800 views

I have now reached over 800 views.

I would like to welcome any new followers and thank you so much to all my regular viewers. I appreciate you all taking the time to have a peak into my life. I will be posting more designs soon, so please watch this space.

Here is a little snippet of an image I made for a friend, it was called 'Paws for thought'. What do you think I'd love some comments, they are all welcome.

5 days left of the painted pony trail

 I can't believe it is September already. The last few months have been quite busy and it seems to have gone by so quickly, but I have loved being part of the painted pony trail and helping support Horse World on their ongoing campaign. I have had a few friends and family see my pony in all her glory, displayed proudly in the Body Shop window. I have had some lovely comments too, saying that they are so proud of me and that the design looks amazing, including being told by the campaign leader that it was one of his personal favourites.

I personally have a few favourites myself which were all my fellow competitors in the design competition. I particularly loved all four ponies I have shown images of to the left. Their designs were all very colourful and inventive. With the cupcake pony I loved how the design was transform to the real model as the cakes were made 3D. I think that this was a great way to decorate and made me want to eat them.

The Olympia pony was a great that has suited the recent events well. I particularly loved how the Olympic rings were made into horseshoes interlinked. The pebbles pony was quite interesting and I respect the person who had to decorate the pony as there was a lot of dots. I also love how the eyes were silver and decorated with gems.

 The last pony I liked was candyfloss which was decorated with feathers and gems to make it look like part of a carnival. I particularly loved the big pink headdress.
Being part of the pony trail has been great fun, and I would definitely do it again especially if the ponies were bigger, like the Gorillas that visited Bristol last year.

The competition has inspired me to start looking at new designs and what I will do next, any ideas!?
 If you would like to see my pony there is still 5 days left as the trail finishes on 7th September. In Bristol Cabot Circus, the Body Shop.

Competition results

Zest for Life

I can now officially say that the competition I entered a few months ago was for Zizzi. As part of the competition terms and conditions I was not able to share any information, but I can now talk about it.

The competition was to design an image for some plates that would displayed in the restaurants. Where the customers could use and buy them. The theme for the competitions was deliciously stylish which I first found difficult to think of a design for. I chose go with citrus fruit slices, as I find citrus juice refreshing and Delicious. I also thought that the shapes of the segments would be interesting to look at with my personal touch.

It took me a while to make my design because I decided to make nine citrus slices. For each slice I tried to make them individual with different patterns in the segments. However I found this quite hard to come up with a pattern for every segment, so I decided to stick to a group of patterns. When I was happy with the design I played around with the layout and colours. I thought of many things like making a spiral or flower head, but i decided to make them a little random as I thought it would show of the patterns.

Many people like the finished product unfortunately my design was not selected to become a plate. However I will try next year which will be my third chance so hopefully third time lucky.

My first time I tried I had to design a cover for the restaurant menu, which I researched by looking at the menu and tried to make a design for all the vegetables they used.

What do you think?

Menu Design

The Trail of Painted Ponies Grand opening!

 Last saturday was the grand opening of the Horseworld store and painted pony trail.

Grand Opening of the store

I woke up excited about seeing my pony finished and displayed. I had worked so hard on decorating my pony that it took me just under 3 weeks to complete. I then sent my pony back to the organisers to be given its finishing touch by covering it with a protective layer as my design was drawn on by the pens I use on much of my work which although somewhat difficult to work with, brings out a look of quality.

Shop Window

When I arrived at Bristol's Cabot Circus the Horseworld store was surrounded by excited people. Some not knowing what was going on but, like me there were other competition entrees. They handed out sweets and cakes while waiting for the shop to open.

When the ribbon was cut everyone tried to get in the shop at the same time. I was a little disappointed when I didn't see my pony I thought something might have happened to it. I noticed a few of the entrees that also entered the competition and it was nice to see them made as a pony. One of my favourite was a cup cake design, which looked really good as the cakes were 3D.

My pony as a shop window display

Me and My Pony

When I eventually got to talk to the charity organisers, they were  happy to meet me and thanked me for entering the competition. I then asked where my pony was and described it to them. As soon as they recognised it they were excited and said "that they loved my design and it must have taken me a long time". This made me feel great and excited as it was nice to get some feedback.

They then said that my pony was in The Body Shop and if they could take some photographs of me with it, which I was happy for them to do.

I was quite proud to just be part of the opening day and the trail. I appreciated it even more that they loved my pony. It made me feel proud of the 3 weeks I spent on it, carefully creating my patterns inspired by natural elements and adding my personal to every detail. Although some parts were hard to decorate, such as the belly and inner legs. I think my efforts were worth while as the final piece turned out beautiful and better than I expected. I hope the public enjoy it as much as I did making it.
The trail is on until 7th September. So please go see the amazing ponies involved in the trail. It is for a great charity and I am proud to be part of the trail.

If you have any feedback, comments or would like to know more about my work please send me a message. I'd be happy to help.