Silhouettes are Back

I have a hallway in the front of my house that connects the entry to the main living room/kitchen. It is a 12 foot wall, so it started off as a bit of a challenge to me. The problem was 1.) I could not put furniture there because I needed to keep the hallway open for walking, 2) one piece of artwork would not be enough for the size of the room and I can't find several pieces of artwork that I like/can afford.


Solution: My sister gave me a Martha Stewart design book for Christmas one year where I found this idea... a silhouette wall. It was an inexpensive and easy answer to my hallway.


Here are some examples:

                                      
                                       Country Living
                                     
                                    

                              
                            
                              By Martha Stewart

By Thomas Paul

Here is how my DIY project went:

    First I took pictures of my family members. Then I printed them off in the appropriate sizes on my printer. Then I outlined their silhouettes on the printed copy with a fine point Sharpee so that the silhouette would be easier to see. Then I taped the printed picture onto a window so that the light could shine through (makeshift light box) and I would be able to trace it easier. Next I traced the silhouette onto a white piece of paper and used an Exacto knife to cut it out. Finally I put a black piece of paper behind the white cut out piece and framed it. Done! Very simple.

I know what you are going to say...why haven't you done the panorama frame? Well the easy answer is that I have not found the right silhouette for that one yet. In my head right now I would like to do a silhouette of a mountain scene, but I have not committed to that yet. To be continued.

I liked the idea of mixing a matching people doing actions with people's head shots. I also love that these are pictures of my family/loved ones. Pictured here are both mine and Philip's parents as well as a silhouette from our engagement.

This is a picture of our Golden Retriever, Stetson. I also recently added a silhouette of our Bassett Hound, Annie (Philip's dog/my step dog).

I thought it would be fun to add in some famous silhouettes. I have a picture of Elvis and this one of Abraham Lincoln. I think art and design should be fun and playful.

Lastly, this is a close up of the other end of the wall. You can see that I did a few of the pictures in reverse silhouette by using black as the background and white as the silhouette. You do this the same way as normal but instead of keeping the white background that you cut out you use the figure that you cut out of the white paper and paste it to black paper. See that I added variety by doubling up some of the figures (2 to a frame). 

I plan to continue to expand this wall and one day make it floor to ceiling. How fun and interesting will that be!