![Painting In The Pink City](http://www.rosannafalconer.com/cdn/shop/articles/Painting_and_crayons.jpg?v=1680885756&width=2048)
![Peony tablescape with butterflies](http://www.rosannafalconer.com/cdn/shop/files/Peony_tablescape_for_two_with_butterflies.jpg?v=1680442883&width=1365)
Making Of
Painting In The Pink City
I've loved painting for as long as I can remember but it was only through tablescaping that I found the reason to pick up my brushes again on a regular basis. I began to want to create more bespoke and personal elements for each dinner party. The lovely Bianca at Bable made me some candles painted with butterflies and I was determined to make a design to match (pictured left). I didn't have any paints in the house so used a combination of Little Greene tester pots and food colouring! The meditative peace I found while painting was second to none. I asked for some watercolours, fine brushes and Caran Dache pencils for my birthday - there was no looking back!
The move to Jaipur was a big upheaval for our 3-year-old and we found she took huge comfort in drawing and painting. Wherever we were, if she had a piece of paper, crayons or felt tips, she was calm. This therefore meant much of my time was spent by her side at her desk; I painted even more.
![Place cards by Rosanna Falconer](http://www.rosannafalconer.com/cdn/shop/files/Paintings_for_dinners_by_Rosanna_Falconer.jpg?v=1680441513&width=1990)
"My style is romantic, colourful and whimsical, but the drawings are quite simplistic too. That characteristic is in many ways a strength when rendering the florals into blocks for printings."
Bougainvillea Paintings
The place cards for our very first dinner on the terrace in Jaipur.
![](http://www.rosannafalconer.com/cdn/shop/files/preview_images/74e219bd87cc4d1fba40a2982300aa2e.thumbnail.0000000000.jpg?v=1680888735&width=1920)
"The secret to getting ahead is getting started."
- MARK TWAIN
![Drawing in pencil by Rosanna Falconer](http://www.rosannafalconer.com/cdn/shop/files/Drawing_in_pencil_by_Rosanna_Falconer.jpg?v=1680185448&width=1365)
I think I must have painted nearly a thousand roses across everything from menus and cards to wardrobes and bookshelves before I had the confidence to transfer the style over to a print. I captioned these first strokes on my Instagram Stories with a quote from Mark Twain (above). Read more about what happened next here.
Next Steps
The pencil drawings were then traced and carved into wooden blocks for prints.
![Video of Rosanna Falconer](http://www.rosannafalconer.com/cdn/shop/files/preview_images/88bc5d85722c40348e465afbd17e17bc.thumbnail.0000000000.jpg?v=1680440240&width=1920)