Painting on silk is hardly a new technique. Artists have been doing it for at least 2,000 years, when the technique originated in China shortly after the invention of silk. Thousands of years later, the medium continues to inspire artists. “The colors are so much brighter on silk than they are on paper or any other surface for that matter,” said artist John Clarke. “The colors explode off the silk like no other material.”
Each year for the past 15 years Clarke has created a watercolor silk painting for the annual Lake County Wine Auction. This year’s piece features a gathering of musicians performing before a sprawling vineyard. The painting is reminiscent of many long Lake County days spent sipping wine and enjoying a local band.
The inspiration behind the piece was fairly straight forward. “I wanted something fun,” Clarke explained. “I wanted something that would involve a lot of people. A lot of people know about music and things that go into making wine and it just seemed like this thing would resonate with people.”
To land the job of creating a piece for the wine auction 15 years ago, Clarke had to compete against a few other local artists. “I was asked to do a piece with the theme of wine and grapes for the auction,” he said. “They had a contest where they had three or four artists in the area create pieces. Even before that I had painted a couple of pieces for the auction, but they had it open to other artists as well.”
Clarke won the contest, and has been asked to create a new piece every year since. He’s always happy for the opportunity. “I like giving back to the community,” he said. “I work on my own things but I donate that piece each year to the wine auction.”
When it comes time to create his next work, Clarke looks to the community for ideas. “I listen to people when they talk about the particular piece every year. Someone has a suggestion or someone makes a comment about what they like to see,” he said. “I’m not really sure how I come up with the piece. I kind of reach out to the community.”
Clarke never had a formal art education. It’s a mark of his talent that his work is impressive enough to garner yearly requests from the wine auction.
“Other artists I was around, I picked up either their skill levels or I hung around them long enough to get a feel for what they were doing,” Clarke said.
Though before transitioning to silk painting, Clarke worked with stained glass for a number of years. He received training in the technicalities of the craft, such as soldering. “That’s the only medium I did [have formal training in],” he said.
Twenty years ago, Clarke’s foray into silk painting began with fashion. “A long time ago someone asked me to paint a dress and I did that and it was really fun to do,” he said. “From there I went to painting where they wouldn’t hang in a closet in the dark.”
He enjoyed the medium so much that now he doesn’t work with much else. “Everything I do these days is all painted on silk,” Clarke said. “I’ve been painting on canvas for years. Oil, water colors, pen and ink, all those mediums are all familiar to me.”
Silk stuck because of it’s ability to project vibrant colors, while Clarke found faults with other mediums. “All these fabrics that people paint on, they all have something – they fall apart easily or they unravel,” he said. “[Silk] is a very tough fabric. Not only that, it’s very beautiful. If you learn how to paint on it, you get no other medium that will exchange so much light and color.”
There are many steps Clarke must take, starting with purchasing the fabric in bulk. “It all starts out as white,” he explained. “What I have to do is I have to stretch this silk on a frame and then paint on it horizontally because the watercolor tends to run quite a bit. I have to be very careful how I paint on it because it’s not like a stiff canvas.”
The bleeding presents an additional challenge. Clarke has to use a foam core board to back his artwork, to ensure that nothing transfers from the backing to his painting. “I had to find something that was so much more inert so it wouldn’t hurt the silk,” he said. “It’s one of the most chemical free substances around. I use that for the backing of my paintings to keep them from sagging and then I can frame them that way.”
Though his Lake County Wine Auction painting always represents the wine scene, Clarke expands beyond the vineyards for his other work. “There’s a huge variation in theme,” he said. “I don’t always do wine and Konocti. I have all kinds of themes to paint.”
No matter what he’s painting, people are always thrilled to see his artwork. “I have some very good supporters here in the county, very wonderful fans who always appreciated my work who told me so,” Clarke said. “I’ve gotten some very positive enforcement over the years, in this community alone.”
The Lake County Wine Auction’s poster, which features Clarke’s painting, will be available for purchase shortly at venues around the county. Clarke will sign copies of the poster at the auction. The painting can be viewed at the Saw Shop Bistro in Kelseyville.
Tickets for the wine auction are $150 and can be purchased by calling the Wine Alliance at 866-279-WINE or online at www.winealliance.org.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
