I have painted rocks for about eight months now. I received Lin Wellford's book "The Art of Painting Animals on Rocks" (who hasn't?) the christmas of '98. Finding rocks to paint can be difficult in the winter so I just read throught the book a couple times and put it away. I rediscovered it in the spring of '99, nearing summer. I finally decided to try it out.
My first attempts were not very impressive but I slowly got better. I even took all of my completed rocks (eight or so) to a yearly garage sale in June, which I was going to anyways. Happily, I sold out of rocks. My only problem was that I never took any pictures or anything. I know that I am a better painter now but I don't know how much better. I tend to get really attached to the rocks I paint and wish I at least had a picture of them. Oh, well. I know better now.
I painted a few rocks in August and then lost interest. I had even stockpiled rocks for the winter but just didn't want to use them. Of course, this spring, I got started again. I put the date on every rock over 2 inches that I paint and I keep records of everything rock-related so I know that this year I have painted three in April, six in May, eight in June, and 14 in July. I may go to a sale soon, if I can figure out what to charge. I have also thought that I might want to start custom orders this year. I don't enjoy working with a deadline but if there aren't too many, I could possibly handle it.
- A three Sea Otter rock. It is two adults standing with a baby in the middle, between them. Really cute but really hard to figure out how to proceed. Sea otters are not the easiest cratures to paint.
- A 55 pound rock which may be a cat with kittens in a basket. I am trying to decide whether to proceed or trash it. It is very big and not a nice looking rock.