9 Best Places to Find Rocks to Paint

Painting rocks is a fun and relaxing way to spend some creative time. Not everyone has ready access to their own rock supply. So today we’re sharing nine of the best places to find rocks to paint.

Fun Rock Painting Ideas

We’ve been painting rocks for over six years now. We even have an Etsy shop where we’ve sold thousands of rocks for painting over the years. We’re fortunate to have a cottage on the lake from where we’re able to gather our stones for painting. So we’re pretty passionate about our rock painting!

And it’s not a surprise why we feel it’s a great way to spend some craft time! From animals, an inspirational message, flowers, mandalas and more, there are so many fun designs to try. We have a collection of over 60 easy rock painting ideas to get you started including some of these favourites:

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Best Rocks for Painting

Not all rocks are created equal when it comes to painting. The best rocks will depend a bit on the project you have in mind, but you want to look at their size, shape, surface and color. 

Round or oval smooth rocks are generally the best option for most projects. You’ll want to check both the front and back of the rock if you’re painting the entire thing. Sometimes though you’ll want a particular shape: we chose more triangular rocks for these silly painted rock sharks! 

Also, the darker the rock, the more layers of paint you’ll need to get full coverage. For all-over coverage such as these Christmas ornament painted rocks, we often will paint a base coat of white paint before starting the design.

And don’t assume your rocks have to be large or perfect! Look how cute these little strawberry rocks are. Or lean in to the irregular shape and paint some gold nuggets!

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What Kind of Paint to use for Painting Rocks

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In this post we cover how to put together your own rock painting kit. The nice thing about rock painting is that you actually need only a few supplies including the rocks, paint and some paint brushes. 

Our favorite paint for rocks is Decoart Americana Multi-Surface. It dries a bit slower (so you’ll need more time between layers). However, it adheres really well to the rocks and the color lasts long even without a topcoat. We’ve even had our outdoors over the winter and they still look great which is why we think it’s the best paint for rocks.

If you want to have more precise control over your designs, you can use acrylic paint pens and or a dot painting tool set. 

Finally, although there’s tons of free inspiration on the internet (subscribe to grab our e-book with five simple designs) you can find some great books with fun designs.

Best Places to Find Rocks to Paint

There are a lot of great places to find stones for painting. Some of our favorite places include:

1. Scavenge your yard for your own rocks or that of a neighbour or friend.
2. You may be able to find some nice ones at your local park. Please note that it’s usually prohibited to remove any matter from national parks.
3. Etsy – here is our own shop or search for a seller local to you.
4. Amazon – here are our recommended rock painting supplies.
5. Dollar stores such as the Dollar Tree or Dollarama – we’ve seen various smooth river rocks and even flat slate rocks at ours.
6. Craft stores such as Michael’s or Hobby Lobby (check for flat stones in the wedding area).
7. You local hardware store or home improvement stores such as The Home Depot or Lowes.
8. Your local landscaping store and garden centers have stones to build a rock garden or specialty rocks for landscape projects.
9. Facebook Marketplace or a Facebook rock painting group.

Preparing your Rocks for Painting

Depending on where you get your rocks from, they may have dirt of a waxy coating (store bought ones) on them.

• to remove dirt, wash them in warm, soapy water and use a scrub brush to remove any residue. Let dry completely.
• to remove the waxy coating, bake them in the oven at 220F on a parchment lined baking sheet to melt off the wax. Let cool completely before painting.

We hope you’ve found this post on the best places to find rocks to paint helpful. If you have other sources for rock painting supplies, be sure to leave them in the comments below. 

And if you have a lot of rocks to use up, here are some more fun ideas to try:

• fruit painted kindness rocks
• lemon and lime craft rocks
• easy mandala heart rocks

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