HAND PAINTED VIGNETTE BACKDROP
Why spend hundreds of dollars on an expensive backdrop when you could just make one yourself? Over the past couple of weeks my mentor, Marcus Anthony, has asked me to paint him a vignette backdrop. He has allowed me access to his studio and any supplies needed for the process. These backdrops are fun and quite easy to make. I am writing this to explain the process of the completion of this master piece, and to show anyone out there who wants to make their own backdrops exactly how to do it!
The first thing we did was gathered the supplies and came up with a plan of how it would look. Surprisingly, not much is needed to create such a large piece. The only supplies needed was: a primed canvas, paint, painters tarp, and sponges.
We first came up with a color scheme, then went to Home Depot and bought flat interior paint and all the other supplies necessary. However, we ordered the primed canvas online and had it shipped in the mail. Once the tarp and canvas was laid flat on the ground, I began my work.
I started with the prime color: green. Using the sponges to smear the dark green around the edges of the canvas. I worked my way into the middle where I mixed the green paint with white for a lighter center, creating the vignette effect. I was about halfway through my piece when I realized it was not turning out how I had planned. It was not blending like I had wanted it to.
As not to get paint on my socks, I had wrapped two trash bags around my feet. As I stood back inspecting my piece I became aware that my left foot was standing on the corner of the canvas. Right where I had just painted. Stressed at the fact I had to redo a corner now, I picked up my foot when I realized what I had actually done. The bags on my feet had created an almost splotchy like look. That when an idea struck. I began to walk all over my canvas, pressing the bags up and down in quick motions with my toes. This interesting technique added texture and began to blend the paint as I had originally intended.
As I got the hang of my new technique, I began to incorporate some yellow and purple into the painting. I even incorporate some lighter streaks into the darker parts of the vignette as to have a more subtle transition from dark to light.
Despite how large the canvas was, it did not take too long to paint. I spent roughly two and a half hours on this piece, mainly focusing on blending the colors with my feet. It was an exciting experience and has even inspired me to do another backdrop, which I just finished! I went with a beautiful dark blue this time. Here’s a photo of the finished pieces being used during a portrait session with Marcus Anthony.
This blog post was guest-written by Kim Lucas, a local Wilmington artist. The backdrops were exclusively hand-painted by Kim, and are currently being used as photographic backdrops in Marcus Anthony’s downtown Wilmington portrait studio.
