Make a silhouette bird or animal artwork

16 Oct 2019

Commemorate a pet or choose a favourite animal or bird to make this simple but eye-catching artwork.

You will need:

• Testpots of your chosen colours, we used Resene Cleopatra and Resene Salsa
• 1 large art canvas (we used 56cm x 71cm)
• Testpot paint brush
• Pencil
• Small and medium sized craft paint brushes
• Print-out of pet, bird or animal or you could freehand draw your own
• Scissors or craft knife
• Sellotape

Step 1 Paint the entire canvas in two coats of your chosen colour. We used Resene Cleopatra. Remember to do the sides as well. 

Step 2 Choose a photograph of your pet or find an image online of a bird or animal that you like. We used an image found online of a flying budgerigar. Resize the image so that it fits the canvas.  Print out the image and use scissors to cut it out. Use loops of sellotape on the back of the cut-out to temporarily stick it to your canvas.

Step 3 Use a pencil to trace around the cut-out. Remove the print-out from the canvas and use a small craft paint brush and your second paint colour (we used Resene Salsa) to paint over the pencil outline then use a medium sized paint brush to fill in the interior of the image. Allow to dry before repeating with a second coat of paint.

Project and photographs by Fleur Thorpe. The wall behind the artwork is painted in Resene Dark Knight.

Published: 16 Oct 2019