Rock Painting Meditation Prayer Mandala

I read about these neat paints online and wanted to get some.  Unfortunately, I found that they were no longer imported to the US in colors because of temperature concerns during shipping and not enough demand.  Plaka paints by Pelikan are an enamel that is soluble in water--no stinky mineral spirit clean up!

When I found this set from an ebay seller, I snatched them up and I have been itching to use them.  I decided this beautiful, warm Saturday morning on the deck was the perfect time to try them out.  I knew just what I would try to pain on first, as they are easily accessible to scavenge for around our pond next to the deck.

I have seen the work of an artist that does awe inspiring dot painting on stones, so I thought I might try something like that.  Ideally, I would have found a nice smooth flat round stone, but this the closet I could find to fit those descriptions.  It was not round or totally flat, but it was pretty smooth.  (In leu of taking a 4 hour trip to Lake Superior's North Shore, I decided it would work.)

After a few dots, I realized that getting nice round dots with the paint was not the easiest task.  I will hunt for some better dot making tools next time I do it, but I decided the brush was good enough for now.

It looks better from a distance, but here is a close-up.

I did think about painting a word on the rock, but decided to just play with the dots instead.  Something I have really wanted to learn more about is mandalas.  Maybe this is a kind of mandala creation?  

I also thought about putting someones name on it for a prayer stone, but I was so focussed on trying to figure out what to paint and how to do it that I was not really thinking of a special person when I painted it.

With both of those above thoughts, I have decided that I will paint the word "practice" on the back.  Lately, I have found much meaning in that word that is applicable to many things in my life.

Now, what am I going to do with it?  It is actually a pretty little thing to incorporate into a centerpiece.  Some of you might read this and think "What a waste of time!"  But, my newest motto is "Time you enjoy waisting is not a waste of time."  (I need to look up who said that and give them credit.)  

I might just have a little painted stone garden soon.  Stay tuned!