How to paint on stone

Both children and adults can easily unfold their creative abilities by painting stones with beautiful patterns and motifs. Here, you get a guide on how to achieve the best results when doing stone painting. You can skip some of the steps, but it is a good idea to follow this guide if you want your stone painting to last as long as possible.

You will need:

• A smooth stone
• Pencil
• Permanent fine liner
• Acrylic paint or markers
• Possibly brushes
• Varnish

1. Find a suitable stone

It is easiest to paint on stones that have a smooth and flat surface. Choose a stone that is not too small so that you have a good surface to work on. The larger the stone, the easier it is to create your design and make details.

2. Wash the stone thoroughly before you begin

Your stone should have a clean surface so that the paint is able to adhere to the stone. Wash it with soap and water to remove any sand or soil. Let the stone dry off before you start drawing and painting on it.

3. Choose and draw out your design

You may already have an idea of what you would like to paint, but if not, you can seek some inspiration online. The shape of the stone might also inspire a special motif that complements the stone shape.

Once you have chosen a motif/pattern, it is a good idea to first sketch it on the stone with a pencil. You can then use a permanent fine liner pen to draw the motif before you paint it.

4. Paint your motif on the stone

You can now paint your motif with either markers or acrylic paint. It may be necessary to paint the stone a few times to cover the surface entirely and get the right colour saturation.

If you paint with acrylic paint, you will benefit from having brushes in different sizes, so you can paint bigger surfaces as well as small details.

Paint pens and markers are easier to control if you find paint to be too difficult. You will need a marker with an opaque colour such as Posca, Plus Colour or markers intended for stone painting. A smooth stone surface is even more important when you paint with paint pens, as the marker tip will otherwise quickly become worn and frayed.

5. Retouch

Once the paint is dry, you can retouch your motif with a permanent fine liner to make it more prominent if the paint has covered some of your first lines.

6. Varnish your painted stone

Once you have finished painting your stone and it has dried completely, you can choose to varnish your stone. It makes your paint last longer; especially if the stone is to be used for outdoor decoration. Varnish also makes it possible to clean the stone with a wet cloth if it becomes dusty or dirty.

You can use both a matte or a glossy varnish, depending on the look you are going for.

Pens for rock painting