The Rock of the Week

Lotsa Dots !

Admittedly, I don't always have a clue what will appear on the face of a rock when I sit down to paint and decorate it.When adding the dots I have to keep the nozzle of the bottle clear because it can gum up pretty quickly.Keeping a sewing needle close by is important in this process.

The other thing is to watch out for air bubbles, because they will cause the paint to spit.The paint has the consistency of Elmer's glue and has to be "guided" more than "painted". Using tools like toothpicks, q-tips and rubber-tipped brushes are not uncommon to excel at this craft.

The Rock of the Week

This weeks rock features a motif representing a colorful sea urhin with a glass bobble in the center. I have done many rocks like this one in the past, yet they are still intriquing how easy it is to return to a centered focal point and to build around it.

Initially, painting mandalas on rocks with dots was something that got me started in the beginning. The build is challenging, especially when trying to keep the dots seperate from one another before drying.

How easy it is to accidentally bump into wet puff paint when you are not paying attention.

This Week's Rock of the Week

The rock you see here is an odd shaped stone found on the beach at Russian Gulch. The smooth yet triangular shape lent itself to a different sort of treatment than other stones it's size.The percieved center point of the design was placed off to one side which compliments the fan splay emanating to the outer edge. Many colors were added using felt markers along with the glow paint for luminosity.

The aqua background proved to be the best color to contrast the many colors you see here. This rock had been scanned and brought into Photoshop™ to bump up the colors and enhance the luminous quality.

The Rock of the Week

The rock this week is of an imaginary Napa landscape with an oak tree and some hills in the background. It has been a long time since my landscape painting skills have been called to task.The rock itself is as big as my hand and the shape of a soft shark fin.The acrylics used were reactive green and orange. Also used were a deep royal blue and some florescent red and yellow. The whole experience took about three hours or more to complete.It can be viewed under a black light with incredible results.The rock does not glow on it's own however.

The Rock of the Week

This week's rock is a palm-sized stone that was painted with the Americana Acrylics™ and the glow in the dark Tulip™ squeeze bottle paint.The whole process usually takes about 15 mins to a half hour to complete (after each drying phase)

It is always best to clear-coat the finished piece with either a Krylon™ spray or some other high-gloss or medium varnish like the Golden™ or Liquitex™ brand coating.

This design was my own sinewy strand motif that is supposed to portray an underwater or plant like symbolism.

The Poster Project

Okay.So this week's rock of the week is not to be seen. Instead, the image below is a poster I have put together in the traditional 18"X 24" format.I will be painting on top of the printed poster in fluorescent colors to create a 3D effect under a black light. I have done this with other pictures in the past, and have been putting together a body of work to reflect that.

The 3D images have to be viewed using these special glasses called "Chromadepth".A friend, Martha Casselman has offered me her home to show off all the posters when completed.She is a local patron who has been a contributor to the art scene here for some time. So far, I have four completed pieces.

A Teeny Heart

This week's rock is called " A Teeny Heart" because of the size of the little iconic heart in the center of the highly decorated rock. It was difficult keeping all the paint from bumping up against the other blobs that appear all over this rock.People will tell me how patient I must be to paint these rocks.I can assure you that I am anything but! It seems that I am constantly landing my elbow or the side of my hand in the wet paint and thereby smearing it to smithereens (?)! It is pleasing that the rock has turned out as well as it has.

Shells in the dark

My friends Jennifer and Matt have been very generous in supplying me with an assortment of Scallop Shells. My friend Bill has been requesting to purchase these almost as fast as I can make them! Between the supply and demand, my little rock business has taken on a whole new direction... painted shells !

I wanted to take this one step further than just painting them in such a way as to have them glow in the dark or burst in color (like the one below) under a black light.These shells could also be functional. Aha! glue a night light to the back of the shell !

This idea was exciting to say the least, but then I thought about replacing the regular night light bulb with a black light bulb.Unfortunately, Christmas tree lights and outdoor lights did not come in that pure purple color that illuminates the florescent paint so nicely.Perhaps they will in the future, but not now.

When the night light shell is turned on, it becomes translucent from the back, thereby reducing the brightness of your traditional night light.These lights are not motion activated, they must be turned on and off with the little switch at the bottom. Like anything that is in development, these items hopefully will continue be something that "Your Spirit Rocks!" will be able to offer.Please keep in mind that the image below is being showcased by having a separate black light shining on the shell from the FRONT. Yes, we have to have truth in advertising, even if this is just a blog

This Week's Rock of the Week

My experiments in 3D art forms have been fun an challenging. This design is one that I have drawn in sketch pads for some time,and have found it very intriguing. The spiral is an ancient symbol for gathering and centering.The spiral can also serve anyone who wants an image with which to focus, prior to achieving a meditative state. It has also been effective for the amusement of youngsters and magicians.

Whether you are a meditator or not, viewing a spiral can have a mesmerizing effect. Comic books used to sell and item that was called a "Hypno-coin".This playful come-on had many a youngster sending their entire allowance to get a hold of one of these devices. My rock design is just a spiral made to look dimensional.Under a blacklight it takes on a beautiful color and can be quite stunning.