Happy New Year everybody! Here's the paper cutting I made yesterday for the #birdwhisperer project, now mounted on a 15 x 10cm card and ready to go to a new home. Let me know below if you'd like it. I'll just need a donation to cover postage + whatever you feel is appropriate. #europeancrestedtit

Paper cutting of the European Crested Tit for this month's #birdwhisperer project. Thanks for the challenge—it's not often I get to silhouette a bird! #birdsilhouette #papercutting #art

These silhouettes cut in 1925 formed the inspiration for my own hand-cut Xmas postcard this year. www.roving-artist.com/christmas-ca...

Exactly 100 years ago a lady with a hat posed for her silhouette, probably in a department store, somewhere in the UK or possibly the USA. Here is the result. I've no idea who she was (as she didn't add her name) nor who the artist was (as they didn't sign it). #Christmas1925

Four characters from Jane Austen’s novels. Part of a set currently adorning the Christmas tree at One Aldwych. Names are written under each in pencil.

Out today is this episode of The Variety podcast, in which Adam Sternberg interviews me about my life and work as a silhouettist. youtu.be/HcfrIVQ7mtg?...

This I was working with One Aldwych to realise their dream of a Xmas Tree covered in #JaneAusten characters. The unveiling was this morning! So happy to see them all in place.

Silhouette cut by Claude Marin, Place du Tertre, Paris, 1920s. Like all Montmartre silhouettists today, Marin never stuck his silhouettes to the card, but supplied them loose in a glassine envelope. I'm not sure why. It seems risky when head and body are connected by just a tiny sliver of paper!

Looking at antique silhouettes it isn’t immediately apparent what fun they are. Yet, their “entertainment value” is the reason I’ve been making a living cutting silhouettes for over 30 years. #corporateentertainment

The relationship between silhouettists and photographers has been a long a fascinating one.

Silhouette of me cut by my friend Steve Abbott on Llandudno Pier during filming of Silhouette Secrets in 2014. www.roving-artist.com/silhouette-s... #silhouetteportrait #silhouettesecrets #papercutting

Cutting a silhouette the same way it’s always been done: freehand with a pair of scissors. #silhouettecutting

Here's a recent project of mine: create an English print-on-demand version of a small book by the German silhouettist, Anna Corsep. The original was published in Leipzig in 1909. It's an interesting addition to the scant literature on silhouette portraits. www.lulu.com/shop/anna-co...

Recently arrived silhouette by Claude Marin, cut in Montmartre in the 1930's or 40's. The silhouette and backing card are kept loose in a glassine envelope, so you can turn the cutting over to see the white. #montmartre #claudemarin

Gebhard Wagner began his career as a #silhouettist cutting these evocative portraits of beer drinkers at the Munich #Hofbrauhaus. Here is a blog I wrote about him after visiting it last month. www.roving-artist.com/silhouette-c...

Arrived this morning from a seller in Kiev, Ukraine. Can anybody help me read the inscription? Don't know who the artist is, but can see that it was cut in 1987, a few years before the breakup of the USSR.

Stonor Park is home to a unique collection of 18th- and 19th-century silhouettes. Next week, Lady Ailsa Camoys will lead a private tour of both the house and the silhouette collection, at the end of which I'll make a silhouette for everybody present. www.stonor.com/events/an-ev...

The address 111 Strand, London, is important in the history of silhouette art. It's the location of the legendary Miers & Field studio, which set the standards for others to follow in the late eighteenth century. www.roving-artist.com/history/john...

One of my favourite silhouettes by Battista Baj. Cut from black paper with scissors in the 1900s, probably in Italy, with some shading added in pencil. The cutting of the wing collar and spectacles is really great.

Self Portrait by Anna Cosep, a German silhouettist and paper cutter who published a short book called "Die Silhouette" in 1898. A second edition came out in 1909, which I've been creating an English translation of with the help of ChatGPT and DeepL. Fascinating project!

Here's a fascinating photograph of a French silhouettist at work in the 1890s or 1900s. The artist is possibly M. Silvar. His signboard reads: Portraits Silhouettes CARTES POSTALES 3 pour 0,30 It sounds like a good deal! www.roving-artist.com/history/did-...

Very small silhouette cut from shiny black paper by an unknown artist in 1860. It looks like a plain black profile, but if you turn the silhouette to the light, you can see details of hair an clothing pressed into the paper. I believe these were made using a stylus on the back of the paper.

Arrived this morning, cut by an unknown artist (I think in the 1920s) and mounted onto a blank Dutch postcard. I particularly like the way the artist cut the wing collar. He has one of the smallest cut eyelashes I've ever seen.

Did Monsieur Silvar ever really exist? He was one of the most prolific 1900s silhouettists in Paris, yet the only clue to his name is this silhouette, on which the sitter wrote in French: "My silhouette, made by Mr Silvar, silhouettist at the Olympia, Paris." www.roving-artist.com/history/did-...

Silhouette signed A.M. Arassen. This is in a friend's collection and is the only Arassen silhouette either of us has ever seen. Reverse includes the inscription: E. Hayner, Eversley, June 1924. It's a tantalising glimpse of work by an unknown talented, probably professional artist.

