An Irish-inspired burnt box

This burnt box was a commission, the brief being could it have an Irish theme and include an Irish blessing. I did struggle with this one, because I didn't just want to do shamrocks and Celtic knots, so it was born out of a few influences, including the Irish blessing itself and David Hockney. 

I love David Hockney especially his iPad paintings. Have you seen them? They are fantastic - especially the ones of Yorkshire, which are bright and vibrant scenes of the countryside. The very first box I made for myself years and years ago was this one, which was my journey to work each morning with Mr Husband. So this was what I wanted to do for the Irish burnt box.



This was my two-minute very rough sketch after Googling images of the Irish countryside. Hilariously bad, but it's all I needed!

Then I just doodled straight onto the box and had a brilliant time creating all those fields and trees. I always have to have stars on my boxes, so they got in there too (couldn't resist).

There's always something satisfying about painting wood and this was really nice to do. Finally, I burnt the Irish blessing around the sides. The blessing was the wedding vows for the lady who will have this box.

"May the road rise up to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back, 

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields,

And until we meet again 

May God hold you in the palm of His hand".

So there it is, and I am really pleased with it. If you would like an Irish Blessing box, then just ask and I'll make you one too. XXX