How to Paint Whimsical Flowers on Rocks

Painting a Basket of Pansies

By Ernestina Gallina

What you'll need for this project:

• rocks
• acrylic paints
• brushes

Rocks suitable for this project and in general indicated for the optimal resolution of all the baskets, are round as a sphere shape, loaf shape or oval.

Step 1

Paint the inferior half of the rock with a dark brown base coat.

Step 2

Choose a lighter brown (hazel-brown) and trace horizontal lines into rings.

Step 3

Then proceed tracing the vertical lines to almost regular distance, in order to form the interlacing grid of the wicker.

You can do it less or more thick, as you like it.

Step 4

Now you begin the phase where you point out the interlacement. You need several tonalities, from natural sienna, to orange, to mars yellow, etc.

Arrange the several tonalities in yours palette, ready for being stirred and eventually grown lighter with the addition of some white, according to your taste.

As you can see in the picture, you should show up the interlacement alternatively on the points of crossing of horizontal lines with vertical ones.

Pass your brush loaded with your lighter, warm colors on each crossing point, giving to your stroke a slightly curved course, in order to simulate the wicker that fold when climbs over the below line.

Look out, after a vertical brush-stroke there is always a horizontal one and thus gradually, always alternated.

I started passing on the crossings the yellow of Mars that is a very covering brown-orange color, then once dry, I showed up some points with a lighter colour such as ochre yellow and other points with light yellow.

When finished, your basket should appear with the interlacements very pointed out.

Continue to project page 2 »

© Ernestina Gallina, 2008. All rights reserved.

About the Author | More by Ernestina Gallina
Ernestina Gallina is a self-taught artist living in Italy. She started rock painting as a hobby in 1998. Since then she has become more and more involved with this art form. Ernestina’s artwork has been exhibited within Italy and is currently in various private collections. She is a rock-painting teacher, her website www.pietrevive.it features an art gallery and several how-to rock painting tutorials.

07/03/08