COURTESY OF NATASHA FOUCAULT Natasha Foucault’s (above) new book, co-authored with fellow artist Jeanne-Michele Salander, is part art book, part memoir.

Silk painter Natasha Foucault and co-author Jeanne-Michele Salander have scheduled a book release party, combined with an art and fashion show, for “Silk Diary: An Artist’s Journey from Moscow to Mendocino,” 3-7 p.m. Saturday at Art-n-Fun, 167 Main St., Los Altos.

The Russian-born Foucault, who has lived in the United States since 1990, said the new book is part memoir, part art book, and reveals the techniques of a relatively new and striking art form.

A graduate of the Art Academy in Moscow, Foucault worked extensively with ceramics and etchings until the excessive use of hazardous chemicals made her sick.

After nearly dying of Hepatitis B in 1985, she turned in a different and safer art direction after a meeting a 98-year-old silk painter.

“Once I discovered silk, I found it was a totally magical media,” she said. “Silk is a live material - it has light by itself, it shimmers.”

Foucault applies paint to wet silk, which broadens even further the potential of the material. “It’s like a prism - it reflects light very differently, much different from paper or canvas,” she said.

Foucault’s silk images range from landscapes that recall villages and towns in old Europe to still-life representations.

She also applies the technique to clothes, creating “wearable art.”

Several of Foucault’s pieces will remain on display at Art-n-Fun for approximately three weeks after the event.

Co-author Salander, also an accomplished silk painter with a love of Russian language and history, is an account executive with Exotic-Thai Silks on State Street in Los Altos.

For more information, call (415) 826-5022 or visit www.winterpalacepress.com.