Page of silhouettes from one of my silhouette duplicate albums. Each cut with scissors. #silhouette #blueskyartshow

Silhouette by Jen Handrup working in London’s DH Evans department store in the 1900s. Cut in two parts with collar details added in grey watercolour and hat details in white crayon. #dhevans #handrup #arthistory

Happy Day! Just arrived, this pair of silhouettes by the well-known African-American silhouettist E.J. Perry, probably cut at Coney Island in the 1900s. This essay by Eric Washington tells more: www.gothamcenter.org/blog/ej-perr... #ejperry #blackhistory #arthistory #silhouetteportrait

Another by the inimitable Harry Oakley, cut with scissors, probably in a department store in the 1920s or 30s. I love his sensitive, one-line, full-length silhouettes. #arthistory #silhouetteportrait #harryoakley

Set of sixteen silhouettes cut by Harry Oakley at a dinner party on Saturday 20th August 1932. #silhouettes #dinnerparty #harryoakley

Two tiny silhouettes by Felily Odzikowski. These were cut in Paris in 1934. On the left is a portrait and on the right a caricature, both of the same woman! www.roving-artist.com/silhouette-c... #felilyodzikowski #champselysees #Paris #arthistory

Here is my new blog about the icon Parisian street artist Felix "Felily" Odzikowski. I took the time to visit a couple of his haunts when I visited Paris last week. Here is the result: www.roving-artist.com/silhouette-c...

Pair of silhouettes cut by Inger Eidem at Tivoli Gardens in 1956. She always cut both portrait and caricature versions! I've written a blog about Inger here: www.roving-artist.com/silhouette-c... #silhouetteportrait #tivoligardens #ingereidem

Just for a change, here is one of my own. The late Prince Phillip, cut from life at the 80th birthday party of Queen Elizabeth II, held at The Ritz, London on 5th December 2006. This is my copy. I recall he commented I'd made his nose too big! What do you think? #princephillip #silhouette

Back in the UK, so here's something more English. This charming silhouette of two siblings at play cut by Hubert Leslie. It was made in 1924, probably during a home visit. I love the pose of the girl and spiral, wooden table leg. #arthistory #silhouetteportraits #hubertleslie

Today's silhouette is another one from Paris, cut in 1977 in Montmartre. I don't know the artist, but it's interesting that they use a variation of the same card that Odzikowski used to mount silhouettes (see post a few days ago). #silhouettes #the100dayproject #arthistory

Since I'm currently in Paris here is a pair of silhouettes cut in Paris on the first day of the 1960s by an unknown artist. I've no idea who the couple are, but suspect they were cut in the Place du Tertre. #arthistory #the100dayproject #silhouette

Silhouette cut in 1909 by G.Dixy of Monte-Carlo, one of a number of completely unknown silhouettists working all over Europe at the start of the twentieth century. Try googling their name, I suspect all you'll find is this post!

Full-length silhouette by August Edouart, regarded by many of the father of freehand cutting. Card measures 33cm high. The collar and even the button holes were cut with scissor points. #silhouette #arthistory #augustedouart

Silhouette of a woman by Jack Oakley. Probably dating from the 1930s, this was cut with scissors before the hair and necklace details were in gold paint with a fine brush. Card measures 13 x 7 cm. #arthistory #portrait #oldpicture

Silhouette cut in 1930s Paris by Felily Odzikowski, a Polish street artist. He would have been a common sight on the streets of Paris right up until the 1960s. I love his small-scale silhouettes and the well-printed cards on which he mounts them. #silhouettes #Paris #streetart

This is me. I've been making silhouettes (as well as collecting and writing about them) for over thirty years. For most of that time I've earned a living cutting silhouettes at events and parties. During lockdown I began making them over Zoom. My blog is here: www.roving-artist.com/last-silhoue...

Paper cutting by an unknown English artist. Inscription on the back reads: William Anderson as he appeared when eating Oysters 15th Oct 1866 at Baker’s Exchange

A pair of silhouettes, assumed to be a father and son, cut by an anonymous artist in Austria and mounted on blank postcards. The reverse of both is postmarked Salzburg, 12-8 1903. Can anybody tell what the two round balls under their necks are?

Painted silhouette by an unknown French artist, dated 1092. Apart from the inventive cigarette smoke, this looks like a scissor-cut silhouette. However, this was first sketched in pencil, then painted onto a blank French postcard using indian ink.

Two more silhouettes by William Hamlet, painted onto glass and set in traditional English frames in 1808. The fact that this remarkable English artist was black came to light recently, after the chance discovery of an American magazine article from the period. #blackhistory #silhouetteart

I wrote this blog about the Regency-era black artist William Hamlet last October (UK black history month) but I gather that's this month stateside! So here's link, please enjoy his story: www.roving-artist.com/history/will... #silhouetteart #blackhistory #blackartist

This takes me back. I've always beed fascinated by the story of Moses Williams. I got to have a go at using his physiognotrace machine when we filmed Silhouette Secrets!

I know little about Carlo, not even his family name. All I know comes from this, and a number of similar cards, bearing silhouettes cut by him at the 1958 Brussels World Fair. This took place at the Heizel Plateau in Brussels from 17th April to 19th October. Carlo seems to have been busy there!