How to Paint Rocks

Rock painting watercolor art lesson

We will need Raw Sienna and a mix of Burnt Umber with a touch of Ultramarine to darken.

First apply wash over rock of Raw Sienna.

The light will be falling on the top so we need highlights.

Use a well crumpled tissue or paper towel to lift some paint from the top edge.

A light touch will still leave some texture.

Here, some paint has been lifted, and some texture has been produced.

The top is now a bit drier as the tissue lifted some moisture.

The bottom paint is still wet, so we can continue with some wet-into-wet action!

Using our mix of Burnt Umber and Ultramarine, drop some paint into the wet surface to produce the shadow area.

Add paint in a random manner, allowing it to merge, but also leaving some gaps!

Add a touch more of Ultramarine to the mix to darken.

Add even darker shadows at bottom.

This is all completed while the original wash was still wet.

Now allow to dry.

Next we will use a rigger to scumble paint across the paper to produce some more texture.

Practice on a scrap piece of paper first.

As shown, if you use too much paint, you'll leave "blobs"; less paint will only leave paint on the rougher, top edges of the paper.

Using Light Red and your rigger as described, scumble your brush across the rock surface to produce texture on the side.

Add a little background and we have a reasonably realistic rock.

Give it a try!

Happy Painting, and join me for the next installment, when we'll tackle rocks and crevaces. See ya then!

By Rod Webb