The Paper Paintbrush

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My ornament, that I was invited to make for the White House
Blue Room Christmas Tree. It has copies of historic silhouettes of
three presidents and three prominent statesmen, from the
19th and 20th Century.

At shows, people are curious about how I got into this field and learned to do silhouettes. For me, this seemed a logical thing to try on my own, after I had taken many classes in the art of decoupage and had mastered fine paper cutting. I was living in western New York State and had opened a shop called The Paper Paintbrush, where I taught all forms of decoupage--from board art to intricate cutouts of hand-colored eighteenth century prints. The cutouts were used to decorate everything from basket purse lids to wastebaskets to pieces of furniture, and some designs were elevated to a three-dimensional form in a shadow box, or sculpted against a flat background in a form called moulage. My students also learned how to make lamps and decorate mirrors with their designs.

Here I am with my ornament as commissioned by Hillary Clinton.

One day I read in the local newspaper that the librarians in town were organizing a Colonial craft show for the 4th of July, at a place called Panama Rocks. They asked for volunteers to learn a Colonial craft and demonstrate it, whether they had something to sell or not. It occurred to me that although decoupage was not a Colonial craft, silhouettes were, and they were cut paper, so I should be able to demonstrate that. I practiced on any subject, willing or not (mostly my children), by having them sit for me while I looked at them and cut out what I saw. I entered the show and was busy making portraits from the start, right through the day. When people started asking me how long I had been doing this, I told them truthfully, two weeks! I decided then and there, that this was a worthwhile craft to pursue. Except for a few years when I was mostly working on a graduate degree in biochemistry in Canada, I have enjoyed a steady and satisfying business. I especially enjoy hearing from old customers about how much they like their portraits.

Most of my work is with children, which I love to do, and I try to capture some unique feature of their personality in the portrait. As you can see from the picture above, sometimes it takes a helping hand - my husband Les is often given the task of keeping the subject entertained. However, the more serious portraiture has always been portrayal of adults, and expecially full figure poses, and this is why I have taken advantage of every opportunity to portray the fellow craftspeople and reenactors whom you will meet in my gallery. Collected historical portraits such as those of August Edouard may have been the only portrait record of famous people, and a resource for learning much about the fashions of the time. It is amazing how much information about a person can be packed into a mere shadow picture!

Follow this link for more pictures demonstrating how I make my silhouettes.

Now, please turn to the pages of my gallery to see examples of my work; and do check my calendar for the next scheduled appearances. Finally, if you like what you see, or want to ask questions, please send me an e-mail message!

Click here Get all the latest news about my upcoming appearances from my new Blog!