St Patrick’s Day Painted Dot Mandala Rocks
St Patrick’s Day is upon us. It is time to break out that green paint and get started on a fun, family-friendly activity that is sure to bring good luck to your entire household.
For this project, we are going to incorporate an activity that we have not talked about for a while. Dot Mandala is a term that encompasses a broader variety of crafting called dot art. You can create very elaborate dot mandala projects, but we are going to keep these nice and simple. We are going to take our 4Ps approach to rock painting and incorporate dotting to really make these rocks pop. The 4 Ps approach includes prime, pencil, paint, and protect. If you are in need of a refresher on dot mandala and the basic steps, please review my article Easy Beginner Mandala Painted Rocks.
St Patrick’s Day Painted Dot Mandala Rocks Design 1: Pot of Gold
When I think about St Patrick’s Day, a lot of different images come to mind, but I immediately think about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We are going to work our way through the 4 Ps. The dot mandala rainbow will be incorporated into the paint step.
Prime: I primed this rock using two coats of white acrylic paint. I love to use Folk Art brand paint in vintage white. Priming your rock will fill in any small holes, even out the color of the rock, and provide a good paint base for the rest of your design to adhere to. I find using good quality acrylic paint is important for this step. It works great when I don’t have to apply numerous coats of paint and spend my entire day waiting for it to dry. Folk Art is usually great after two coats and dries quickly.
Pencil: I just drew the pot of gold and a dividing line between the sky and the ground. When I draw on my rock, I always use a pencil so I can erase any mistakes. I do not draw a lot of detail, those pencil lines would get lost under the layers of paint in the next step.
Paint: Using Posca paint markers, I filled in the sky portion with light blue and the ground portion with green. I then began using the end of a dotting tool to start my rainbow. I used the same size dot for the entire rainbow. The important thing to remember is “dip and dot”. Dip the end of your tool in paint and dot the paint onto the rock. Be sure to use a straight up and down movement. I used red, yellow, orange, green and blue for the rainbow dots.
Once that was dry, I colored in the pot with a black paint marker. I added gold pieces with a gold paint marker. I also went back over the rainbow dots with a small dot of white, just to add some depth and texture to the design.
Protect: I sealed both St Patrick’s Day Painted Dot Mandala Rocks at the same time, so that process is described below.
St Patrick’s Day Painted Dot Mandala Rocks Design 2: Dotted Clover
Clovers are also an iconic image of this holiday. Have you ever found a four-leaf clover? I have not, but maybe I will someday.
Prime: I also primed this rock with two coats of white acrylic paint. Be sure to allow for dry time in between coats.
Pencil: For this design, I just drew the outline of the clover and the stem. The cloverleaf shape is made with a heart top that you don’t finish with a point at the bottom.
Paint: I used a black Posca paint marker to fill in the entire clover. Then, I used different sized dotting tools and different shades of green to start the dotting.
One of the neat things about dot mandala is it is very open to interpretation. I have seen very intricate, symmetrical designs. I have also seen dotting at random to fill in space. This design is a combination of the two. I started with a pattern and then filled in empty spaces with random yellow or white dots.
I decided to leave the stem just black and then outlined the entire clover with a gold paint marker.
Protect: Sealing your rock is a step that should not be skipped. Applying a sealer will help your design stand up to the elements and last a lot longer. There are many different ways to seal a rock. I prefer to use a clear, acrylic spray sealer. You can find these anywhere that they sell spray paint or painting supplies. Be sure to follow the instructions on your sealer to get the best results. I recommend using a spray sealer outside so that you have proper ventilation. If you would like more information on sealing rocks, please see my article here: How to Seal Painted Rocks.
These St Patrick’s Day Painted Dot Mandala Rocks would look great out in a garden or as a St Patrick’s Day decoration.
Enjoy,