The first Red Silk Salon: what happens when a painting becomes a conversation
Lisbon, 31st of March. The Vintage Hotel & Spa in Príncipe Real. And the kind of evening that is difficult to describe afterwards — not because nothing happened, but because so much did.
The first Red Silk Salon
This was an evening that Natalie Turner had been developing from an older and beautiful tradition: the literary salon. She had planned every detail, every transition, every moment. And it showed — not as rigidity, but as the kind of ease that only comes from deep preparation.
The RED Collection — seven paintings inspired by seven emotional thresholds from The Red Silk Dress — was placed on easels across both spaces of the hotel's Hangout lounge. Guests moved between them with wine, talking, looking, returning. Carl Hinds — Natalie's husband, a DJ and musical creative — held the flow of the evening together, weaving talks, presentations, and music into something that felt continuous rather than scheduled.
Nick, the hotel manager, welcomed the room. Natalie spoke about the book and the journey behind it. I spoke about the paintings and the process.
The part of the evening I keep returning to is the moment Natalie and I discussed the first painting together: Beyond Holding and Letting Go.
We each brought our own perspective. Natalie spoke from the story. I spoke from the studio. Then we opened it to the room.
What followed was one of the richest conversations I have experienced around my work.
Guests noticed things I hadn't consciously put there — and things I had hidden quietly, wondering if anyone would find them.
Many were drawn to the tension in the figure: a beautiful woman, a perfect surface — and yet something that didn't sit quite right.
Not in her face, but in her posture. In the way she was holding her hands. The semi-abstract background suggested temples, buildings, landscapes from Asia — and different guests read it differently, brought their own geographies and memories to it.
One moment in particular has stayed with me. A woman in the room looked at Beyond Holding and Letting Go and said something I recognised immediately as true.
She saw a woman who had clearly spent hours getting ready — and it showed. The care, the effort, the presentation. And yet something didn't sit quite right. Not on the surface, but underneath it. In the body. In the hands.
The beauty was real. The strength was real. And so was something else — a vulnerability, an insecurity, quietly woven into the same figure.
That is what art can do that very little else can. It can hold contradiction without resolving it. It can show the hidden room that exists behind the prepared surface — the one we rarely speak about, and almost never show.
The discussion in that room at The Vintage made me think about how many of us carry that same weaving: strength and beauty on one thread, uncertainty and vulnerability on another.
Not as opposites. As the same cloth.
That is what I was painting. And I am glad someone saw it.
I have for many years loved to post my artwork with the question What's the story? — on exhibitions, on social media, inviting people to bring their own reading to the image. This was that same invitation, but richer — held inside the context of the novel, the collaboration, and a room of people who had arrived already curious.
Natalie had also prepared cards for the audience — an invitation to write their own reflection, beginning with the words: There is always tomorrow... A sentence that runs through Claudette's journey, and one that the evening gently placed in each person's hands.
A warm and heartfelt thank you
This evening existed because of many people, and I want to name them with gratitude.
Natalie Turner — for the trust, the vision, and for a collaboration that was relational from the very beginning. Congratulations on The Red Silk Dress. It is a beautiful book and it was an honour to be part of its arrival in the world.
The Vintage Hotel & Spa, Príncipe Real — for providing the perfect setting for the first Red Silk Salon, and to Nick for his gracious welcome on the night.
Carl Hinds — for holding the evening with such skill, warmth, and musicality. The flow was seamless because of you.
Joaquim Morgado — for capturing moments in his photos
Per Westberg — for being there, behind the lens and beside me, through all of it.
I recently learned that in British naval ropes, there was always a red thread woven through them. And if that thread was pulled out, the whole rope would unravel.
That is what this evening felt like. A red thread running through story, painting, music, conversation — and the people who showed up to be part of it.
What is the story you see?
That question is still open. And I hope it stays with you.
The RED Collection — seven paintings inspired by seven emotional thresholds from the novel The Red Silk Dress by Natalie Turner — is available as fine art prints in two sizes, open edition. Original paintings are available for private viewing by enquiry.
See the whole collection: RED COllection
The Fine Art Print collection: Fine-Art Prints
More about the book and the author: The Red Silk Dress
The Red Collection is available as fine-art prints. In the image The Living Currents by Ingela Johansson.
