The Art of Stone Painting

Great inspiration for crafting, with beautiful designs that are easy and lovely.

Forget Adult Coloring. Try This Instead. (4 stars)

As a child I always had pockets full of rocks. If I saw one that I liked in it went. From ones with pretty colors and patterns to those that had neat shapes. Now my kids do the same. I have to sneak them back outside in my own pockets trailing them like bread crumbs on my walks. But then I found this book and now I think I might finally be able to keep some of them.

Bac's stone painting instructions take these ridiculously complex looking ideas and break them down in a way that feels very doable. If you've gotten bored with adult coloring I recommend giving this a try. It's a little bit more grown-up and aside from the initial paint investment it's cheap!

This is a gorgeous book and I found so much inspiration reading through it. Some of the designs looks really complicated but the photographs show the steps to make them for yourself and I am hopeful I can try some of them out for myself soon!

This book is beautiful. The illustrations are vibrant and well laid out on the page. The book starts with all the information one would need to practice the art of stone painting. The author even addresses where to get rocks and how to pick proper rocks for stone painting. The material is presented in a very organized, concise and easy to understand manner. The details given to allow the reader to reproduce the paintings shown in the book are superb. Each step in the process is clearly shown with lots of pictures. I feel like the paintings illustrated in the book are obtainable because of the detailed direction given. I am excited to try the different things in the book. Excellent.

The Art of Stone Painting is a very user friendly book with 30 different designs to paint. Very detailed information and pictures. One to keep on your craft shelf! 4****

This is a fabulous book, I just love it, suitable for all age groups and so easy to accomplish. It is beautifully laid out, with great instructions and step by step photos. This book is such fun that I want to go out and find some stones to paint and start a collection.

I got a sort of "sneak peak" version of this book. It contained the first 10% of the book, so I can only give a limited review of what looks like a good art book. For stone painting, no artistic experience is needed, the materials are easy to find and fairly cheap, and both adults and children can do it. The author does stylized animals, flowers, and plants (as can be seen on the book cover), but she also wants to teach you to create your own style.

She has you use acrylic paint, paint pens, and acrylic inks as well as some small-sized brushes. In the part I saw, she mentions how quickly acrylic paints can dry but didn't give hints on how to deal with this. (It can be frustrating to use acrylic paint because it dries so quickly, so hopefully she gives tips during the actual step-by-step examples.) She also has you use a water-based finish to preserve your designs. She covered the materials you need and the overall method (from finding and cleaning the stones to putting the finish on) in the pages I saw. It looks fun.

As with many recent art and craft book offerings from Dover Publications, this one is filled with detailed, exquisitely photographed examples, this time, of painted stones and step-by-step instructions to make your own. The book begins with user-friendly advice about finding and preparing your stones. Then it moves on to types of media to use for drawing and painting as well as protecting your finished pieces. Chock full of ideas and sample projects--flowers, birds, butterflies, cacti, mandalas (a lot of those), pendants and more. Five stars.

This book is very good it shows lots of ideas that you can do,it tells you what materials you will need,and how to start,you don't need to put in a lot of the details in your painting if you don't want,there is a good choice of what you can do,I will be trying this out with my grandson,I live 5 minutes away from a beach with lots of pebbles to choice from,I would recommend this book to everyone

After looking at this book I want to go out and find me some nice smooth stones to paint. Coloring books are currently the craze but the idea of painting stones pretty bright colors is appealing to me. Lots of great ideas in this book and simple instructions to get you started. I'm thinking about using some of the designs included in this book and maybe put a bible verse on the back.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dover books for providing me a digital copy of this book to review. This book will release on January 18, 2017.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for this copy.

The cover drew me to this book. How many times have you seen pebbles on the beach, all nice and clean, just waiting for someone to take them home and decorate them! I've never considered this to be honest, but now I've seen this book, it makes me want to take my bucket and go pebble hunting!

The book is lovely. It has some lovely pictures and designs, and has clear instructions as to how to decorate the pebbles. It gives good instructions as to what paints are best to use and the different size brushes. The designs are separated into different sections, such as botanical designs and sea themes. The fish designs I found particularly beautiful!! I'm no artist or painter, but the designs are so simply that even I could do them and make them look good!

What a fun hobby! I am ready for the snow to melt so I can gather flat stones for painting some of the cute images featured in the book. I appreciate the listing of tools and pigments that work best plus sealants to protect your piece of art. There is even instructions for drilling the stone to hang. Detailed step by step examples of how to build up the layers until a fully imagined canvas has been completed. I want to make some for garden markers and door stoppers.
Full Disclosure: I was allowed to read a copy of this book for free as a member of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not influenced to give a positive review.

Update: This was one of the best resources! My kids and I absolutely loved this book. We learned so much. We were so inspired that we have decided to pursue this living work and introduce it to others in our homeschooling community. Thank you so very much for your project of love and for your creative expression.

I've been trying like crazy to access this book since I got approved for review. I am not able to download it, even after multiple attempts. Do you offer another format? I understand if you do not. Thanks for the opportunity.

This book is both practical and beautiful. Full of inspiration and detailed instructions if that's what you're after. Photos are gorgeous and inspiring.

Another photo-heavy book for which I received an ARC with no photographs… Anyway. There is something pleasant about a smooth stone in the palm. From a search I can see that the ideas presented in this book as templates to create your own are vivid and adorable. It's something I would consider picking up in paperback if I came across it.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

I would like to thank Dover Publications for providing me with a free ARC of this book, via Netgalley, in exchange for an open and honest review.

I initially requested to review ‘The Art of Stone Painting’ for my two very artistic daughters to look over with me, but I soon fell in love with it myself and am now dying to have a go!

This proves it’s a great book for young and old alike I guess! Plus it comes across as good for all skill levels as the initial projects are very basic and simple, and the further you progress into the book, the higher the skill level required. But, in all honesty, if you’re a beginner like me and paced yourself and did each project as you go – one a week or longer – you could quite easily have the skill level required to do the trickier ones when you got to them! And if you are already experienced in this sort of art, you could easily pick and mix skills from throughout the book.

As I am a formatting and layout diva, here is my take on those – excellent! Clear, concise formatting, every picture and all the instructions are clearly marked and easy to follow. There is a great introduction into this type of art and includes the materials needed. So it truly is a great book for all ages from I’d say around the 8 to 10 year olds and up… But I am basing that on my own children who are very arty and love to read. All the same, the instructions and clear and easy to follow for children and adults alike. I, personally, would still do the project along with the child – one for them to make, one for me, as it’s something I’d love, we’d both enjoy and would give us some creative time together.

Would I recommend this book to others?

Yes I would. The projects, instructions, clear images - all of it so simple and easy to use that it encourages people to give stone painting a go. Anyone interested in having some “me” time, or even parent and child craft time would really enjoy this book. So many things to try and so many ideas to share.

Would I buy this book for myself?

Yes I would, and it’s in my Amazon wish list right now. Loved it, was inspired by it and can see it as a fantastic way to spend some crafty hours with my children in the coming years ahead.

In summary: An easy to follow, inspiring and highly creative book that will have everyone’s inner artist wanting to try stone painting.

This is a beautiful book. Full of ideas suitable for a beginner and those with more knowledge or more seasoned crafter. I myself participate in alot of crafting projects for myself and friends for pleasure and picked up some great ideas for future ideas. I would definitley purchase this book.