Sasha Douglas is a professional artist who was destined to be an artist from the start. She drew, painted and made horses since Horse Fever struck her (like most little girls) at age 6. She started making toys as soon as she was allowed to use woodworking tools at 11, and has been around horses most of her life. She is the daughter of a builder (with whom she has been working out how to "do stuff", building, making and fixing things since she was a young girl) and Australia's celebrated iconographer Tonia Ganin. After training as a Graphic Designer, she painted Byzantine-style icons in the ancient egg tempera medium with mineral pigments and became a respected iconographer in her own right with other fine art before changing to a corporate career.

Since being smitten with a traditional rocking horse* as a girl, Sasha always planned to make her own. Once the opportunity - and reason - arose with the birth of a baby, that plan evolved into restoration.

Sasha's skills from iconography adapted easily to rocking horse restoration; her experience in horse portraiture, breeding and showing Arabian horses gives her a critical eye for a horse which translates into rocking horses that look "Right".

All her energy and passion is thrown into The Studio, after rearing a young family.

Previous works

Murals in St Lazarus' Serbian Orthodox Church, Alexandria (Sydney)

Murals in St Lazarus Serbian Orthodox Church Alexandria (Sydney)

Acrylic paints and gold leaf on plaster wall

1998-99

* at Kangaroo Valley Woodcrafts, where beautiful traditionally-made rocking horses are still made