More Practice With Rock Painting Meditation - Holy Spirit Prayer

I took out the Plaka paints again.  Though I was a bit more successful getting those nice round dots (maybe due to trying a different brush), I realized how I am so much more appreciative of the beautiful dot painted rocks I have seen.  It is much more difficult than it looks!

Today, I wanted to actually try to use the process of painting the rock as a devotional meditation.  I was thinking about how much the world needs the Holy Spirit right now to intervene in all our hatred and fear.  That is when I decided I wanted to somehow incorporate the symbolism of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit on the rock.

My first challenge was to figure out how to get seven dots around the center--uneven numbers are harder to space.  After debating how to do it, I decide that making a smiley face with two eyes and three dots for the mouth might work.  Then, I added the one dot on either side to connect them.  It still required eyeballing some spacing, but it actually worked pretty well.

As I worked on painting the little rock, my mind did go all over the place.  To use rock painting as a meditation tool will require some practice.  But, I tried to stay focussed on the significance of those 7 dots, which were symbolic to me of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The simple prayer "Come, Holy Spirit" is what I used when I wanted to draw myself back to my intention.  When I look at that painted rock now, I am reminded of that little prayer.

You can see in the photos above that I did add the word "Practice" to the back of the first rock I did.  (Lettering with a brush is a whole other skill that requires lots of "practice" and those skill get rusty when they are not used.)

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!