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| Made this giant one for my daughter and her partner |
Apologies for such a long spell with no posts. I have not felt like writing for months. I would have ideas from time to time for a post but I wouldn’t be at a home at when I finally got home, I usually did not feel like writing. I have had a bit of a writer’s block, with all kinds of writing - journaling, paperwork, blog posts, documenting my life, anything at all that involved the written word. Other than Facebook and texting, I’ve hardly written a single word. I’ve been writing all my life, and certainly miss it, but struggled to get anything written. Today felt different and something happened to me that was worth writing down. It involves rocks. Let me provide the context as it is key to the story.
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| beach rooster |
A friend of mine started talking about painting rocks some months ago, and introduced me to a rock group - Sooke to Sidney Rock Hunt. The basics are this - you can be an artist who paints rocks to hide for other’s to find, or you can be a rock hunter, and go hunting for these rocks and re-hide them wherever you like, or you can paint, hide, and hunt, which is what I do. I don’t hunt often, usually only when I am hiding my own creations, but once I went looking specifically for a rock and found it! You are permitted to keep one from each hunt, and most people keep to that, and others hoard, or are like me, waiting for that perfect rock and only keeping ones I really am attached to. The idea in mind is painting rocks that are pretty or have positive messaging on them, or just plain fun looking rocks. People who find them get quite excited about finding painted rocks and it is hoped that most people will post a photo of the rocks when they find them. It happens often but many rocks I have never seen or heard from again. I expect that many rocks are found by people who don’t know about the rock hunt and just take home pretty rocks. There are 8000 members and counting. The rocks have traveled across the country and around the world. There are rock painting/hiding groups all over the world who operate similarly. My particular group has been around since 2016. I am also a part of another rock group, Vancouver Island Painted Rocks, which has about 800 members and is for anything rock painted related - hunt or not, commission work, talk about supplies and ideas, online tutorials and the like.
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| Castles are always fun |
So how this has impacted my life - well, I have been off work since the end of January 2018 and struggling to fill my time. I could not sew as well as i wanted to anymore due to my hands and concentration issues. I could not knit because of my carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand that needs surgery. I couldn’t read or do much writing because I could not concentrate enough to follow anything. I can’t just sit around for months watching television and I wasn’t always up for being social so spending a lot of time in the RV, feeling like I was wasting my life away, day after day with nothing to do. So I thought sure, I have some paint supplies, and rocks sounded fun to paint. Well, I was hooked after the first photo was posted of a little kid who found my rocks on the bumper. That smiling happy excited face holding something that I painted was enough. I had to get into this, like REALLY get into this. I bought more supplies, found some rocks and got down to business. My first few dozen were definitely rough and looked like the work of a toddler at times, but with upgrades on paint brushes and dotting tools, and a whole lot of practice, I have come a long way. There are still some designs that I struggle with but I have been totally enraptured by rock painting. Today I painted my 500th rock.
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| Rock 500 |
I take photos of all of them and counted them up today.
It takes me out of my head, where I tend to ruminate and spend far too much time. Instead I put on the music, lay out my plethora of supplies, and spend the day painting up several rocks. Then I set out to hide them in the neighborhood for others to find. It gets me out the door and walking in my neighborhood which has helped my health, both physical and mental. I have met a lot of people who are either artists or rock hunters. I have recruited many members to the group once they hear about the rock hunt and what people are getting out of it. It is not just a game, at least not for many. The posts. I have read and the people who I have met that tell me about their rocks have been so captivating and touching at times. Some of our members hide the rocks near or in hospitals for people who might need a lift to find. The stories that come back are just touching. A new mom who nearly lost her baby found one and placed it next to the bassinet in the hospital so her daughter could see something pretty. Another mom who lost her baby and needed something positive and found a beautiful rock that has now become a memory item of her little one lost. Kids who were once sedentary are now out combing their neighborhoods for rocks, or asking to go to the park to look for rocks. People who paint up groups of rocks for fundraising special causes, or bringing awareness to a social issue. I met a young woman last week at the local sunset market down the street who is an artist and had a booth, selling her artwork which included rocks. Now she has joined the rock group and can’t wait to start hiding some rocks. She has limited mobility so I told her about places where our group puts rocks that she could access easily from her chair. I met her mom as well and we talked for a bit about rock painting and supplies, and techniques and so on. I found a few rocks at the market as well and so gave one to the young artist who was thrilled and another to two young girls who had been hunting at the market and finding nothing. They too where thrilled. I was thrilled to have brought anyone joy with such a small gesture.
In addition to hiding rocks around the neighborhood, I have also been leaving one or two on my purple bumper of the RV. It hangs right at the sidewalk, so people have to walk right by them and it is low enough that little kiddies can see. I live just down the street from a big school and community centre so have lots of folks walking past me that find the rocks. Today I met someone who has been finding my rocks around the neighborhood and giving them away to others who might like them. She plucked the rock I left on the bumper earlier today and came to my door and asked to speak with me. My first thoughts was uh-oh, someone doesn’t like me parking so close to the sidewalk. I was pleasantly surprised to meet a woman who was very happy with my rocks and so thankful that I am hiding them in her neighborhood. She has found many of them and had two in her hand - one that was mine and one form another artist. She did not even know about the hunt - she just liked finding the rocks. So I told her what it was and she then asked if she could bring me some paint supplies. I was rather touched. She talked about how positive the whole thing seems to be and how much her friends have loved the rocks she has given them. She is going to bring me paint and more rocks to paint. I have tons of paint and the means to buy more but she wanted to help out so i let her. I know many artists that are just starting and would likely love any donations of paint. It sure made my day.
Some days I will sit at my little studio table where I have my supplies all set up and paint the day away. I have also set up my studio when I am camping and sit outside by the river in the shady woods and paint the afternoon away. Sometimes I am listening to music and other times I am watching a show on my laptop or iPad. Before I know it, 7 hours have passed and I haven’t thought about anything distressing or anxiety provoking the whole entire time. I am able to get out of that part of my head and leap over to my creative brain. My technique is not perfect, far from it. My hands sometimes tremble or jerk so I often paint stuff over to try it again. Some of my rocks are just simple designs that kids seem to really like while others I put a lot more time into and am often quite surprised that I was able to create what I have. I have never thought of myself as an artist before and have several artist friends who I buy my artwork from as well as buying art from vendors at festivals and downtown areas all over the world. But here I am, creating. I have become an artist.
Frequently I have people posting photos of my rocks and how excited they were or their child was when they found it and what it meant to them. I’ve had some commission rocks for people who want something as a present for someone they care about. I’ve also painted some very large rocks too as gifts, some so large I can’t quite lift them on my own. I painted a whole series of rocks for Grand Bruit to be hidden there for anyone visiting this summer. I painted a bunch of salt box houses, and a bunch of Newfoundland items like a dory, jigger, coal bucket, and so on. They were a big hit. Now my niece that I sent them to is sending me a box back of bare rocks from Grand Bruit for me to paint and hide out here. I have also been asked to paint a portion of a huge gazebo at my friends campground/farm - there are black brackets that hold the main post and they want some color up there. Color is my middle name.
So after months of not one word, here I ramble on about rocks - It has been such a long time with so little passion for anything that rock painting has brought me new life, new hope, a new start. Life is good enough.
