Northeast Ohio Rocks! Artist of the Week for February 2018

For the Week of February 4, 2018

For the week of February 4, 2018 Northeast Ohio Rocks! honors Russ Reynolds as Artist of the Week. Below Russ shares his story.

My name is Russ. I’m 53 years old and I live in central Ohio. I have no art/craft background. Just an average guy. I found a little rock at a hotel a while back while traveling in Detroit that someone painted with no name, group or hashtag. It really grabbed my attention because it said, “dance like no one is watching”. Naturally I didn’t dance because….well, I can’t dance! But it peaked my attention. I posted it on Facebook and several people mentioned joining a rock painting group. What better group to join than Northeast Ohio Rocks?! So here I am!

I don’t have a favorite thing or subject to paint. No specific style. I try to paint something different each time and I guess that’s to challenge me as much as anything. I like to push myself. I may change that in the future but I’m just enjoying what I do now. I’ve found a couple odd shaped rocks and I like to try to bring something out of the rock by painting it. A lot of times when I’m alone painting, I’ll turn on classical music. Seems to help get me in the right frame of mind. I find it very relaxing to paint.

My inspiration to paint rocks is simply the fact that it makes someone else smile. I find it a great way to pay it forward. I’ve seen it firsthand and it’s a wonderful thing to observe. Someone walks by, notices the rock and pauses. They look around to see if anyone is watching them. They lean down and pick it up, flip it over then they get a big smile. They look around again as they clutch the rock and walk off. I’ve also witnessed little kids find a rock and jump up and down in joy! That’s why I do it. How incredible is it to make someone you don’t even know smile? I haven’t painted a lot of rocks. Maybe 150-200.

I enjoy all the people in this group. There are a lot of great souls here! The people who do this are also giving forward and it’s awesome to be a part of Northeast Ohio Rocks! I love scrolling down the feed looking at people’s rock creations! I like seeing posts of people who have found the rocks! It’s very humbling when people take the time to “like”, “love”, “wow” or comment on rocks that I paint and post here.

I never saw myself painting rocks. Now I can’t see myself stopping.

For the Week of February 18, 2018

For the week of February 18, 2018 Northeast Ohio Rocks! honors Leslie Bond as Artist of the Week. Below Leslie shares his story.

I have been ‘crafty’ my whole life. Though I’ve not had any formal training – I’ve dabbled in painting, sculpting, ceramics, crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking, card making, sewing, quilting….you get the idea.

I can’t say that I have a favorite medium. I have a rather short attention span so I will go from one thing to the next.
I discovered Northeast Ohio Rocks in my Facebook feed and fell in love with the concept of spreading kindness and joy through something as simple as a painted rock. I have painted somewhere around 400 rocks in the past year since I joined this group. My granddaughters (ages 6 & 4) like to paint rocks with me. We’ve spent many Sunday afternoons painting away. I have found about 10 rocks myself – my grand-daughters find them all the time – too many to count.

I remember the first time I had one of my rocks posted – I had hid one at a gas station and by the time I got home a man had found it and posted it! I was so excited! I must’ve shown that post to 20 people. I still get excited when one of my rocks shows up on Facebook – but more than that I love creating each one – a little masterpiece to bring a smile to the person who finds it. I also like scrolling through the feed and seeing everyone else’s creations. So much love and talent goes into each one. I just love love love this group!

For the Week of February 25, 2018

For the week of February 25, 2018 Northeast Ohio Rocks! honors Fran Dosch as Artist of the Week. Below Fran shares her story.

Hey Rock Stars! My name is Frankie and I began my rock journey last year when my mom found a rock at her job. I listened to a rock and went to see what Northeast Ohio Rocks! was about, and was amazed at the beautiful rocks, the HUGE smiles I saw and mostly the simplicity of sharing kindness with a painted rock! I love seeing the rocks travel sharing smiles all over the USA and the entire world! I took awhile to watch and learn because I have no artistic abilities whatsoever, which I am fine with. I figured out what supplies I would need and payed attention to a few tips I saw from painters and away I went! I started out with small rocks and simple dots to teach myself how to paint other things. My favorite things to paint are simple things like flowers, balloons, kites and words of encouragement. I am a sports fanatic so I also enjoy painting rocks for our teams. My favorite thing about Northeast Ohio Rocks is even someone like me who has never created anything artistically in my life, can do this! I have now painted and hid over 1000 rocks and I have taken the #share100smiles challenge twice! I can honestly say I see improvement in my art as well, who knew! Ha! I have also found and re hid 130 rocks so far!!! Keep Rockin