deborah younglao

I create paintings using silk as my canvas and liquid dyes as my paint. I have always been a lover of nature, and from the complex patterns of a flower to the simple gleam in a bird’s eye, I am often awestruck at nature’s design and color. I paint simply to share my experience, to let the viewer see a scene through my eyes. Most of my work is inspired by my Caribbean roots, and my paintings are a celebration of the vibrant colors and exotic flavor of the tropics. For me, silk is the perfect medium for this expression - it has a luminous quality unmatched by any other natural fiber, and becaus...

I create paintings using silk as my canvas and liquid dyes as my paint. I have always been a lover of nature, and from the complex patterns of a flower to the simple gleam in a bird’s eye, I am often awestruck at nature’s design and color. I paint simply to share my experience, to let the viewer see a scene through my eyes. Most of my work is inspired by my Caribbean roots, and my paintings are a celebration of the vibrant colors and exotic flavor of the tropics. For me, silk is the perfect medium for this expression - it has a luminous quality unmatched by any other natural fiber, and because the transparent dyes actually become part of the fabric, they sparkle with wonderful brilliance. The dyes, which are painted in layers with a paintbrush, spread as soon as they touch the silk. The way the transparent dyes move and blend on the silk is like a dance, which I find endlessly fascinating. I approach each painting with a sense of adventure, since the reaction of the dyes with the silk, like nature, is unpredictable. I want people seeing my work to share that adventure with me… to revisit some exotic place that they have been, even if only in their imagination… to feel harmony with and appreciate the beauty of our natural world.



“Nature seems to have poured forth her riches so without calculation, merely to mark the fullness of her joy. “ - Margaret Fuller