The purpose of this guide is to show you how easy it can be to hand paint a cypress knee. I've chosen to use a Halloween ghost design as it is easy to learn hand painting with a simple design and a fairly smooth surface. This project is simple enough for the children as well.
 
What is a cypress knee you ask? The cypress knee is a wood projection,  sculpture-like part of the root of the cypress tree, commonly found in swamps of the southeastern United States.Cypress trees often grow to heights of over 100 ft., exposing the "knees"above the normal water level.

Cypress knees are unique in that no two are exactly alike.
Ready to paint cypress knees can be found on eBay . Look at them closely and try to image in your mind that you are looking at a ghost figure, not a cypress knee. See a flowing figure? Envision it with eyes
and maybe a spooky smile,or possibly a frown? Cypress knees with wide bases make good ghosts.Once you have purchased a cypress knee, you will need the following supplies:

Acrylic paint one of each, white and black One bottle of matte or satin varnish. My personal favorite, DecoArt paints are available here .If you would like to make your ghost glow in the dark,add to your order a bottle of DecoArt glow in the dark medium .Think about it :)
Folk Art paint brushes give a smooth finish to your work. You'll need a fairly wide flat brush for the base coat, a small round brush for eyes & mouth and one liner brush if you wish to add a thin lined spooky smile!

eBay makes shopping for supplies so easy! You can shop for the brushes here  Almost ready now? Find an old toothbrush, a small plastic lid or dish ( 3oz. plastic dixie cup will work) and you are ready to paint !

I've included a few sketches to guide you along.Get creative and add a jack-o-lantern at the base, a treat bag in hand; maybe even a pair of shoes barely seen at the bottom.. You'll need to adjust the sizes according to the size of your cypress knee, although a tiny ghost would be quite cute for the younger ones. Let's get started painting!
Pour white paint into small container and begin base coating .Paint 3 coats of white allowing to dry throughly between coats. The paint will dry faster if knee is placed near a desk lamp.Starting to look ghostly ? Now using a small round brush,paint 2 eyes and which ever style mouth you choose using the black.You may enlarge and trace the sketches if you need to.Once the paint is dry, pour a small amount of black paint onto a plastic lid, dip the bristles of the old toothbrush into the paint and dab some on a paper towel so paint is not too thick and runny. Holding the toothbrush about a foot away from the bottom of the ghost's "costume" run your finger along the bristles and "spray" near the bottom edges-lightly! This will add some depth to your project. It's a good idea to practice this beforehand til you get the feel of spraying lightly. Using a paper bag works well for this.If you are going to use the glow-in-the dark medium, now is the time for that. Paint over the ghost with the medium just as you did the base coat. This may require two coats and also may give a yellow tint to the ghost.If not using glow-in-the-dark medium, proceed with varnish.
Lastly, paint one -two coats of varnish over entire piece ,allowing to dry between coats and you are finished! Hmm.. tall skinny ghost or big fat ghost? :)

This is a great way to get the children together and get them involved as a group doing something creative with their time Add some cider and doughnuts -makes for a great day!