Two different Rock Painter s Get-Togethers were held this summer. Wandra Dees organized a Midwestern gathering for the second year in a row in June, and out in Portland, OR in early August, Connie Bowen and her family hosted a West Coast Get-Together. Both occasions were wonderful opportunities to meet and paint with other rockers and to admire their work. I am always struck by what generous, interesting and fun people rock painters tend to be. She spotted it in the fabric department of a JoAnn s fabric store and recalled how I kept losing mine during a workshop the previous year.
Soap stone makes a finer line than chalk and never needs sharpening.
I came across several other neat products in the course of working on my latest book, Rock Painting for Kids. I like wood putty because it is so fast drying, but for kids, Papier CL-A is a much friendlier product. I found it near the polymer clay products at both Hobby Lobby and Michael s. Another discovery is Uchida s Garden Craft Terra Cotta Markers, paint pens designed for outdoor use on clay pots that turns out to work very well on rocks. I was amazed at the way the colors stood out, and pens enable even beginning painters or those with unsteady hands to have a lot more control of their lines.