One of my favourite horses

Here is a picture of one of my favourite horses on our Steam Gallopers painted by myself some years ago.

Scrolls

 

Scrolls are motifs which are familiar both in fairground painting, and in other British folk art styles, from Romany caravans to farm carts. The top two are in a simple style, quickly painted and lined. The bottom two are more complex, with subtle shadows and shading.

Art deco style panel

This painted panel is on the Dive Bomber ride. There's subtle marbling around the border and blending in the colours which gives it a bit of punch.

The ride has a few nice deco touches, all done in enamel and gilding.

Winged wheels...

This is one of the aluminium boards that go around the top of the Austin Car ride. The Austins didn't have a roof when we first had them, so this is something that we designed and built. The design is in the style of the fairground art of the 50s and 60s, with electricity, speed and style built in.

The Jungle Thriller Ark

 This ride was built in the 1930s by legendary fairground artisans Orton and Spooner of Burton on Trent. I stripped back the paint to discover its original scheme, which I faithfully reproduced.

Restoration of old sideshow paint

This is one of ten trellises which go around the top of the swanney, or "hook-a-duck stall". The trellises were originally made of plywood and were painted by the legendary fairground artist Fred Fowle in the early 1960s. But from years on the road, the plywood had started to delaminate, and the paintwork was getting damaged, so Aaron and I made some new replacements. This is one of the new ones, copied in the style of the original. It is done with aluminium leaf and enamels, with varnish.

Pure delight

This is one of the rounding boards on a juvenile roundabout which features vehicles of the modern age (the modern age being the 1930s). It is a combination of gold leaf and enamel paint on aluminium.

The Paramount Chair-o-plane

This block lettering is on the base of the 1920s Paramount Chair-o-plane on the fair, and is one of the simpler designs on the ride which has some complex decoration.

The Mighty Strikers

 

The Mighty Striker "test your strength machine" is one of the first pieces of fairground equipment that my family owned, before the fair took hold. I made two more, based on the same design, which are medium and small for the svelte strongman.

  

My mum, Anna Carter, is an excellent scenic painter, and she painted the portraits of the boxers. 

Value and Civility

 

These gag boards are a traditional fairground staple, designed to entice the customers into the mood for fun. These are painted wood with gold leaf and enamel. 

Scrolls and swingboats

I have two sets of swingboats - a large one and a smaller, juvenile one. They're painted in the traditional way, with lining on the scalloped beams and scrolls on the boats themselves. This style of decoration goes straight back to the carriage builders' workshop, where some of these early entertainment devices were made.

Transport numbers

On Carters Scammell No.12 "Victorious". All the Carters transport is numbered in this unusual style, which signwriter Stan Wilkinson started.

Large scale lettering

 

Some of the most challenging lettering is on a large scale on the sides of vehicles. It takes a lot of work to lay this type of work out before you start painting.

Living wagons

At Carters Steam Fair we have a number of vintage living wagons, mostly dating from the 1940s. They're painted by hand from undercoat to varnish, with a brush. The lining is done in gold leaf, and the decoration usually is restrained - in a showmanly way!

 

Traditional decoration on doors in gold and lined in enamel:

 

 

These traditional scrolls are on the "belly boxes" underneath the wagon, which are like storage cupboards:

 

Ghostly scroll

I found the outline of this scroll while I was stripping back the paint on a living wagon. Somehow over the years the design had become etched into the aluminium sheet, so I was able to reproduce it in gold leaf and enamel.