My first attempt at a dog. I used artist, Pietrevive‘s tutorial for painting a Labrador and adapted it to a Retriever puppy.

The kittens are taking over – both  the painted rock variety and the real sort. Two new additions to the family arrived last week, 12 week-old tortoise-shell Scribbles and black and white Doodle. Both girls, unrelated to each other. Their previous home was experiencing an excess of cats when they discovered their adult female was about to give birth. We now have a total of four cats… and that will do. I will stick with painting them for now!

If you fancy a go at painting rocks, have a look at Lin Wellford’s book, “The Art of Painting Animals on Rocks”. The projects begin with simple ones and build up in level. I like the way each step is illustrated so you can’t really go wrong. If you, then it is easy to soak the rock in a bucket of water overnight so the paint just scrubs off – alternatively just paint a solid base coat of black, grey or brown right over it.

First attempt at painting a rock animal. As cats are my favourite, it seemed a good idea to start with one. I have never painted a cat before – on a rock or elsewhere! He looks feisty, don’t you think?

The stone came from Llantwit Major. Collected very surreptitiously… if it is possible to remove a 4 kilo rock surreptitiously!

My son brought this stone home from a home-school trip to Castell Coch, near Cardiff. It was covered in old mortar and may have been part of the remains of the original ruin at the site. The stone has now gone to live with a friend on the Isle of Wight. My friend is from Cardiff, just a couple of miles from where the stone was found, so it was nice to give her a piece of home.

Got this really cool rock from the river Dulais at Crynant. Thought it would make a perfect row of fishermen’s cottages reminiscent of the small houses you find alongside harbours in Cornwall. This rock now lives in my dad’s garden in Devon.

The last few weeks I have been painting rocks. It’s a fascinating and addictive pastime. I even sold several to friends. The tiles in the foreground were painted by my partner – if only I could persuade him to do more.

We’ve been collecting rocks from all over, rivers, beaches and, while on holiday/vacation on the Isle of Wight. Painting is a pleasant and productive way to spend some rainy afternoons and the kids love helping me choose likely stones.

Here’s the very first painted rock, inspired by Lin Wellford’s “Painting Houses, Cottages and Towns on Rocks”

Yet another blog that will require my regular attention. Why? Don’t know. Grabbed the URL over a year ago and done nothing with it since.

Here’s me:
Creating pages at Squidoo: TheRaggedEdge
Creating Herb Gardening pages at Squidoo: The Herb Mistress

Flickr uploads: The Ragged Edge
My main and often sadly neglected blog: Blogging On The Ragged Edge
Art Journaling: Art Journaling
Doodling: Doodle Blog
Not sure what this one is doing at the moment: Zen & Ink UK
Zentangle-inspired art: Zen & Ink by theraggededge

I also write for eHow Home & Garden (Demand Studio).

You are welcome to visit my small garden of sites. Prowl around the garden paths, agree with me, disagree with me,
view my writing and art, leave comments or don’t. It’ll be good to see you.