Kicking Ideas Around for New Dala Horse Designs

When I'm sure what I want to do I start with a page of outlines.

Today I'm working with gouache and a black marker for outlining.

This one was clearly a mistake. I could try again without the marker but I think I'll pass on the idea for a while.

I've always enjoyed flowers so this one is my favorite.

I'll be outlining the vines and flowers on this one next. I think of patchwork quilts when I design things like this.

This one will be used on my line of baby clothes on zazzle for starters and I'll try it on other products after that.

After all of that i figured I'd go back to drawing and do another horse in black and white.

 Unfortunately the drawing was too busy, and the lines too fine to make into a rubber stamp so I'm not quite sure hat to do at that point. I could just paint it in. Keep checking the blog to see what happens with it and to get more ideas.

I decided to try painting in the flowers by hand and will attempt a number of background colors before doing anything permanent with it.

Changing Your Dala Horses

I wish I'd taken pictures along the way put a Christmas Dala Horse I did years ago had become quite damaged. I first planned to just touch it up and then decided to change it to a year around design that I would get more use of.

BEFORE

AFTER

I sanded off the holly leaves in the saddle area and  the bit, bridle and reins so that I could make them thinner and brighter.

I also added more colors and design elements to brighten it up a bit.

I don't know what you think but I feel it was a vast improvement.

Don't be afraid to go back and make changes. You can always out it back the way it was if you want to.

After all it's just wood and paint, you can't really ruin anything. Just keep at it until you come up with something you're really happy with.