ROCK PAINTING

Supplies needed:

• Rocks of various sizes. Nice
smooth clean rocks are ideal.
• Acrylic paint. Yes, the dollar
store paint works well! Also,
acrylic outdoor paint from the
“whoopsie” section of the
hardware stores is perfect and
comes in great colors.
• Brushes. Three brushes of
various sizes should do the trick.
Buy inexpensive ones as painting
on rocks can wear down your
brushes quickly. Purchase
brushes that have long bristles
that can hold a lot of paint.
• Urethane spray
• Chalk or a pencil
• Water container
• Paper towels
• Inspiration

This last item is the most important. Inspiration is everywhere. I have found that catalogues for scrap booking supplies are really great. They are full of nice quotes and simple pictures that can be easily reproduced by hand. Look in your garden. Your colorful flowers may be more simple to draw than you realize. Paint a family members name or perhaps stick figures that represent your family. Before you know it you will be adding more details and color. Acrylic paint is great because it dries quickly and can, therefore, be painted over if you don’t like your first attempt.

There are basically two ways to go about selecting a rock for your project. Perhaps you have an idea about what you want to paint and therefore, select according to it’s size and shape. Or… you can embrace your project like I do and look at all the rocks until ones jumps out at you and seems to actually already look like something even though it is not painted! Use the chalk or pencil to outline your art idea. It is not necessary to erase the lines.

Pour a Quarter sized amount of paint out at a time as it dries very quickly in the warm sunny weather. I use a plastic plate as my pallet and only use about three colors at a time. Now grab your brush and start to paint Once the painted rocks have been coated with a urethane spray they are fine outdoors. Other ideas are: flowers painted on a rock for a hostess gift, a house number for a new home owner, a creature for an animal lover or perhaps a lady bug for your neighbor.

I have purchased several rock painting books and all have become a favorite source of reference. There has been many a day when we have friends over to enjoy an afternoon by the pool. We end up selecting a river rock and start to paint. It is peaceful and calming. Adults and children sitting side by side. We now may have more painted rocks by the pool than unpainted ones!