I just wanted to write a blog about the beautiful art of silk painting. I am a professional silk painter who makes a lot of hand painted silk scarves and clothing and sells them online. Silk painting has been around a very long time and originally began in China. The modern form of silk painting started in Europe with the French. They developed several brands of excellent silk dyes and resists. In the later part of the 20th century, silk painting came to America and now there are many excellent silk artists all over the USA. Most of them live in California, New York and Florida, but a few silk artists can be found in most of the 50 states. I started out in silk painting as a self taught artist. I used to paint in watercolors, but soon became bored with it and wanted to discover a new medium. I learned about silk painting by reading some books from the public library and going to the local Arts festival. The first time that I actually saw a hand painted silk scarf or garment, I said wow!! This is the most beautiful art form that I have ever seen. The colors were so rich, vibrant and intense and the fabric felt so soft and luxurious. I had to learn how to do this myself. So I went to the public library and checked out some books on silk painting and ordered a few scarf blanks and bottles of dye. When I first tried silk painting, it was really neat. My first few scarves didn't turn out too well, but I kept practicing at it until I got better and better. I soon was hooked on silk painting and finally gave up watercolors and paper. I devoted myself to mastering the art of silk painting. A few years later I was selling scarves to my coworkers and then later on I had a solo show at a local art gallery. In 2004 I started selling my scarves on a website called www.artisanstreet.com which was been fairly successful for me. When I lost my job in December 2004, I did not know how I was going to make ends meet, but the sales from Artisanstreet started coming in and the money that I earned from these sales helped to pay my utility bills and groceries until I found another job. I have included a picture of one of the scarves that I painted in 2006. I also have some scarves on at site called www.etsy.com. My personal website is called www.colorsofsilk.etsy.com