At one point and time....Zadie's room was circus inspired. I'm sure that doesn't surprise you. I think she was about 5 years old at the time. She is now 13 and her room has changed 279,361,003 times since then....because hey....her mom paints furniture and she can shop on the daily!
Sadly......I don't have a photo of this carousel horse in its BEFORE state. It was a gift from Zadie's aunt....and then painted by Matt to match her circus-themed room. It only lasted in the room MAYBE two months before it found its way into the backyard storage shed. It really was unsafe....it's heavy as heck and top-heavy....and needed to displayed NOT in a kid's room!
SO.......here we are...EIGHT years later and I finally pulled it out to give it a facelift that is NOT so red/white/yellow/pink/blue circus!!! I still don't know where we will display it...but this painted carousel horse sure is pretty!
Isn't she dramatic???
Maybe I should call her Dark Romance??? Give me a name for her, please!
I chose to recreate her out of desperation! I needed a piece of furniture to paint while joining the other amazing Dixie Belle Brand Ambassadors. You can see ALL of their amazing pieces in another blog here.
I was supposed to show up for this fun online painting contest and paint a nightstand. But I didn't have a nightstand and with social distancing, I couldn't even go get one! The ONLY thing I had available to sacrifice to this online painting game....was this horse!
Per usual......I gave it a good scrubby shower with White Lightning to remove the years of dirt and dust and grime it had collected in the shed. I followed the White Lightning shower with a good water rinse.
I did NOT prime or prep in any other way!
I just went to painting!
I was limited to the colors called out in the painting game.....so I'm not going to tell you the actual order in which I did this originally. Once the online painting game was over I made some changes in the way I had her painted.
So I will describe that to you here.
She is fully painted in Caviar....two coats. Every inch of her is covered in black. It serves as a great base when looking for that dark romance feel as it cast a shadow through your other paints that you layer on top of it. I painted her mane and tail in Plum Crazy and blended Caviar into some areas to add depth.
The saddle was painted in Holy Guacamole as well as the trim on her decorative strapping and mouthpiece. Dixie Belle's Blueberry (one of my favorites that I don't speak of often...its very "periwinkle" in color) was used to fill in the decorative straps.
The saddle was trimmed in tone on tone stripes of Plum Crazy.....and a Plum Crazy + Mud Puddle (1:1) mix....to get the second tone of pink.
I then chose the Redesign with Prima Lush Floral design transfer to enhance the saddle and bring together all the colors. It also helped to add softness and femininity to the horse....she was looking a little harsh and intense! LOL!
The flowers just sort of "ended" on the saddle. I didn't like it but couldn't figure out what to do! I kept going back to that area over and over...and it dawned on me! Wood U Bend!!
I added just a simple Wood U Bend trim painted in Blueberry around the entire perimeter of the saddle....and it was exactly what it needed!
I then chose the Wood U Bend roses to enhance the metal circles that attach the decorative straps as well as the center of her chest. (I'm sure the circles and the straps have names in the horse world....feel free to educate me)
And finally...I added the swirly WoodUBend piece to her neck!!! Do you call that a neck on a horse??? Well...I do! And I think it looks amazing!
Ok....the pole......was just too BLACK!!!! So at the last minute.....I decided to add gold stripes! I used the super easy method of tape and Gilding Wax in Warm Gold. It literally took less than 10 minutes to tape, wax, and untape that pole!!! I topped the pole with Plum Crazy....and enhanced the base with a wash of Plum Crazy and Warm Gold gilding wax as well.
She was pretty....but needed some shimmer! She needed a touch of carnival look.....because hey....she is a carousel horse!!! I broke out my wax cire cera waxes also by Redesign with Prima in Blue Lagoon and Indian Pink. You can see both colors shimmering on top of the Caviar black!
I finished her off by brushing the Warm Gold over all her hooves.
I LOVE HER!!!
I had no idea if I would keep her....or offer her up on the market. But before I could even say she was available for purchase...she SOLD! Someone loved her so much I just know that she has found a place.....to be featured and enjoyed! My painted carousel horse makes me happy when I look at her! Who doesn't love a carousel???
Shop: Painted Carousel Horse
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See you next week!
XOXO,
Tracey
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