Silhouette Art - Reverse Glass Painting - With Realism But Add A Touch Of Mystery

By Sally Willson

Silhouette art is what i would call a few of the reverse paintings on glass among the work I have done in the last few years, that seem to stand out among the others. The reason being that they are a little on the intense side, while at the same time, the background seems to melt away. Most, but not all of them, were done intentionally in this manner.

As an example for instruction, let us use the wolf on the skyline. There is not enough room in one article to explain the whole process, so I must assume you already know where to begin painting on glass. If not, please feel free to reference my previous articles with instructions. To begin the painting, you are going to put the last thing that stepped into the picture first.

Remember that the finished work is on the reverse side of the glass, so that will be the first thing to draw attention to the eye. What this means is that you will paint in the wolf first. Do not forget that he is howling. This means, (not really, but in the line in which you must be thinking) that he will have drawn a deep breath of air into his lungs, and straightened his spine to the extreme. There is very little light coming from the sunset, so the colors you will use in the wolf will be very dark, and not articulate. In order to get these colors, you can use a very small amount of black, but use more of the deeper colors, such as the darker reds, greens and blues, mixed together. Draw in the wolf, with your paint brush. Make him close enough to the front (bottom) of the painting, to be the center of attraction.

This is not to say, though, that he wants to be in the center of the painting. Now, to get those stray hairs around the throat and shoulders of the wolf, leave just the very smallest amount of paint on the brush. You may even need to wipe some of it off the brush with a rag. You will almost lay your brush vertically on the glass, with the bristled end, pointing outward from the wolf. Most of the brush will lay inside the wolf's body, with only the tip ends of the bristles extending over the edge of the wolf. I usually hold my breath while doing this, sometimes for much too long! While rolling the brush along the edge of the wolf, remember to make the bristles of the brush point in the same direction as the wolf's hair would. There will also be some vagrant hairs around the tail and feet. Wolves need a lot of padding on the feet, so they are hairy. Proceed in the same manner. Now, extremely important, you will need to let this dry before the next step.

Now that the wolf is dry, it is time to paint the next thing that went into the painting. That would be the earth. The ground he is standing on. Your wolf being sky-lined, the ground will only come up to his feet, or only slightly beyond. Remember this is at sunset, so there is not much light. Use the same colors you had for the wolf with dark brown or burnt umber this time. You may want more green in there, too. Just the facts of the landscape here. Keep in mind that the wolf is the subject. Paint in all of the foreground. Let it dry. The let it dry process can take form a few hours to weeks, depending on what types of paint you are using.

Now the time has come for you to finish the painting! This is an exiting part of it! I understand that the angels get to paint the sunsets, so it will not hurt to get some practice! A sunset should have the warm colors of the day in it, so use some bright red, and yellow, and white. Put them in first, in large patches down near the horizon. They are going to dilute as you paint in the night sky, so do not worry if there seems to be too much color. Paint around the reds and yellows with deep grey and a little blue. Now, paint right over the colors too, with the grey and blue mixed together in the brush. It is important to do the sky in one step, so that it all blends, and there are not any sharp edges left. The sky is soft. Think about that. Then, let it dry.

Now, turn the pane of glass over, set it on a counter top. Step back and view the masterpiece! I like it!

To see the 'Wolf at Sunset', and others of my silhouette paintings, please visit my website page http://www.reversepaintinglady.com/
There are also some more complete directions about reverse painting on glass, and other art forms to explore. As an alternative, you might just go to the galleries to explore some of the other reverse paintings on glass that I have done! Please, feel free. Of course there is no obligation. Continue creating!
http://reversepaintinglady.com/
sallywillson@yahoo.com
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