
Blending the various colors of dye is also challenging, she adds, talking about paintings she's made in which unwanted hues mysterious appeared from the background after the silk had dried.
Preparing her works of art also involves some additional physical work. Before painting on a stretch of silk, Radcliffe washes, irons and stretches it. After her image is completed, she goes through the same steps again, followed by framing.
Gallery Saratoga is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 408.867.0458, or visit www.gallerysaratoga.com on the Internet.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
