Parting shots

Here are a few photos of the first Dala Horse I ever painted. It was nice to have it visit the studio again and I'll be returning it to the current owner later this week.

I think I got some much better photos of it this time, in a number of different angles and I may be able to create something interesting with the pictures as well.

I was surprised to see how long it's been since I've posted here but that letter and number project turned out to be much larger than I expected it to be and I did SOOOO much drawing that I ended up with several pencils that were too short to put into the pencil sharpener anymore. I used up several colors of pencils and went through three marking pens which was a bit of a surprise because I hadn't realized that I was so fond of outlining so many areas of my drawings.

I never did get around to the series of drawings or paintings that I wanted to base on this horse but it was nice to have it around for a while and I can always work from photos if I get in the mood for it.

You just never know where life will lead you and it's nice to look up from your work once in a while and see where it's gone when you weren't looking.

I'm cleaning off my worktable now and sorting out my art supplies as I try to decide what I'll be working on next. As always I'm excited by the possibilities and looking forward to the adventure. Running out of a lot of colors doesn't worry me, it just forces me to try new combinations and see where they'll take me.

The most unusual horse yet

Today's Dala Horse

This is the first time I've tried painting a Dala horse quite this shape. Thanks to my friend Ron for cutting it out for me.

This shape seems to have a spirit and personality all it's own even when painted with designs that I have used before. I started a new store today for the more traditional dala horse designs.
http://www.zazzle.com/dalahorse*  

Getting Started with Red Dala Horses

Here are a couple of photos of one of the horses I've painted. I'll be turning this into a practice sheet and then I'll also grab my paints and paint some of the individual brushstrokes in the open areas of the page so that people can see how a few simple strokes add up to a fast and easy project.

Colors needed:

red

yellow

blue

green

Brushes needed:

Rounds and liners in sizes to fit the size of your horse

Red Dala Workshop

 Yes, I've rounded up all of my Red Dala Horse Designs and am teaching workshops again. At some point I want to put together a "how to" book and video on the subject but I'm so busy doing everything else now that there just hasn't been time.