Crafty Girl Rocks: My Rock Painting Journey

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

My Rock Painting Journey

Do you remember ever painting on rocks as a child? I do.

Here is a picture of my first rock painting (read more about it below)...

Blue & Yellow Pansy Basket
my first painted rock!

Back in the summer of 1974 in the mountains of upstate New York I painted my first rock (pictured above) on summer vacation with my best friends.

Their family owned 117 acres of land there and they took me with them quite often. We loved to spend the days exploring, climbing mountains, picking strawberries and playing in the creek. It was always fun; we had no place to go and all day to get there.

My best friends happened to be sisters and only 13 months apart in their ages. My age was right in between so we were great friends (well, being sisters, I guess they didn't always get along, but when it was the three of us together, we had great fun, lol!)

Their mom, who I affectionately called Mrs. "P", was like my second mother. She was very creative and loved anything crafty, in addition to being an avid seamstress.

While upstate on one particularly hot summer day, she told the three of us to go down to the stream and find a rock or a piece of slate, wash it off and dry it. When we got back from the stream, she had a little picnic table set up for us.

On the table were some paint brushes and acrylic paints that she brought from home and suggested ideas to us as to what we could paint on them.

I made a basket of blue and yellow flowers with white centers on a piece of slate - not perfect by any means - but when I got home and showed my parents, they loved it. (See picture at the top of this page).

They bought a picture stand and put it there to display in the living room. It was still there in 2015 when we sold my parents' house (I guess they really did like it)!

I didn't realize it at the time how something like that would inspire me to love art and painting in my adult life as I didn't really do any more painting until I needed a creative outlet when my kids were little.

At the time I was starting to craft again, I was very into stenciling. As a matter of fact, I stenciled a flower border around my bedroom and one in my living room too, it was very popular at the time.

There are many flower stencils available online, like the one pictured below...

Flower Stencils
(available online)

You can also watch the video below which may be helpful...

"How to Paint a Rock Using Stencils"

I had a detached garage out in my backyard, and I had a craft bench with all my supplies. After the kids were asleep (my husband was, of course, in the house with them) I would go out to my quiet crafting space and experiment with all kinds of crafts.

I made quite a few personalized gifts with art of stenciling and embossing. I made welcome plaques and birth announcements, and I started painting rocks one day because I had read an article about it. I was hooked 😃.

Then while in Michael's craft store one day (those many years ago), I came across a book called "Painting Flowers on Rocks" by Lin Wellford. I bought it, and well, it sort of changed my life. I started painting flowers on rocks and I haven't stopped since...

(Click the picture above or
on this link to get more
information about this book)

I opened up an eBay account, and I sold many of my rocks on that platform. I have an Etsy shop too (but I'm really not that crazy about Etsy if I'm going to be honest).

I like to use paint pens in my work because it allows me to paint on my rock creations in any room of my house without water and brushes.

Painting on rocks is inexpensive, fun to do, and something the whole family can enjoy... why not try it? Your kids will love it, and you will too! See the bottom of this page for more instructional rock painting books.

Below is a video showing you how you can use a stencil to decorate a rock with flowers. You can use stencils of any size and shape purchased online or at a local craft store, the sky is the limit!

So don't think you can't paint flowers, because anyone can paint with a stencil!