What is batik painting (commonly known as silk painting)?
Batik (from the Java language batik is painting with hot wax) is a technique that allows artist to create art on fabric using silk as the canvas. Batik is a cumulative name of the different techniques of manual fabric painting. On the base of these diverse methods lies the reservation principle covering fabric area with a special mixture so that it remains uncolored and forms a pattern.. Batik is a direct paint-on method. Dyes are applied to silk fabrics using a wide range of watercolor techniques. The colors merge to become an integral part of the fabric. Silk painting is not static. Movement and fluidity are the hallmark of this art form. Historically, silk painting technique can be traced back to India in the second century A.D. and to Java 200 years later where the batik industry flourished. Silk painting was and continues to be very popular in the Far East (Japan, China, Indonesia). The history of how batik found its way to Europe is unclear. Silk painters from France and Hungary
