Ellen Wilkinson

I've worked as a freelance artist for several years now, mostly painting horses, dogs and wildlife, but my work seems to have evolved again, and more recently I have been concentrating my time and energy into refurbishing and restoring rocking horses. I always dreamt about having a rocking horse as a child, but I had to wait until I was 41! My first one was "Adi", a small Collinson & Sons horse, that had had a bit of a crude repaint, with no mane or tail and was off the stand. I still thought she was cute even in the state she was in, but knew I could bring her to life. Using my love of horses, experience of painting and the skills I picked up from working in the building trade. She was stripped sanded and rebuilt. From then on I've been hooked! With several sympathetic restorations, as well as my realistic refurbishments under my belt, I feel I have learnt so much over the past couple of years. I'm still obsessively reading and researching, soaking up as much information as I can. there is just so much to learn, but I'm loving every minute of it. I am now confident carving new legs, replicating old paintwork and stitching together saddles, I am so exited to find out wat else I can achieve.