Saturday, February 8, 2014

DIY Silhouette Wall Art

Hi everyone! 

Today I'm sharing my DIY Silhouette Wall Art


DIY wall art, wall art crafts, silhouette crafts, canvas wall art

As you can see from the photo below, it's still a winter wonderland! 
No matter the season, I adore the view from my front porch. 


Here's the view, looking south and west. 
I just love all of our trees! 
(Big A doesn't - he has to mow around all of those tree trunks.)


As I looked at my view, 
I thought, I'm going to paint my trees.

Nailed it!
(Well, okay, I used a little artistic licence.) 

I started with a blank canvas and painted the edges black. (I also painted the side edge of the canvas). As you can see, I didn't do this very carefully. I knew it was going to be covered up. 


Next I mixed up 1/2 Elmer's glue and 1/2 water to make my own mod podge.

Shake, shake, shake. (Shake your groove thang). 

I "painted" the canvas with mod podge.

I found an old book, and lucky for me, the edges of the pages were yellowed. I like the look of the aged edges of the pages. 

I roughly tore the pages, and placed them randomly on still damp canvas. 


After I had all the book pages down, I "painted" them with mod podge too.
I started to smooth out the wrinkles,
and then I decided the wrinkles looked kinda cool. 

It took about 3 hours for the mod podge to dry completely, 
and then I free handed the trees with a sharpie. 


I know, I know, but in my defense - I have a degree in television production, not art!

To fill in the trees, I used black acrylic paint (which is about $1 per bottle at AC More).

DIY wall art, wall art crafts, silhouette crafts, canvas wall art

Once the canvas was (mostly) dry, I tried hanging it in various spots. 

DIY wall art, wall art crafts, silhouette crafts, canvas wall art

All in all, it's been in 7 different spots, and I'm still not quite sure where it will end up. 

DIY wall art, wall art crafts, silhouette crafts, canvas wall art

Either way, I'm happy with it.

It has a little bit of a spooky feel doncha think? I asked Big A if I should paint a raven on one of the branches and he replied: "No paint me in there, on the lawn mower". See, he has issues. 

For a list of parties I'll be at - go HERE

50 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's so neat- I love this....kind of a nod to a family legacy! At the lake there was a beautiful huge oak tree at the top of the hill with smaller oaks growing farther & farther down through the woods. Dad & I dug one of them & planted it here. I always thought of the big one as the "Mother Oak". The one in our yard is as you know now huge. :) Mom

Jeanette said...

Love your tree silhouettes - you combined two of my favorite things - trees and books into an amazing piece of art. Pinning this one for future inspiration!

Unknown said...

Mom, I remember the trees at the lake!

Thanks Jeanette, I'm glad you liked this!

Julia

fabulosa said...

What a great idea, and so easy and thrifty. I have some canvas from Goodwill, that cost me almost nothing, and it will be great to do this. Thank you for the idea. And your outside trees are amazing, I dream with a house with only trees on my view. One day, one day!!.

Unknown said...

I love your art and your outdoor inspiration. The newsprint is a great background.

Joules (from Pocketful of Joules) said...

Wow, this is really cool. I love the darkness of the trees against the yellowed book pages. =)

Unknown said...

Fabulosa - yes, using an old canvas would be perfect! You're just going to cover it up!

Thanks for your nice comment Karen!

Joules - I love it too! Thank you!

Julia

Gingermommy said...

That is very elegant looking. So cool. Easy to make as well :)

Unknown said...

Beautiful Idea!

Visiting from SITS girls, spreading some love x

Juls

http://julshiddengems.blogspot.ie/

Kaisa said...

Hi Julia,
I enjoyed reading this tuto and I think you gave me a lot of inspiration to do art things again :) Thanks!

Kat
www.katkettu.blogspot.com

DoingDewey said...

What a great craft idea! I'm not sure I'm artistic enough to manage drawing something on the pages myself, but I'd love to do some of these with pictures that match the book the pages come from :)

Kelly said...

This looks awesome!! You did a fantastic job!

Julie Jordan Scott said...

This is crazy cool, my new friend from SITS comment love. I am going to copy (oh wait) be inspired by your canvas!

I work with books in my art almost solely, actually, and have come to the awareness that mod podge and wrinkles are gorgeous. My latest is photo images with tissue paper and... mod podge. I need to try making my own mod podge from regular glue like you did... I'll have to COPY, can't even CLAIM inspiration on that one! LOL

Happy Monday!

Unknown said...

This is simply amazing and very clever. Wow. #SITSBlogger

Julie S said...

It does have a bit of a spooky feel. It turned out really cool actually, though I'm not a huge fan of tearing pages out of books.

#SITSBlogging

Claire Justine said...

Great idea, love your wall art :) thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays...

Julie is Coco and Cocoa said...

So pretty! I love the book page background

KalleyC | bloggingwhilenursing said...

