Little painted rocking horse

How time flies, before I knew it - it dawned my friends' daughter Freya's first birthday! I was asked to revamp an old wooden rocking horse for her to play on, and was excited to have a new project. I started by sanding off the paint, and then priming it a lovely soft cream colour.

Next I set about it with a mixture of acrylic and matt decorating paint! Here are the results, after a lot of repainting and experimenting -lots of pretty patterns as usual! I was so pleased she seemed to like it as I loved making it for her! Anyone else have anything interesting for me to make?

Before

And after!

 

A Columbia Road Sunday

Well I had simply the loveliest Sunday morning today, with a trip on my bicycle to Columbia Road flower market in East London. It was a beautiful sunny day and the flowers looked so pretty that I couldn't help but get carried away with my camera. Here are just a few - enjoy!

         

 

Source drawings for patterns

Have been meaning to post these for a while. I made these from natural foliage in my family's garden in Bath. I think they might well make for the basis of some pretty patterns should I be able to get the knack for fiddling in photoshop! Mostly a knarled old apple tree and some now out-rooted lavender bushes, with thanks to my mama and her green fingers for cultivating the other pretty plants..

 

Leighton House lino prints

I saw this done on one of my favourite blogs Mangle Prints, and thought it was a great idea to track the printing process through from the initial drawings through to the final print. In this case, I think I likes the painting on lino better than the final thing, so maybe more work next time with details.

The initial idea for the print came from the Leighton House drawings and another I did a couple of weeks earlier..

 

From initial drawings I transcribed to tracing paper, then straight onto the lino. From there I worked out the light and dark areas by painting onto the lino with white acrylic. This gives you more of an idea of how the final print will look - and finally carved the block.

    The final carved blocks, ready for printing..  

Leighton House drawings

Drawings from the ceramic patterned tiles at Leighton House Museum, stored and to be used at a later date for prints. Wish I could have stayed in there and used some colour, simply dreamy place..