Family Silhouettes

I found this cool print at Home Goods and loved it. I instantly thought it would be neat to add oval shaped silhouettes of the kids and our four legged child surrounding it.

The kids have been home sick more than usual for us and we've all been a bit stir crazy so I set them up to paint and decided I really needed a creative outlet too. It makes me so happy doing something like this and having a neat family memory captured in time to go on our wall for years to come. My parents still have silhouettes of my sister and me in their family room. I love the old fashioned look about them.

The girls painted very intensely and concentrated so well. However, my two-year-old decided she was done in a much shorter window of time. I was trying to work quickly, but in my concentration I somehow missed that she singlehandedly, very quietly got the craft bin out of the cupboard and was digging through everything with reckless abandon because of one teeny tiny little pom pom ball she saw at the bottom and wanted. She's quite persistent and dedicated to accomplishing missions that one.

Anyway, on to the silhouettes. They aren't quite finished but I thought I'd post what I have so far and how I did it in case anyone is curious. I printed out the photos a size that would go nicely on the canvas. Then I mixed a color that would match with the Home Goods print for the background. While the paint dried I cut out all the faces. Then placed them with tape on top of the canvas and traced the outline. Then I painted the inside in a dark brown. Each one needed two coats in order to not look blotchy. In the first picture the dog still doesn't have a second coat. I really love how they're turning out. I still need to put the brown around the edges of all of the canvases and then want to do a top coat sealer for protection. I'm considering maybe putting melted beeswax on top because it is how the Home Goods print is finished, but I'm a little afraid I might ruin them, so I'm probably going to opt for a semi gloss sealer.

I can't wait to hang them up. There has been a perfect blank space in our living room, above an antique clock that has been in my husband's family for generations, that is just waiting for them.