by Ed Walicki
A fast easy way to paint wooden rocks to look real is to paint on a wet coat of Gesso.
It can be tinted in several different base colors by adding a small amount of acrylic paint. Then, while the gesso is still wet spatter other colors onto the Gesso rock using an old toothbrush and your thumbnail. Once the colors are applied I spray the rock with a fine mist of water in a handheld spray bottle. Not so much water you wash away the color, but just enough to create a bleed of color onto of the Gesso. Gesso does not absorb the acrylics when it is wet therefore you will have a wet surface for the colors to move around on through capillary action creating some real nice marble effects. By accident I made a real looking Petoskey stone by painting the base coat a light gray Gesso blend. Then with a toothbrush loaded with a dark gray I spatter finished the rock using larger drops of paint. One quick mist of water and the drops bled out without touching each other. The rock was an exact match to a real Petoskey stone. Experiment with different colors and see what you get, the key is to do this over a wet coat of gesso. My favorites are browns and grays over a white Gesso background.(http://www.fishcarver.com/)
