Lesson 4...Paint for Backgrounds

There are so many choices of paint out there!  Rock painting is by far trickier than any other surface I know that I have painted on in the past, and I've heard other experienced painters say the same thing.  When you are new to painting, period, and rocks are the first thing you pick up....I know it has to be even more difficult!  Hopefully something I say here will help oldies and newbies alike.  This is all just trial and error on my part, advice that has worked from those with way more experience and talent than I would ever hope to have, and - well - my opinion.

The least-expensive paint I know to use as background (or anything, for that matter) is good ole acrylic paint.  One thing I love about these is you can get every shade you ever imagined.  It is, by far, the best choice of color you're going to find.  You've probably all seen it...it looks like this:

This is the display I saw today at Wal Mart, so I took a pic.  They are .49 cents, some are .97, and the big bottles, I believe, are $2.97.  This is a very small display as far as color choices and displays go.  Find these paints in a craft store, and you'll be looking at an entire aisle full of choices.  As far as my personal experience goes, these will get the job done, but usually take 2 or 3 coats.  I've painted furniture, canvases, wood, you name it with this stuff.  I suppose you could say it is the tried and true of acrylic paints.

Probably my favorite acrylic paint in these little bottles to use, because it is a little thicker, is the Martha Stewart brand...but they are about $2.00 a bottle, so I try to only buy those when they are on sale and I get a 20% off coupon as well.  (Michaels has the best selection and sales on paints, in my opinion.)  They look like this:

If I were to pick the paint of my choice to do backgrounds on rocks with, I would pick this brand, sold at Michaels, and is on sale a couple times a month for 2/$5, I believe.

This gets the job done in one coat, at least in most colors.  I use this white a lot to do a base coat, even before putting some colors on.  A lot of them, though, one coat is sufficient, and it takes *very little* of this paint to cover a rock.  Very little.  This is one coat of white:

As you can see, one coat is really all you need.  However, on some of the other colors, you just have to use your judgement on whether to put a white coat down first (If you want a more brilliant color, I would suggest doing this.) or you can put multiple coats of the color on as well.  (This lends to a darker shade of the color.)  Here is an example of only one coat of a color that needs either multiple coats or white underneath:

In the tube, it looks bright orange, but as you can see here.....not so much.  I did not put white underneath as I thought that the orange would vouch for itself, but not the case.  I ended up painting this one red, but the coat on there allowed the red to be a brilliant shade instead of darker, so it's all good.

Another thing I love about this paint is that it comes in shiny colors.  Check these out:

Did I mention the beautiful jewel tones these paints provide???

Another option would be to spray paint your rocks.  If you want a lot of background colors, this probably isn't the best method, but if you want to coat them quick and have a base coat, it is an option, and one that wouldn't be too expensive.  You can get a can of white "primer" paint at the Dollar General store, or Wal Mart for .97, I believe.  Can't beat that.  I personally don't love the painting surface it lends, but I know a lot of people opt for this technique.  

OK-tomorrow I'll be providing links for the fun part...the designs we want to put on our rocks.