Painting a Vendel Shield

Thanks to good friends my Norse shield made by Bill Grunner made its way from Snohomish to Bellingham to Port Townsend to my place. Mr. Grunner did a wonderful job making the shield--beautiful finish job. I am painting it with a gripping beast design to match Blessi's Vendel bridle that I made for him.

Here are some stages in the execution.
I have already primed the wood, marked off the shield into thirds (since the design repeats 3 times), used the computer to blow up the design to shield size, transferred motif to shield, and started painting. I had to do a lot of manual adjustments to the design since the original image was off center. Also start painting from left to right (if you are right handed) or you will smear paint at some point. Also make sure your design aligns with handle in the back or you may end up carrying an upside down or sideways design.