Of rocks and friends

 

Today’s prompt from Paul Taubman at the Ultimate Blogging Challenge is to write about someone I know and what I admire about that person. He suggests a friend, a family member or a colleague as the person to talk about.

The person whom I’ve chosen is my friend, Giselle Jackman. I first met Giselle several years ago, when she was an intern at Saint Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church in Grand Island, New York. She was discerning whether she felt called to be a deacon or a priest. Since her internship ended, she attended seminary, with the goal of becoming an Episcopal priest.

I admire Giselle because she is a deeply spiritual person, a good friend, and a good listener. She is also very creative in the way that she approaches life and spirituality. She is very flexible and, if something doesn’t work, she can find a new and completely different approach. Recently, she started a series of Facebook Live presentations, combining demonstrating makeup techniques with spirituality. Yes, she can multi-task. She can talk about spirituality while applying makeup to her own face. Well, not lipstick. It’s really hard to put on lipstick and talk simultaneously. But seriously, whoever thought of talking about deep spiritual stuff while presenting makeup techniques? Honestly, that’s awesome.

Giselle’s presentations motivated me to do something similar. Not makeup because I’m not good at it. Something else. And that something else is painting a rock. It is something that you can do. All you need is a rock and a bunch of acrylic paints, as well as a fixative spray. Glitter paint is another option.

I didn’t have a lot of time to do a big creative project because I had an article for the Island Dispatch that was due today. That is to say, I had to do everything today: the interview and organizing the information to write the story. So it was a busy time.

The rock that I chose to paint was a small rock that I picked up on the frozen wintry beach at Beaver Island State Park. I saw a rock, liked it, and stuck it in my pocket. And then forgot about it. 

Recently, I felt the rock in my pocket and I decided… hmmm, Valentine’s Day. Why not celebrate with a heart? A heart painted on a rock. My first step was to paint the rock white so I could draw on it.

My next step was to draw a basic design. It’s not perfect. And it doesn’t have to be perfect. You do not have to be a super fabulous artist.

Your rock painting comes from the heart, and technical skill is good, but it’s not mandatory.

And then, I started adding colors. Several colors to give the rock life and happiness. The colors that I chose were mid yellow, cerulean blue, mauve pale, and scarlet red. Those were the colors that brought me happiness today.

When you paint your rock, you can choose any color that makes you happy. Remember that rock painting is about the things that bring you happiness. 

I also chose to outline the hearts with yellow… just because.

And I should mention that nothing is perfect on the first attempt. It’s like that with journalism, too. I write an article and I set it aside to allow it to breathe.

When I come back to the article, I am able to rearrange it and edit the heck out of it. Because I’ve let it breathe, I can see my writing with fresh eyes. With the rock, I let the paint dry and then, I fix the mistakes. Sort of like editing and rearranging the article.

My last step is to add glitter paint just because glitter is fun. Glitter paint is even better. It’s not going to get all over the carpet and clog the vacuum cleaner. What’s better than mess-free glitter? And the rock is done! I take the rock outside to spray it with a fixative. And ta-da! A complete rock! 

If you want to paint your own rock, why not? You could do this on your own or as a project with your family. If you do it together with your family, you’re on your way to creating your own colorful rock garden!

Have fun! Talk to you tomorrow!