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The art and craft of painting on rocks just keeps on growing!  Our on-line club, www.clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/rockpainting will soon have 1000 members. This month two new compilations of my rock painting books came out, one in Swedish and one in Norwegian.  The special edition magazine, “Lin Wellford’s Painting on Rocks”, sold out completely and all over the country stores and rock artists participated in “National Paint on Rocks Day”.

Two different Rock Painter’s Get-Togethers were held this summer. Wandra Dees organized a Midwestern gathering for the second year in a row in June, and out in Portland, OR in early August,  Connie Bowen and her family hosted a West Coast Get-Together.  Both occasions were wonderful opportunities to meet and paint with other rockers and to admire their work. I am always struck by what generous, interesting and fun people rock painters tend to be.

Speaking of generous, Priscilla, one of the volunteers at Powder Valley Nature Center near St. Louis gifted me with a wonderful discovery: a soap stone pencil in a metal clip on holder! She spotted it in the fabric department of a JoAnn’s fabric store and recalled how I kept losing mine during a workshop the previous year. Soap stone makes a finer line than chalk and never needs sharpening. The holder slides onto a pocket so maybe I won’t keep misplacing it!!

I came across several other neat products in the course of working on my latest book, Rock Painting for Kids.  I already mentioned Activ-Papier CL-A, a modeling compound that comes in small blocks, to be pinched off and molded onto rocks (use water to insure good bonding), then air dries within a few hours to a rock hard consistency. I like wood putty because it is so fast drying, but for kids, Papier CL-A is a much friendlier product.  I found it near the polymer clay products at both Hobby Lobby and Michael’s.

Another discovery is Uchida’s Garden Craft Terra Cotta Markers, paint pens designed for outdoor use on clay pots that turns out to work very well on rocks. I was amazed at the way the colors stood out, and pens enable even beginning painters or those with unsteady hands to have a lot more control of their lines. You should be able to find them at any large craft store.

Rockers continue to have fun experimenting with DecoArt’s Outdoor Glitter paints, too. Starshine gives fish a wonderful sparkle, and several people at a recent workshop added gold glitter to both ladybugs and frogs- giving them an almost jewel-like shimmer.

A number of people have taken the time to share with me how participating as presenters for National Painting on Rocks Day opened up new opportunities for them. Wandra Dees was hosted by Art and Woodcrafter’s Supply in Branson, and as a result is now selling her work in that store and barely keeping up with the demand for her creations. Patty Donathan’s display at a store near her home in Aguanga, CA has lead to teaching opportunities there.  Others wrote to tell me what a great reception their work was given. 

Have you ever attended a Decorative Painting Convention?  If not, Tole Country Painters in Oklahoma City is a great opportunity to sample classes and visit exhibits for a remarkably low cost.  I will be teaching two classes, a rock fawn on Thurs. Oct. 4th from 2-6 pm and a calico kitten the next day from 8-noon.  I will also have a booth set up on the convention floor. You don’t have to register for classes to attend. Anyone wishing for more information on Tole Country’s convention can contact Gayle Dimery, director of the event, at (405) 329-5582

Pricing their work continues to be a problem for many new artists. Secretly we all know it is so much fun to paint them that we’d do it for free, but that is no excuse for giving away your work!  If you have questions about pricing, I have a page of tips I will be happy to send you that may provide some guidance.

As far as I know, the next book is due to be out in about a year. It offers ten fun, easy and colorful projects that kids can paint and play with. But you don’t have to be a kid to enjoy painting them!  I am hoping to work out details with my publisher to invite rock painters to make up a selection of projects from the book and set up displays in their own area stores.  Participants would get a free copy of the new book. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, let me know and I’ll start a list.

Remember, I love hearing from other rock painters. If you find a helpful product or figure out a simple way to mold your own rocks, do let me hear about it.  If you’ve had remarkable success with a show, have sold enough rocks to pay for a special vacation or other goal, or started a class for nursing home residents or other new painters, share your story.

St. Louis Rocker Margie Sweeney sent me a great photo of the fish pond she painted on several flat rocks we collected on the lakeshore while attending the Midwestern Rock Painter’s Get-Together.  I thought she did an amazing job on it.

Until the next time  -  Keep Rockin',
Lin

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