I’m a creative, experienced, multi-purpose artist and art director
who can take projects start to finish in a variety of styles.

Good designs sell –
my designs sell out!

Friday, December 16, 2016

"Rock"

Dad and I made rock paths around our house.  We loaded the wheelbarrow with rocks at the river and trudged them back home where we dumped them out on the grass and contemplated the jigsaw puzzle of potential combinations.  I sometimes wonder if this early rock fitting was key to my brain development.  I'm sure it built muscles since we did probably 3' x 200' of stone paths.  That's one heck of a lot of rocks, and they had to be basalt or granite, and those are extra heavy rocks.

Had I known that all these stupid rock paths would later require endless hours of weeding, I would've been less enthusiastic about making the paths in the first place.  A few years after we made them, Dad and I pried all the rocks back out of the ground and we poured cement under and between them.  That helped, but the cement would crack and nothing stops weeds from growing where you don't want them.  This is all my brother's problem now since he lives at our old house.  He just sprays Round Up.

I still collect rocks.  I walk along the river and seek the best lucky stones, the prettiest granite, or maybe the nicest shaped addition for my backyard pond.  (Time out to notice and rearrange my clam shell of stones on my computer desk and to wander around the house taking photos of my various rock piles.)

I like painting rocks too.  It's a freeing subject since nobody expects them to be actual portraits of specific rocks.  It's just my concept of what a rock looks like, but that statement oversimplifies what goes into painting a rock.  First, I had to study rocks to know to the core of my being what rocks look like.  Second, I have to understand how to paint mass with appropriate lighting.  Sometimes I paint things on actual rocks.  Lately, I've been wrapping stones with wire to make mobiles too.

I'm beginning to think I have an unusual rock obsession?  But if I do, it's genetic.  When my uncle introduced his future gemologist wife to various family members, we all said the same thing.  "Oh!  I collect rocks too!"  Then we showed her our rock collections, which aren't "gems", but are special anyway.

When I was older and started studying New Age kinds of things, people sang the praises of crystals.  To some, crystals are the answer to anything.  I like shiny things, so I picked up some crystals to put in the window, but it occurred to me that all my lucky stones are quartz crystals too, they just aren't shiny.  But if crystals are powerful, my hoard of lucky stones will keep me alive forever.

Sometimes, when I've had a really hard day, I lay on the couch and put a basalt rock on my forehead, or maybe on my heart.  It just makes me feel better, or perhaps just gives me something else to focus my thoughts on instead of my irritations.  Rock is solid and connects me to the river, and the river washes bad things away.

I wonder if that's also true for rock paintings?  I showed this floor painting last year, but didn't feature the rocks since I spent more time on leaves and animals.  Seems silly to paint more rocks for this post when I'm so surrounded by them.

15 comments:

  1. Love the image of you on the couch with a rock on your forehead. It calms me just to envision it. I'm going to try it with one of the many stone I have around the house, to my hubby's dismay...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I collect rocks too! Always have. I used to paint them a lot. My Mom threw most of them out. Which pained me. We used to pour boiling water in the cracks of our cement. It actually does a pretty good job killing weeds. If you ever have a chance, the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica is a rock paradise!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Someone told me recently to pour bleach in the cracks too. He swore it was environmentally friendly and just disappates afterwards. I think I like the idea of hot water better.

      Delete
  3. You must have been such a fit kid Linda... that's a lot of rocks you shifted. Don't drop any now on your toes! Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I did drop some on my toes. I remember smashing some fingers too. It was a rough childhood :D

      Delete
  4. Looking at that picture of the clam shell full of rocks gave me a tiny startled feeling--how did you get a picture from my house? My kids find shells like that in the creek and bring them home to polish them up, and they are always gathering up rocks from wherever they go.

    Once I was feeling a bit sick and tired. I was sitting in the sun by a creek and on impulse I picked up a round, gray, sun-warmed rock that fit neatly in my palm and held it to different parts of my body that seemed like they wanted the touch of a sun-warmed rock. About a half hour or so of that "treatment" left me feeling much better.

    Your painted floor is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you sure we're actually different people? I've done that with a sun-warmed rock too. I'm wishing it was summer now with warm rocks at the river.

      Delete
    2. Ha ha! We're different, but with some remarkable similarities, I've noticed. Yeah. Summer....

      Delete
  5. Love all of your rocks! We hike a lot and often find rock cairns - either to help mark the trail, or just left so we know that some other human was there. Rocks are definitely therapeutic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I sometimes make rock piles. Now I'm wondering if I'm messing up other people's quests with false trails? But I tend to think of them like you said, just showing another human was there. A rock "Hi!" :)

      Delete
  6. Rocks rock! I like your collection of small rockw, whether in a shell or around a pot. And I agree with you that rocks have special powers. At least they are very attractive. Once a rocker always a rocker...

    ReplyDelete
  7. May I ask where you found the metal turtle stands? I inherited one through my mother and I'm trying to find more information on it and the stone it used to hold

    ReplyDelete