How To Start Painting on Rocks

Did you ever want to try painting on rocks?  I'm here to help!

Painted rocks can make beautiful additions to an already beautiful garden...

Pink Gerbera Daisies
hand-painted rock by nancymaggielee

When you're rock is displayed among other flowers, from a distance you may not even be able to tell which ones are real and which ones are painted!

Hand-painted rocks make excellent gifts, and one of the best things about painted flowers is that they last forever!

Rocks make an excellent painting canvas for a number of reasons.

Firstly, many times they are free which, in my book, free is always nice!

I'll explain more about where to find rocks in the post called 'Gathering Supplies".

Secondly, rocks are extremely forgiving of mistakes.

If you don't like what you have painted you can easily start over again with no problem at all.

Just paint over your mistakes and try again until you get it to your liking!

Painting is a relaxing hobby and if you need a creative outlet, it can be a great stress reliever as well.

It's a fun craft for kids too, they love it.  I painted my first rock when I was a child and really liked it. You can read that story here.

Later on in life I turned my rock painting passion into a business and started selling my rock creations on ebay and Etsy.

The daisy rock above was painted using my stencil method.  Learn more about using stencils in the art of rock painting here.

This gives me a chance to share my creations with others, and speaking as an artist, there's no greater satisfaction than seeing someone else appreciate my creations.

The rock scene pictured below displays irises, tulips, daffodils, impatiens, crocuses, and pansies.  It is a large (over 2 ft. tall) custom piece I created for a customer and I am very proud to display it here on this page.

I love to paint on rocks!  I picked up a copy of Painting Flowers on Rocks by Lin Wellford about 15 years ago and I have been hooked ever since.

There are four basic steps to painting on rocks and they are as follows:

1.  Gathering supplies
2.  Draw your design or transfer your design to your rock
3.  Paint your rock with your preferred method
4.  Seal your rock with a weather resistant sealant

So if you're ready, let's go paint some rocks!!!

Here are the links to some of the posts you will need:

Gathering Supplies
Using a Stencil to Paint Flowers on Rocks


There are many different methods I use that can help you in your rock painting and the transfer of the initial design.  One method might work better for you than others.

So, if you're interested in learning how I paint my rocks, check the Post section in the right sidebar of this blog for information on specific methods I use to paint rocks and transfer designs onto them.  I will also link them below this paragraph for your reference.