Rocking the Rock

Newfoundland is referred to by us Newfies as The Rock. And when you hide your painted rocks somewhere, you've "rocked" that place. So I've been Rocking the Rock regularly since September, and as a matter of fact I painted my 400th rock this week.

I won't show you all 400 rocks, don't worry.  The first 100 were a learning process and I've kind of been finding my way.  I've learned that just like everything else I do that I don't tend to want to do what everyone else is doing. For instance I painted a few Christmas rocks but quickly tired of it and after painting a few Christmas ornaments moved on to something else.

The rocks were so cute I painted wood slice ornaments to match!

And I don't want to hide them where everyone else is hiding them.  There are designated spots folks tend to hide, but the trouble with that is the first person along after you hide tends to scoop them all up. After reading that folks were getting disappointed not being able to find stuff I took a different approach.

I do more of a scavenger hunt with hints and photos on the NL Rock Art and Placentia Rocks Facebook pages. I put one or two in one spot, then move on to another. Feedback has been good, and everyone gets a chance to find something no matter where they live.  Of course there are a few I can't bear to part with, like the Newfoundland dory I painted below.  Eventually I will paint a duplicate and let it go.

The big project I decided to take on in November instead of the usual Christmas themes was starting a Harry Potter series.  This meant re-watching the movies and re-reading the books to get ideas.  One way to beat the boredom of winter!

Quite a lot of excitement was generated when I posted the pictures from The Sorcerer's Stone series, so it kept me going and each series got a little more intricate.  I've painted Harry with his owl 4 times because it was so popular, and Harry with his letter made his home with me for a few months until I painted an improved duplicate for myself.

Chamber of Secrets set

When I hide the Harry Potter rocks I put up advance notice of day and town so that those HP fans can be ready to hunt. To decide what I wanted to paint I had a list I made first and then searched the internet for illustrations and fan art.  Using those as I jumping off point I came up with my own blend, but sometimes I was such a fan of an image that I imitated it as exactly as I could. 

Prisoner of Azkaban - Aunt Marge and Professor Trelawney still live with me for now!

Prisoner of Azkaban had some great subjects I wanted to tackle, including Harry "blowing up" his Aunt Marge and his subsequent ride on the Knight Bus. And the set wouldn't be complete without "I Solemnly swear that I am up to no good", right?

After completing a Harry Potter set I usually look for something a little on the lighter side to paint, like my Cardinal series...

...and the adorable "Mice with Advice".

That's enough painting talk for today, but I'll catch you up again soon on my painting antics.  I've completed The Goblet of Fire set from Harry Potter plus a bunch featuring eyeglasses to give out to my accounts on my upcoming trip!