I recently spent a day at Ironbridge Victorian Town Blists Hill, in Telford Shropshire. My husband loves all things engineering related  and sometimes I struggle with a day looking at engines, but at Blists Hill I found so so much to interest me. If you get the chance to visit it I would heartily recommend it!

Just before we left the museum I popped in a shop selling plaster moulded items and for £2.50 purchased this plaque.
When home I started to paint it and I’m pretty pleased with the results… what do you think?

Got it home in one piece … now to  paint!

I decided to use acrylic paints and squirted out some blue, yellow and white; with a tiny smear of purple.
I love mixing paint – it’s almost magical. The main thing to remember is to make enough, it’s always tricky to make the same colour again if you need to. I didn’t have to worry though, leaves look so much better when you use various greens, so I just started and added more yellow to make a light green and more blue to make it darker and richer…

I added a dark green to the veins of the leaves and then added more water to ensure the fleshy parts of the leaves were lighter

I made sure I covered the edge of the plaque completely

this shows the first coat of paint on

Once all the leaves were done, I let it dry. It doesn’t take long for paint to dry on plaster and I was doing this on the hottest day in England since records began!
Now for the flower, as the leaves were dark I decided to do a light flower… I made a very pale blue – the petals are white really …

So, that’s it.. I gave it a few coats of quick drying varnish and hung it on the front door… it may find a new home but for now that’s where it’s stayed!

You can see where I added the small brush strokes of purple around the centre, just need to varnish now 

and here it is on the door…

Thanks for reading, back next week.
Love Rosie