Stone Painting

Painting stones can also be a lot of fun. Finding the correct match of stone to your design is always rewarding! Builder Providers have an array of colourful and opaque stones. I use these stones in Plant Borders in my garden and I pick out the nice ones when I see them. For the record taking stones from the beach without permission is illegal, as stated in the Coastal Protection Act 1949. Clean your stone with warm soapy water, rinse well and leave to dry. For this exercise I decided not to paint a Background Colour. If I was going to paint a background I would Prime it first with White Gesso. I had previously visited a fantastic garden in County Wexford where I took lots of photographs of flowers and plants. This one is based on a Sunflower I photographed that day. I outlined the Sunflower in pencil, and then I under painted it. I did a second more detailed over painting before I finished with all the fine details. For this I used Oil Paint, but I think Acrylic Paint would work well too. When it was dry I gave it two light coats of sprayed clear varnish. These little stones make great gifts and look even better in small gift boxes and coloured tissue paper that you can buy in stationary shops or on the Internet. Always appreciated! This one looks well beside my Swedish Dala Horse!