charm home: my own horse art

12.27.2009

i hope that you all had a very merry christmas. i know i sure did. it was great to spend time with my family. i always have such a fun time when we all get together.

i thought that i would share with you the christmas gift that i made for my mom. i have spoken about my love for horses and horse art before on my blog and my mom also has that same love for for them. i don’t really know that there is a more beautiful animal than a horse. i grew up on a farm in alabama and showed horses until i was about 17. my love of horses started at a very young age and has been with me ever since.

recently i have seen two horse art pieces in particular that i really liked. One is from palecek (it’s discontinued now though) and one is from pottery barn. i’ve pictured them below. the palecek piece is on the left and the pb piece is on the right. palecek’s piece retails for about $500 or $600 and the pottery barn piece retails for about $200.

i started thinking that i could probably put my minor in art to good use and make some similar art for my mom for her christmas gift. here is how mine turned out. i was pretty proud of myself. and the best part is that it only cost me around $35 for the two of them plus my time to make them.

i also made one for myself. here is that one.

if anyone is wondering how i did it made these, here is a step-by-step guide.

first, i found an architectural salvage shop and purchased the old wood. i got one of my neighbors to help me cut the boards down to the size i wanted.

next, i roughed the pieces of wood up with a sander. i also sanded the sides and corners to make sure they were smooth and didn’t have any splinters. after that i stained them a walnut color to make them darker. the natural wood finish would have been too light.

then, i drew a horse onto poster board and cut it out. to get a big enough horse i had to tape two poster board pieces together. once i had it cut out i positioned it on the 3 boards, taped it down on the underside with painters tape and used ivory spray paint to spray the boards.

i sprayed on two coats of spray paint and once it dried i removed the horse silhouette. then i sanded the piece all over with really fine sandpaper. i also distressed areas on the horse as well as the wood to give it an aged look.

when i finished sanding the front i added picture hangers to the back of each board. the finished art was about 30” x 40”.

and that’s how i did it. the hardest part by far was drawing the horse. now i really want to experiment with other silhouettes. maybe i’ll do my dog next.