Rock Painting for the Nervous

My goodness, I really cannot believe how long it has been since my last post, you must have thought that I had dropped off the map.  The truth is that I have been so busy knitting that I have not had time to post any of the things I have made.  However, I have been photographing them, so once I have the time, I should be able to post everything.

For a long time I have wanted to try my hand at rock painting and I do mean a long time, it has been something like eighteen months.  It has not been just the knitting which has stopped my trying this, it is also the fact that I am one of the worse artists you could ever encounter, I cannot draw for toffees!  If buying all the equipment could make you a better artist, I would be exhibiting at Tate Modern.  I have all the paints, the varnish, the brushes, the mod-podge, the PVA glue, the dowling rods to make medullas, paper napkins to do decoupage etc, etc and I have watched endless video clips on 'how to', but still something was holding me back.

Then, me and my big mouth, I suggested a family rock painting day during half term with my nieces and nephews and their small children.  The day was to start with a rock hunt and I promised to make a rock for everyone to find hidden somewhere in the garden, so I was committed to doing something.

As the day got closer I was still putting off actually painting the rocks because I knew I would mess it up if I tried to paint even a simple scene. Then I hit on the idea of using temporary body tattoos to decorate the rocks.   I was not sure it would work but it was worth a try, the results were simple but I think it it worked.

Here is a close-up of the individual rocks, some I simply mod-podged before adding the tattoo and others I painted with pearlised acrylic paints.  By the way, I did put insects on the back of the rocks as well.

This final rock was my favourite, for a long time I have wanted to try this half eaten chocolate candy effect. this was so much fun to do.

I still have a lot of 'naked' rocks, so hopefully next time, I shall try to do something a little more adventurous.  Talking of which, at the end of the day I was given with a real treat, Kat had been sat in the corner all afternoon beavering away and she gave me this Eyore rock as a thank you.  As you can imagine, I was over the moon.  She is an amazing artist, I just wish I could do something half this good.

Take care.

Dionne