Alicorn Art - A to Z Blogging Challenge

Today I am starting something called A to Z Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. This means I will make a new post every day of April (excluding Sundays) starting with the letter of that day, getting through the alphabet and making 26 posts by the end of the month. See the button on my sidebar for a link back to the challenge website =)

So onto the first post of the month!

It's no secret that many girls love ponies, and my little girl loves them a lot! She has this shirt, one of her favorites, with an alicorn on it - a unicorn with wings.

After dressing her in it for a while, and seeing a plain wood plaque at the craft store, the idea popped in my head to make it a bit of wall art for her room. I couldn't follow the design exactly but I wanted something inspired by, with the same colors. I looked online for more inspiration, found a unicorn design I liked and a wing design. A little sketching and layering, and I got this:

I painted the shield pewter gray, so then the next step was tracing the design onto the wood.

I retraced the design, cut it out in the placement I wanted and taped it to the shield. I tried cutting the design with a nail, but that didn't work so well. A hard-pressed pencil worked though!

Next, painting. Outline first, then filling it in.

My painting studio is a little more limited than it was in our last house, but I'm making do!

 I didn't like how the bottom of the neck and shoulders were looking, so I decided to add a cloudy mist underneath, and stars as well.

I used rubber stamps for the stars, instead of painting them and ending up with too much difference in size and shape.

But I was still missing something... there was metallic shimmer, stars, the wings and horn and curly mane... but no glitter!

It might not show up very well in photos, but I love how it looks in person! I added some stripes around the sides to finish it off.

Finally! 

Something new and pretty for my pony loving girl!

Soon it'll be up on her wall with a painted canvas with her name.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my Alicorn Art, and join me tomorrow for a post about something that starts with B!

Edit: This is a blog hop, my first! Here's the list of the other blogs in the challenge, there are thousands! Go see a few, and have fun this month!