Monday, March 28, 2016

Brush Stroke Paractice for Dala Horses on a Wheelchair Ramp


What I love about doing this project is having lots of places to practice various color choices and brushstrokes in a way that's fun, interesting and useful.


I also hear it's becoming a bit of a landmark and a topic of discussion in the neighborhood.


It's fun to see the smile on people's faces as they walk by.


Thursday, March 17, 2016

Fun Horse Designs



I never do the same thing twice, not even on the same horse as you can see by these photos of the north woods themed horse.


The other interesting thing about this horse was that I painted some of the wood grain because there was one dark streak on one side and I wanted a natural but more even look to it.

 If I do more horses like this one I'd use a lighter blue for the small flowers for better contrast. You never really know until you try and find out what you like. The more you paint the more confident you will be with your choices and the better your horses will look. Keep painting, it only gets better.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Folk Art Border Designs


What I love about painting the spindles on my wheelchair ramp is the opportunity to try 4 different designs on each one. It gives me lots of practice on my brushstrokes and a place to try variations of them to find which color combinations I like best. 


The other exciting thing about it is that the ramp gets painted while I'm working out new designs and patterns.



Who knows? It may even help people remember where "that Dala Horse Lady" lives when they're looking for classes or horses to buy.


Iris Dala Horse


A round brush and a liner are all that are needed for this design. When using the round brush for the larger petals you just press at the outside if the petal then lift and pull to the center. Don't forget to turn a bit as you get close that inside edge to give them more shape or have them go at different angles.


As you can see the warmer weather has allowed me to go back to spraying clear finish over the Dala Horses to build some shine and protection over the paint.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Border patterns on Blue Backgrounds


I'm painting the spindles on my wheelchair ramp so I'm using the opportunity to experiment with different variations on simple designs.







Saturday, March 5, 2016

Designs for Red Dala Horses


This design is a simple one made up of dots, lines and coma strokes.


Designs for Yellow Dala Horses


 Here's an easy design that uses simple brushstrokes and only takes 3 colors (yellow, red and blue)



1. Start by painting your horse or other project Yellow.

              2. Place large red dots evenly across your project.

              3. Paint blue lines between the red dots.

              4. Use a smaller brush to pain blue dots in the middle of the red                   ones.

              5. Frame the dots with blue coma strokes.

              6. Fill the space between them with red coma strokes in pairs                       facing opposite directions.