Horse History

OK, it's not exactly painted like a dala horse. But I was less than a year old here and it seemed to impress me anyway. I've always been fond of horses and it feels really good to be designing them now.

 

 I'm making the last of these small ornaments in red to show up best against the Christmas Tree. They are done in variations of traditional styles.

This freestanding horse is something new I'm working on to represent Christmas tree branches and garlands.

Red Dala Horse Ornament Designs

I always try to design each red horse differently than the last one. Even when I'm using the same colors and brush strokes.

As you can imagine there are parts of these that I like better than others. These are the miniature horses so there is only so much detail that I can get on them.

On a full size ornament or larger horse you could expand on the design by adding more rows of comma strokes around the saddle and mane or more layers of colors in the dots across the chest and belly areas.

I finish these off with a screw eye and a piece of gold cord to hang them with.

I've still got one dozen unfinished wood blanks to carve and turn into more ornaments. Will I be able to come up with a dozen different designs to paint them with? Keep following this Blog and find out and as always, Keep painting and discover your own creative spirit.

Red Horses for Christmas

I'm keeping details to a minimum while designing the small ornaments, some of these are only about 2 inches tall and under 3 inches wide so very small brushes are required too.

As you can see the brush strokes are easy ones too.

This one is just dots, straight lines and comma strokes.

Dala Horse Christmas Ornaments

I'm working on a number of different styles and sizes of horses for the Christmas tree this year but thought I'd stick to red ones in some more or less traditional designs.

2 of these are ornaments and the larger wider horse is just free standing for a shelf or table. This time I decided to limit the colors used to just red, yellow green and white. I was pleased with the results and added them to my Christmas tree.

My tree will be all red horses but here's a picture of a tree done with other horses that I've done over the last 4 years that belongs to one of the people that collect them.

Inspiration, Junk Mail and Design Ideas

I discovered a plate that I liked in a cooking catalog and put the clipping in a little design notebook that I've started. The features that I liked best were the combination of colors and the idea of layering the flower shapes to fill a larger space.

I experimented with changes in both the flowers and leaves and decided that I liked the light blue the way it was in the catalog better. It was easy to add it inside the darker blue that I had painted and that seemed to improve it a bit.

The design on the plate was outlined which gives it quite a different look which I like but wouldn't find practical for the deck spindles I'm practicing on or to adapt and paint much smaller on Dala Horses.

I tried painting variations of some of the designs as I considered what I might use them for in the future but for now they just continue to make my house look interesting.

Blue Dala Horses and an unexpected Red one

I'm always working on one sort of Dala horse or another. This first one with flowers on a blue background is a Christmas tree ornament.

I seldom do the same design on both sides of an ornament. You can't see both sides at once and it gives everyone a chance to turn it around whenever they get bored.

This next project is a recycling effort with an old metal horse broken off a windmill or something and discovered in an old shed.

The proportions of this horse are all wrong for a dala horse but it was free and is more effective than putting up a sign to show people where to find Dala Horses in the neighborhood.

My Latest Red Dala Horse

There's not much to say about this one. Most of the designs and colors are pretty traditional. I like it that this sort of thing is coming easier to me. Each of them is different yet they are part of a tradition that goes back hundreds of years and that's what makes them special to me.

I'm always practicing brush strokes as I get ready to paint another Dala Horse and continue the tradition.

This one is a Christmas ornament and will be part of another families tradition. I trust that they'll enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Designs for a Red Background

As I'm working on these posts for the wheelchair ramp I'm also carving and sanding horses as I decide which designs that I would like to use on them. I'll be painting those next. 

 On this most recent one I did a different design on each side of the post.

 The blue flowers seemed to show up the best and I thought I'd use it on the saddle area of the horse.

 The dot and coma stroke designs will work well across the chest and the belly band.

I've got a firm idea of what the design will be now and will include pictures of it as soon as I have them.

Stroke Work Designs for a Yellow Background

Yes, I'm still combining my need to practice new brush stroke patterns with the practicality of getting my wheelchair ramp painted before another year of winter weather gets to it.

As always I'm thinking about the next dala horse that I want to paint and how I can combine different brushstrokes and patterns to keep the design fresh and different than other horses that I have done before.

I'm nearly halfway up one side of the ramp now and really looking forward to enjoying my handiwork over the long, cold winter. This is the end of it that I can see from my living room window so it will be nice to have something else to look at besides the snow until my flowers bloom again in the spring.

Brush Stroke Practice

I can use all of the practice I can get with my brush strokes but instead of endless practice pages in a workbook or sketch book I'm getting mine on the posts of my wheelchair ramp.

What I really like about doing it this way is that there are 4 sides on each post and that gives me lots of chances to try variations in color schemes and paint brushes.

The other good thing about it is that I find it really satisfying to have my own little art exhibit in the front garden to provide welcome color over the winter and between garden seasons.

It just makes anyone that sees it happy and it's a great way to show people the sorts of things that I like to paint,

Any Color Works

Sometimes I like to take a break from traditional colors and designs when painting Dala Horses. I've never heard of one that was purple and green, have you? Stretch your imagination and have some fun.

The hanging one has already been sold and Yes, the pink, green and yellow one is on it's way out of here too.

 I haven't finished with this one yet. I'm sure the polyurethane will change the color of the wood and I plan to enhance the designs with some outlining so I'll be adding one more photo to this post as soon as it's done.

Carving and selling Dala Horses

I put my Dala Horses for Sale sign up today and my finished horses on a table in the front yard while I sat and carved some blanks for new horses. Several people stopped and were interested but no one bought anything. I took that opportunity to make sure that everyone who wanted one got a business card. I'll let you know if any of them come back.

Yellow and Blue Dala Horse

My original idea was to design a horse in the blue and yellow of the Swedish flag but none of the blues I had on hand were right and I didn't feel like trying to mix it so I just decided to do a bit something else in blue and white.

When I do come up with the color I want all of the straps of any kind will be that blue,The mane will be much the same as it is, but in the other blue and I have yet to decide what I'll do with the saddle.

I think playing with variations in blue and yellow will be my signature style this season.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Lazy Way to sell Dala Horses

I had planned to be out in the yard painting anyway so I set up a few of the horses that I had for sale next to the street. I didn't make any sales but one gal did take a business card for my Dala Horse store on Zazzle so I may get some sales that way.

This time instead of setting everything up carefully I put everything in a shallow blue and white bowl so that the wind wouldn't be a problem.

Each side of my sign is different. I'm not sure it helps but I reverse it every time I set up so that people in the neighborhood wouldn't think it was the same old thing.

Today I painted one dala horse, one post for the wheelchair ramp and a little gnome for the garden.
I'm happy to see that today's horse is already sold as soon as I put a few coats of spray polyurethane on it.

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.