Cheryl, from Scotland, and her two girls made this fantastic keepsake silhouette painting. Want to know how they did it? Read on…
You need:
- Large canvas or piece of card (I bought a 100×130cm canvas from Hobbycraft)
- Pencil
- Decent rubber
- Black sharpie
- Paint (in as many colours as you like) – any kind
- Medium to large paintbrushes
- Large cloths or tarpaulins
- A child or children!
Instructions:
- Lean your canvas against the wall, somewhere it is securely upright.
- I got my children to stand against it, and posed them as I wanted (they chose the hand and leg positions they were comfortable with, I just asked them to look at each other and hold hands!).
- I immediately took a photo to use as a reference, as I knew they wouldn’t hold it long.
- I then lightly traced around their shapes in pencil. I found it easier to draw one child, and then send her away and call the other to be traced. (Make sure you do any joined hands etc before this though!)
- Using the rubber and the pencil, I tidied up my lines, and re-did some bits that didn’t look right. A couple of times, I asked the girls to come back and stand again, so I could get hands and noses etc exactly right.
- Once I was happy with my figures, I went over the lines in black sharpie, so I’d still be able to see it under the paint.
- We then took the canvas outside and propped it against the wall, with a cloth underneath it and a tarpaulin behind it. I got pots of paint in rainbow colours, and gave the girls a paintbrush each.
- I showed them how to flick paint off the brush to splatter onto the canvas, but they also made splodges with their brushes, and tried painting a ball and throwing it at it!
- When they had had enough and the canvas was splattered with bright colours, I left it upright for a little while to allow the paint to drip and create the running down effect. Then I laid it flat to dry.
- Once it was dry, I used a small brush and black paint to fill in my sharpie silhouette. I had to do two coats to really cover up the paint underneath. Lastly, I added the year in the corner!
I wish I had stripped my girls, or at least just taken off their bulky clothes, as it made their legs a little misshapen, and made it harder to get the shape right. If you can, hide their hands – see the positions that mine adopted. I changed my older one’s left arm, as I found it really hard to draw hands looking natural, even when outlining!
If you want a splatter pattern, practise the flicking motion with your brush on another piece of paper before you start – it took us a while to work it out properly. You need to load up the brush with a big gloop of paint, and sharply flick your wrist downwards to achieve the splatter, instead of just getting a splodge!
What is next for you?
I have some furniture to upcycle, so I’m going to attempt to get them involved!
Tell the community a bit about yourself…
My name is Cheryl, and I live in the Scottish Borders. I have two girls, Mariana (7) and Penelope (2). I run art clubs at the local schools for Red Button Drama Arts.
How are you finding being housebound with kids so far?
Intense! It may be controversial, but there are definitely upsides and downsides to spending so much time with the children, and vice versa too.
Any tips to help people when they are housebound with kids?
We’ve got the grandparents involved in homeschool lessons via Skype!
How has the Housebound With Kids community helped you?
Lots of fab ideas to try at home.
