Painting the Bell Tower

Since I want the bell tower to match with the other fieldstone pieces I’ve done, I base coated it in a medium dark brown. After the initial base coat I returned to it several times to add touch ups. One of the issues with painting fieldstone is that there are lots of little nooks and crannies that often get missed. The trick is to go over it several times, and to view it in a variety of lights and from a large number of angles. Even after doing this multiple times I still find spots here and there that show the original grey plaster.

Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the tower with only it’s basecoat. You’ll just have to use your imagination!

Once the base coat was done, it was time to bring in some more color. I used a combination of colors to highlight individual stones. Aside from an assortment of browns I also used grey, dark cherry, burgundy, green, and blue. These are all cheap craft paints, the type you can get 2 for $1. I avoided the orange that I’ve used before, because it was just a little too bright and stood out more than I liked.

This process actually took quite a while.

The next step is to dry brush over the entire tower with a light brown, and then a cream.

The hooded statues that sit in the alcoves were all primed with a dark brown, and highlighted with were painted separately to avoid being whacked with the different colors and dry brushing. I won’t be gluing them in till the rest of the tower is done, that way I can repaint them if I decide I don’t like them. I’m not sure how I feel about them right now.

Sorry about the crappy photos. Cellphone camera + basement lighting does not make for an ideal combination.

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