Helen views her love of diving through the eyes of a dancer and an artist - the undersea movement, color, texture, and drama. Nature's choreography is hard to capture, and she explores silk painting as a medium to express her visual thoughts. Silk has the unique quality of replicating the color vibrancy and movement of the underwater world. Helen's artistic impressions reflect her experiences in the USA, South Pacific, Caribbean, and Europe. Her studio is presently located in Florida.
You can also find Helen as a featured artist on http://www.dharmatrading.com/, and www.paradise-plongee.com.
Helen's silk paintings are on "China Silk" (Silk Habotai), hand painted using Dupont silk dyes. The silk is stretched and suspended, and her design is outlined on the silk using a resist (gutta). Various layers of gutta and dyes are applied to the silk resulting in a dimensional effect. Also, Helen uses various wax, salt, and application techniques. Once complete, the artwork is then steamed to set the dyes, and dry cleaned to remove the gutta. This professional process ensures minimal fading or running of colors.
Most paintings are then "gallery wrapped": stretched over a wooden frame with an underlayment of white felt to further enhance the vibrant colors and soften the overall look of the painting. Thus, all gallery wrapped paintings can be hung as-is, or simply pick a frame of your choice to further enhance the painting.
Not everyone has a spare wall to hang a painting, and thus Helen makes her paintings available in "TABLE ART", laminated placemats that are reproductions of Helen's silk paintings. Each placemat is a different painting (or part of a painting), 12" X 15" (10 mil) durable lamination to preserve the copies for a "wipe clean" surface. These make great gifts and colorful additions to any table!
Larry Goldberg has been a commercial diver and nondestructive testing specialist for over 25 years. Together, Larry and Helen run Sea Test Services, a well known company in the underwater NDT inspection industry. Larry loves metal, as you will see in his "Industrial Art". Larry's creative flare and love of stainless steel and metals creates a unique scupltor's vision for "metallica". Recycling interesting industrial metal parts in artistic ways, Larry builds unusual sculptures with detail to design and space. Larry is also a free-lance writer for dive and sail magazines, and is presently writing a book.