This is a neat idea! I love how creative this is, and how it was easy to do! Oh and you did a much better job then I ever could with the trees :-) #SITSBlogging

Unknown said...

Hi all, thank you so much for your kind and sweet comments!!

I don't like ripping up books either. Maybe newspaper would be a better alternative...

Making the mod podge is easy, and it's cheaper! Just use white glue from the dollar store and add water!

Thanks for stopping by the blog, Julia

Kate said...

This is so impressive. I wish I had better art skills. gorgeous photos and gorgeous painting!

#SITSBlogging

Unknown said...

What a great and easy craft. It's so beautiful and very classic. #SITSBLOGGING

Crystelle said...

I love it! I love how you got your inspiration from REAL nature, not just form Pinterest!! And the torn pages at the edges are so fab! You are amazing!!
:)
hugs x, Crystelle
Crystelle Boutique

K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy said...

Love this idea, especially the torn book pages. I'd love to take it a step further and create a more aged look on the pages as well as experiment with the silhouette colors for the trees.

Katrina said...

That's a great idea! I love it! I definitely need to do more things like this since our home doesn't really have any decor.

Kim said...

What a great piece you made! I am very impressed. I especailly love the idea of putting the book pages behind the design. Think of what a great gift it would be if you used the pages of someone's favorite book and then added an appropriate design. Just over from Sits, btw!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea!! I love the simplicity of the black trees!! Thank you for the inspiration, I will have to give this a go and let you know how it turns out :)
-Kat
www.confessionsoftheperfectmom.com

KLPMiller said...

I like it! It reminds me of the hipster art you would find at world market or Crate and Barrel. Very neat that the inspiration was right from your yard!

Unknown said...

Wow! This is simple but beautiful. I'm going to be doing some decorating come summer and I think this will be one of the ideas! #sitsblogging

kara said...

You are so handy! This is beautiful. #sitsblogging

Anonymous said...

This is really cool. I think this would be good for my daughter to do. Thanks for sharing.

#sitsblogging

Unknown said...

Thank you all for the wonderful comments! I'm so happy to have you all here! Julia

Mary Beth said...

This turned out so pretty ~ I love how unique it is. Thanks so much for sharing at this week's Project Inspire{d} ~ pinning!

Julie @ Director Jewels said...

Ooooh, this is gorgeous! I really want to do something like this...now to brainstorm on a good wall for it. :)

Kathleen said...

I love this and thanks for the tutorial. It is a little spooky! #SITSBlogging Kathleen @ Fearlessly Creative Mammas

inkhappi said...

What a fun project. I love it! I love the book pages as a background. Visiting from SITS and look forward to exploring your site more. Have a great week!

jillconyers said...

I love it! The pages from a book is the perfect choice for the background.

Visiting from #SITSblogging

Stampin' VMG206 said...

LOVE the book pages! What a creative idea.
I'm visiting from All Things Pretty Link Party. I would be so honored if you would share this at Brag About It Link Party on VMG206.
~ Megin of VMG206

Unknown said...

I'm so happy you all liked this project. I love it too. Thank you for stopping by, I love all of your sweet comments! Julia

Yana said...

Cute! I did something very similar last year, leaving the book pages visible - you can see it here: http://indiyvidual.blogspot.com/2013/06/painting-inspired-by-grimms-fairytale.html

Your take is lovely - silhouettes rock!

Unknown said...

Yana - will be over to check it out! Julia

Unknown said...

I love that you used a page out of an old book for this! I am a bit of a paper junkie and this is really cool. Visiting via LOBS linkup

Unknown said...

Barb, thank you for your nice comment! Julia

lorraines resources and rewards said...

I like it very interesting thanks for sharing have a great day

Michelle said...

Paint me there on the lawnmower? Haha! Love it! What an interesting project - I love your view too. And I am impressed you made your own Modge Podge - I love that stuff! Visiting from LOBS. :)

Unknown said...

Michelle, I know, he's funny! Thank you for stopping by! :)

Nice to see you Robin - glad you visited my blog!

Julia

Betsy Pool said...

Looks fabulous!Thanks for linking up at Romance on a Dime!!

Unknown said...

You definitely need to make a little paper version of him on a lawn mower and temporarily stick it on there one day...just to see if he'll notice... :)
By the way, I think it looks great!

- Brooke -

Create With Joy said...

Congratulations! Your wonderful art is one of this week's features at Inspire Me Monday at Create With Joy!

Unknown said...

Love it! Thanks for posting! Truly a great way to decorate. I think simple wall silhouettes (with class) can really add life to any room. I recently bought some wall silhouettes (safari animals) from www.LifeSizeSilhouettes.com to dress up my boy's room. Not that expensive and what a difference! I was really pleased with them. Keep up the good ideas!

Unknown said...

Thanks Jess! I will check out the silhouettes you mentioned! Julia