Enjoying the "Natural" Parts of the Creative Process
Although I have often pointed out that painting intricate mandalas on stones is my daily meditation and an important part of my own mental health balancing program, I must confess that the original allure of doing what I do was getting the opportunity to walk on the beach, usually all by myself, and finding just the right stones to paint.
I have always been very much of a "nature nerd", so being able to walk for hours with no particular goal in mind other than to come across just the right raw materials for my artwork is a lovely pastime!
I usually feel very refreshed and renewed after a five or six hour stay on a breezy beach, where the only sounds I'm really aware of are the seagulls and other birds, as well as the breaking surf. No phones. No traffic noise. No voices.
When you look at the average beach, with its millions of rocks scattered about, you would think it would be pretty easy to pick up a handful of stones to use for painting material, but it's not as easy as it looks!
The thing is, even though a rock may look very smooth and like it would be ideal to paint on, when you get it home and take it under a strong light after you've washed it you may well discover that it's full of tiny cracks and other things that would essentially cause the paint to run in random directions and completely ruin any attempt to create a detailed image.
And that is precisely the major issue in doing the exact type of work that I do. If the mandalas weren't required to be quite so accurate and precise, I probably would care less. But I happen to have chosen something that does require things to be just so, so I follow through to the best of my ability.
15 years experience with looking at rocks has helped me considerably in determining which ones to actually pick up for a closer look. And I have to admit that my aging back is very grateful for that!
If you've been following this blog for any period of time at all, you've probably noticed that the vast majority of my pieces are painted on uniform black stones. I never use granite or sandstone.
That is because they tend to - at their root - have the finest sedimentary grain, and thus polish up the smoothest when subjected to centuries of being washed in the surf.
From time to time, I get asked whether I tumble the rocks after I bring them home, or even paint a finish coat on them to make them smooth to paint on.
Actually, I don't even own a rock tumbler!
The truth is I like to paint the rocks exactly as they're delivered to me from the beach. There's something appealing about creating the work on "as is" stones that I'm not willing to give up.
This is a very specialized art form, I know. But that's part of the appeal!
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Thank You!
If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!
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2024.02.03 AS-TXT-195/163