Wall Art- Hand Painted Silhouettes

In August of 09, my husband, Indiana, my good friend Justin (future bro-in-law) moved into the house that I grew up in.  My parents bought it brand new when I was 4 (1986- quit doing the math!!!) and have kept it ever since.  It has cathedral ceilings and weird angles making it difficult to decorate.  I wanted to put something on the longest wall of the house because it just looked too naked!  It was difficult of course, to find something that I liked and that was big enough for the space so I decided to make something.  I've always loved the look of old timey silhouettes, so I decided to do those, but a bit updated.  Here was my process.

We received an old 16mm movie projector during a White Elephant gift exchange one year for Christmas, this provided strong enough lighting to make a really good shadow.  Here it is propped up on a few of my husband's books (Jules Verne and Miguel Cervantes work the best)  If you don't have a projector, I'm sure an overhead projector would work just fine, if you don't have an overhead projector...I think you may be out of luck.

We taped a bit of old cardboard (from a moving box, no doubt) to the wall.  This was my 1st mistake.  If you are going to do this, I suggest using a 22x24 canvas and painting the background color first.  You'll see in the finished product that it's much better looking than cardboard! Also,  make sure it is level and if you are doing multiple silhouettes, mark the wall with a pencil and keep your chair stationary so that all the silhouettes turn out the same size.

First subject- Justin (our housemate and my future bro-in-law) we tried to wear clothes that had a lot of texture or bumps so they would show up in the shadow.  I also had them chose an action to do in their Silhouette- reading, writing, thinking etc.

First, I hand traced with a pencil.  If you are using cardboard, it's really bumpy and difficult to be accurate on.  This is another reason I'd suggest canvas.  If you are doing a background color, which I did on my 2nd run, make sure to let it dry overnight before taking a pencil to it.

I hand painted the silhouettes using a small detail brush over the pencil tracing first, then filled in with thicker strokes.

Finished product!

I had to redo the entire project because my original idea of using scrap cardboard from our recent move looked terrible.  We ended up buying 22x24" canvas and using leftover paint that I used for the kitchen as the background color.  They are very detailed up close, with hairs, eye lashes and whiskers all in tact. It would also be fun to do your favorite house hold items, maybe a lamp, a vase of flowers, a bird cage would all be great.