St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks: Three Simple and Fun Designs
St Patrick’s Day always falls during Spring Break where I live. The kids are restless by mid-week and they are looking for something fun to do. After we have put on all the green clothing we own and made green pancakes for breakfast, it is time for a craft project. These rocks would be great to go and hide. Hopefully, by mid-March, the weather has turned and we do not have to worry about snow and cold.
We grabbed all the green paint we could find and set to work on an afternoon of rock painting. After brainstorming the many things that we associate with St Patrick’s Day, we settled on these designs. We created a shamrock rock, a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, and a leprechaun. We had many different ideas on our list. Let’s take a look at some inspiration for these green-clad rocks.
St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks Design – Places to Find Inspiration
Angela at The Inspiration Edit never fails to feature cute and easy rock painting ideas. She has an entire article dedicated to different designs that can be done by any skill level.
https://www.theinspirationedit.com/saint-patricks-day-leprechaun-rock-painting/
Melissa with HGTV has an easy shamrock design that is great for kids. You only need two colors of paint and you are set to go.
https://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/st-pattys-day-rocks
Carla Schaur has a blog entry that is sure to make you see green. Everywhere. She has a few shamrock designs that will inspire you to look for that good luck charm.
https://www.carlaschauer.com/shamrock-painted-rocks/
Supply List for St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks
• Smooth, flat Rocks
• Acrylic paint pens: assorted colors and widths
• Acrylic paint: assorted green colors
• Acrylic sealer: spray or paint on
• Other supplies: table cloth, paper plate, pencil
Choosing & Priming Your St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks
Rocks are everywhere. But not all rocks are ideal for painting. You can go on a stroll through your neighborhood or park and pick up a few rocks. However, I have found that most of those can be too small or not have much of a flat surface. Purchasing rocks is also an option. You can find them at craft stores, home improvement stores, landscaping companies, or even order them online. The ones that I am using for this project were purchased at Hobby Lobby. I found them in the mosaics section.
The three rocks I chose were about 2 to 3 inches tall and had a flat surface. I put a primer coat of paint on each rock before starting with the design. A primer coat helps to fill in holes, it provides coverage when your rock is a darker color and will help the paint for your design adhere to the rock better.
Here is some more information on priming rocks if you would like to read further.
How do you prepare rocks for rock painting? (rockrembrandt.com)
The majority of this project is done with paint markers. Paint markers are a great way to apply paint with precision. They also dry quickly so you can move from color to color and not have as much wait time. If you are new to using paint markers, please see this article to read further.
https://rockrembrandt.com/8-paint-pens-for-rock-painting/
St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks Design 1: Shamrocks
The first rock in this project is a simple shamrock. This is great for any age or skill level and uses minimal supplies. I started by priming my rock with two coats of light green acrylic paint. Allow the paint to dry completely before applying the second coat. Once dry, I used a dark green paint marker to draw the shamrocks in various colors, and then I colored them in with the same marker.
Using a lighter green paint marker, I added some design to the shamrocks. I added dots to some and stripes to others.
Finally, using a gold paint marker, I added the word ‘Lucky’.
This rock would be fun to find in a park or on a walking trail.
St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks Design 2: Pot of Gold
Everyone knows that you find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. This rock features the end of that long journey and the treasure you are rewarded. I started by priming the rock with two coats of deep green acrylic paint. Then, I sketched on the pot with a pencil. I colored the pot black paint marker. I added a brown line for the ground and some sprigs of grass with a light green.
Next, I used red, yellow, orange, green, blue, and purple paint markers to make the rainbow. I started at the top of the rock and colored in all the way to the top of the pot of gold.
A pot of gold is not complete without the gold pieces. I have a vibrant gold paint marker that I used to draw them. I just made simple filled-in circles; they are not in any particular design.
This rock almost looks too valuable to give away.
St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks Design 3: Leprechaun
It is hard to imagine St Patrick’s Day without those little green men. No, not Martians; Leprechauns! The guardians of the gold at the end of the rainbow. I started this rock with two coats of light green paint as a primer. Then, I drew on my Leprechaun with a pencil. This Leprechaun has a beard and a top hat, complete with a shamrock detail.
Then, I began coloring the top hat with paint markers. I used dark green for the main part of the hat and shamrock and black and gold for the buckle.
I started on the face with a peach-colored marker. I wanted the nose to be a different shade so I colored that in using a light pink paint marker. Lastly, I painted on the mouth with a red marker.
For the beard, I used a bright orange paint marker. Finally, I outlined the different shapes with black.
This rock is darling and was very simple to draw.
Sealing the St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks
I decided to seal the St Patrick’s Day rocks using a spray acrylic sealer from ModPodge. I made sure to do this step outside. Spray sealer can give off some strong fumes and you don’t want to have that linger inside the house. I set the rocks on a protective surface so I didn’t get the sealer everywhere. Using a paper plate or plastic table cloth works perfectly for this step. I sprayed a light coat of sealer and let it dry. Be sure to follow the package instructions on your sealer.
St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks
These rocks were all fun and easy. Painted rocks are a great way to put you in a festive holiday mood. Now it is time to start the corned beef and cabbage.
St Patrick’s Day Painted Rocks – Top Take-Aways
1. Holiday rocks can go on display any time of year. They are fun to hide and even more fun to find. Where do you like to hide rocks?
2. What other designs can you think of for St Patrick’s Day rocks? Maybe try a lucky horseshoe or a gnome.
3. Paint markers dry quickly and allow you to move to another color or another part of your project in no time.
May the painting wind always be at your back!