Painted rocks bring kind messages to Delawareans

By Caitie Burkes, The Associated Press

BEAR, Del. – Carmen Dougherty’s 10-year-old son, Anthony, clutching a painted heart-shaped rock he found, ran up to his mother at a Disney World resort last March.

A tag on the back of the rock identified its decorators as “The Northeast Ohio Rocks!” — a group spreading positive thoughts by planting painted rocks in different pockets of the country.

Touched by the group’s goodwill message, Dougherty, who lives in Bear, now wants to bring the rock art hide-and-seek game to Delaware.

She formed DelaWhere? Rocks! — a Facebook group of Delaware “rockers” — as a way to do just that.

The rules are simple: Anyone who finds a painted rock posts a picture of the rock to the DelaWhere? Rocks! Facebook page and then re-hides the rock for another passerby to find.

Some people put “family hashtags” on their rocks so they can track the journey each stone takes. Others don’t. It does not matter, Dougherty said, so long as the person who finds a painted rock hides it again for another to find.

Sometimes, Dougherty posts clues about where she left one of her rocks.

“Our purpose is to keep spreading that joy that the rock brought to you when you originally found it,” she said.

In the past four months, Dougherty, her husband and three children — Anthony and 7-year-old twins Alexa and Isabela — and an army of roughly 540 “rock stars” have already left decoupaged pebbles outside movie theatres, Wawa gas stations and parks throughout Bear, Newark, Middletown and Glasgow. She said she has even seen some of her rocks pop up in New York, Florida and the Carolinas.

Rocks can come from the sands of Delaware’s beaches or Home Depot bags as long as they are not stolen from private property. No advertisements or political statements are allowed on the rocks, Dougherty said.

She and her children usually sit outside together to brush acrylic craft paint on five or six rocks at a time and then spray them with a sealant, a process that can take up to four days.

Occasionally, a batch of rocks will have an artistic theme. On a recent trip, for example, her family propped up rocks painted as “Despicable Me” minions outside movie theatres.

Other times, rocks may have a single word — “hope,” ”faith,” ”love” — splattered on them. Those rocks are Dougherty’s favourites.

She typically goes “rocking” about three times a week. Every now and then she is joined by Elizabeth Lasswell, a Middletown native who has been painting animals on rocks as a hobby for 20 years.

When Dougherty invited Lasswell to join the group, it seemed a perfect fit. Lasswell normally left her rocks in random locations for strangers to find.

“It just connected to me on so many levels,” Lasswell said.

She noted the importance of spreading optimism in a tense political and social climate.

“Whatever we can do in times like these to bring people together, to find common ground, is a good thing,” Lasswell said.

Dougherty said she wants to try to get the whole state involved in the movement. She said she and Laswell plan on hosting rock-painting events at parks in the near future.

Dougherty stressed that DelaWhere? Rocks! is an activity for all to enjoy, regardless of age, artistic ability or place of origin.

“That’s our whole mission — to put a smile on everybody’s face, one rock at a time,” she said.

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Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., http://www.delawareonline.com

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