Painter Heather LaHaise raises Crypton Stain Resistance to Art

Paintings on velvet are definitely an acquired taste, and fans of this quirky art form enjoy making a pilgrimage to Portland, Oregon’s velveteria, the world’s only museum dedicated to black-velvet art.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, talented artist Heather LaHaise decided to update the painting-on-velvet tradition by putting Crypton to the ultimate stain resistance test: a special art project for which she substituted her usual canvas with Crypton Suede in the Hollywood-glamorous shade Harlow.

The resulting artwork, titled “Miss Molly,” is a priceless portrait of Molly B. Rubin that really captures this little dog’s big personality. Only instead of being acrylic on canvas, the portrait is acrylic on … Crypton. Kind of gives new meaning to “Life on Crypton!”

“My attempt at painting a portrait on Crypton proves that Super Fabric really is designed to last,” Heather says. “Much different than canvas, Crypton certainly did not want to accept my favorite water-based paint, Liquitex. Because of Crypton’s repellent quality, I had to deliver many coats of paint to achieve the desired effect. It was definitely a challenge, because while I am normally trying to capture a personality with my paint, in this case, I was also trying to figure out how to break through the tough Crypton barrier and still make a nice portrait!”

The artist succeeded at capturing precisely what the entire Crypton family loves about Molly B. “No matter how much I spattered the paint, sponged it on, or repeatedly covered the Crypton in paint, it still wanted to repel my efforts,” concludes Heather, who was only too happy to return to her usual artist’s medium: low-tech canvas. “Crypton was doing its job and I had a difficult time doing mine, so I’ll stick to canvas!”

Posted by Julia Szabo.