My Rockin’ Gallery

My two largest rock paintings, on a paper plate.

Today’s work; glossy sealer pending

I painted over that canvas board painting I didn’t like. This used one broad brush for the background and q-tips to paint the details.

When I don’t like a painting, I cover it with gesso. It may take several layers but it offers a fresh start. Thin layers and drying between layers are important. Some artists keep a hair dryer handy for this purpose. Brush lightly and evenly. If you leave streaks the streaks will dry hard. An extra step is spraying each layer with a matte sealer to ensure that it doesn’t peel off as you add a new layer. When satisfied that the original painting is completely covered, create a new painting as you would on a fresh canvas. This method works on rocks too.

Painted 6/25/2022: Cacti; Night Owl; Circle of Love; Morpho, and Roses.

By now your strawberry should look like the first picture. Let it dry completely before sealing in the paint. You can either use a spray sealer, or lightly brush on ModPodge glossy or semi glossy. If you plan to keep your rock outdoors, finish with a coat or two of polyurethane transparent sealer.

Once you’ve painted the leaves, paint “shadows” for an illusion of dimension. Decide where an imaginary light is coming from and paint the shadow on the opposite side of the leaves. Create the shadow by mixing red with a bit of black until the desired darkness is achieved, but not too dark.
Next, add the dots to represent the seeds of the strawberry. You can do this either by dipping the broken off toothpick tip in yellow paint, or the rounded end of a bamboo skewer, or using a fine tip brush barely moistened.
Using the darker red paint you mixed, paint shadows halfway around the seeds on the same side as the shadow of the leaves. I cheated by using a Sharpie.

Gesso is a great primer. It allows color to show up brighter and also provides a base for paint to adhere to the surface. It’s also very useful in covering up mistakes. The photo on the right shows how gesso can cover up color. It is important to wait until each layer of paint is dry before painting over it.

Here’s a recap of things covered so far:
* clean rock and dry thoroughly
* cover rock with several layers of gesso, allowing to dry between layers.
* lightly sketch the design with a pencil. We are painting a strawberry.
* paint the red onto the rock for the body of the strawberry. Several layers may be necessary. Dry between layers of paint.
* highlight the central area with white to add dimension. Blend well before paint dries.
* Paint the leaves green. For details, combine green with a little bit of yellow or white. Use the lightened green on half of each leaf. Add the vein lines on the darker side of the leaves. The lighter area signifies light coming from that side.

How is it going so far?

PAint the leaves a regular green color. Then add a touch of yellow or white to create a lighter shade of green. Paint half of the leaves in the light color, and add the veins in the same color on the darker side of green. The strawberry is now starting to show dimension. We will add to this in the next post. Having fun yet?

Rock Painting: lesson #4. Once you’re satisfied with the color, add dimension by blending white to highlight the center of the “fruit”. Make it as light or as subtle as you’d like.

The difference between painting with primer and without primer

Rock Painting Step 2: once the gesso or primer paint is completely dry, you can lightly sketch your image with a pencil. I decided to paint a strawberry, so I started by sketching the leaves on what will be the top of the strawberry. For this project, you’ll need red, green, yellow, white, and black.
Step 3: Fill in the larger space with paint color, in this instance, red, with a flat brush. Switch to a fine point brush to fill in tight spaces and corners. This may seem obvious but believe me, I’d been asked, “What do I do, my brush is too big?” Add more layers as needed to make the color pop.

My biggest hurdle in rock painting are the tremors in my hands. It makes it difficult to hold the rock in place as well as to paint fine lines with a brush.

The easiest thing to paint. First time I painted both sides of the rock.

Rock painting: step 1, prep the rock. Rinse it and if necessary, use a stiff brush if your rock has crevices. Let dry completely before proceeding. Once completely dry, prime your rock with acrylic gesso. Gesso is thicker than regular paint. You may need 2-3 coats. If you don’t have gesso, paint your rock with several coats of acrylic white. Keep painting until you have a completely white surface, waiting for the primer to dry between coats. The white base will allow the colors to show brightly. You’re aiming for photo #3. Dry completely. Acrylic dries fast. Of course, the longer you wait. The better, but not necessary

Odds and ends

Phantasmagoria collection

Commissioned

Did some research and found that the best sealer for rocks for outdoors or indoors is clear glossy polyurethane. Mod podge is water soluble and that’s why I hesitated to place my painted rocks outdoors, but polyurethane is not. Just a tip.

New: Ruby throated hummingbird

Backyard animals

My spin offs from the masters

My pets

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