silhouettes

So far, "before and after" has the definite lead in the polls, so today I'm back with a little art project I put together recently over the course of a few days. I guess since it's a DIY thing, you're getting the second runner up, DIY projects, as well:) No extra charge.

You probably remember the eggplant bedroom I created about 2 years ago, but if not, you can read about it here. I love the look of lots of different sized frames making a pattern on the wall, so I went to the trouble of painting lots of frames black and arranging then hanging them in a square, (not easy to do!) shortly after painting the walls purple. I love pale yellow, so I stuck some pale yellow fabric in there. The fabric has little dots, but you can't see that in this picture.


Once I ditched the depressing purple for a light and peaceful gray, I wanted to update the framed art as well. I didn't really have any ideas, so I just cut out a bunch of poster board and stamped it with the same paint and stamp that I used on this canvas. In fact, I did that the day after I did the canvas! I wasn't crazy about it, but I knew it was just a temporary solution anyway.

After some brainstorming, I decided what to do. I love silhouettes. Love them. And ever since I read an article about the artist Kara Walker in the LA newspaper a few years ago, I've wanted to have some silhouettes as art in my home. She was doing a big exhibit in LA and I desperately wanted to go, but we had to be somewhere else. I'm still sad about that! But that's neither here nor there.

I finally decided to take on the project of filling every frame with a silhouette. I sort of cheated, though ... I'm not patient enough to actually get out the X-acto knife and black paper and carefully clip out the shapes. I just Googled images of silhouettes I liked, traced them directly off the computer screen (I should patent that technique, I feel like I use it weekly) and then colored it in with a black permanent marker.

And here is the finished product. I love it. It looks even better than I thought it would. If you're a chronic picture-straightener, this picture will probably drive you crazy. I took it right after I hung all the frames back up and before I really checked to make sure they were all in line. Sorry! As always, don't forget you can click on the picture for a much closer look.

And here's the before & after:

ta-da!