Ever wonder who paints those rocks we discover all over Prince George?
When walking through pretty much any park in Prince George, and especially Cottonwood Island Park lately, there is no doubt you will find a painted rock or two or 10.
On any given rock there might be a sassy little unicorn, a bouquet of flowers, a fancy heart or two, some daisies, owls, more hearts, lady bugs and butterflies, a peace sign, angels, snowmen, poppies for Remembrance Day or even a trumpeting elephant.
But isn’t that part of the woodland adventures experienced here in Prince George?
It sure is and sometimes the right rock will find its way into the hand that needs it most because at its core these rocks are simply a gift to the community, said Tina Garlick, who is the talented Métis artist behind Heart of P.G. Rock.
To date she has painted more than 14,117 rocks. She started counting when she realized this was going to be her thing so she has actually painted more.
It all started back in 2017 when Prince George took in more than 7,000 people from Williams Lake as that entire town was under BC Wildfire evacuation orders.
“One day my husband and I were walking in the park and we were talking to a couple of ladies who were from Williams Lake and they were really sad because they weren’t sure they would have homes to go to when they went back,” Garlick said. “So I gave them each a little rock with a heart on it and they were really touched by it and I thought ‘I’m going to keep doing this’ and now the rocks are everywhere.”
As she and husband Carlyle kept walking Prince George parks, Garlick would continue to gift the rocks and would hear "I'm taking this home with me," with some people meaning places like South Africa, Germany, New Zealand and England, to name just a few.
“When we go on holidays I put them everywhere we go,” she smiled.
And the other side of that is they also collect rocks from different river and lakeshores in the province.
“We collect bucket loads,” she laughed. “My basement is full of them so we’re either collecting them or I’m giving them away. I always have a handful of rocks in my pocket because almost every time I give somebody a rock they share a story with me.”
Tina was in Tumbler Ridge years ago and reached into her pocket for a rock to give to a lady.
“I pulled out a hummingbird and gave it to her,” Tina said.
The lady gasped when she saw the rock.
“She pointed to the tattoo on her leg and it was of a hummingbird – same colours and everything,” Garlick recalled.
The emotional reaction came as the lady explained the tattoo was to honour the memory of her grandmother to whom she was deeply connected. “It turned out her grandmother collected hummingbirds," she said.
“So I keep doing it because no matter which rock I pull out of my pocket to give to a certain person there are so many times when people will ask ‘how did you know?’ and that’s why I keep doing it,” she said.
Sharing joy and connecting with people is so important to her.
She knows it takes team work to make it happen and her daughter put it into words best when she gifted her parents with T-shirts that say Carlyle – Chauffeur * Muscle and Tina - Founder * Designer * Artist.
And when it comes to the park rocks Garlick always hears things like that if it weren’t for the rocks moms would never get their kids out to the park and they would tell her, who they called the ‘Rock Lady’, all about their adventures.
“Don’t leave the rocks outside in the park, I want people to take them home, that’s what they’re for,” she said. “They don’t want to stay outside!”
In the winter they can get lost in the snow, too.
To combat that blip, the couple created the Rock Shelf on the front lawn of their home so people can get their rocks despite weather challenges.
Mostly it’s the icy surfaces that are so daunting and the Rock Shelf, that is actually a quaint little cabinet with an extended roof over it, is set up for easy access for neighbourhood residents. It's mostly children who are regular visitors to the Rock Shelf.
There is a gentle reminder on the Rock Shelf - ‘one each please’ so that people don’t scoop up all the painted rocks and so far the honour system has worked very well, Garlick said.
“I’ve watched some of the children grow up around here,” she said. “There’s one family that comes to visit every week or two and they come and each take a rock and then when they come back they return the rock they had and choose another one.”
Each rock is a tiny masterpiece but for Garlick "artist" isn’t a title she embraces easily.
“I started painting hearts on the rocks and I did 1,000 of them,” she explained her start.
“So then I got bored of the hearts and started painting other things on the rocks but I’m not an artist. My husband keeps telling me I’m an artist but I’m not.”
Garlick gets her ideas from what she sees as she browses the internet.
She uses acrylic paint and although her art studio sees pots of paint brushes at the ready, she usually uses just one tiny paint brush that always gets the job done.
Then she modpodges the rock and completes the process by spraying a protective seal on it.
Garlick paints only the top of the rock so that people can see the details of the natural beauty their rock possesses, which is half the fun, as so many of the rocks Tina and Carlyle collect have bits of agate or quartz embedded in them or possess other interesting features.
Over the years people have brought rocks to her so that she could paint them which morphed into her doing commission work if people are so inclined but the rocks are never huge just something you can carry easily in your hands.
A lady brought her a rock that looked like the face of a bear and in her usually modest way, Garlick denied it took any talent to create the image but the photo does not lie and it is stunning.
She said collecting the rocks is a great form of exercise and so is hiding them at the parks.
“We’ll get up early in the morning and go for a bike ride to place all the rocks in the park before anybody else goes out,” she said with a secret smile.
The conversation always comes back around to what keeps her going.
“And it’s always the stories that come in reaction to the rock being gifted,” she said.
“People will look at me and then look down at the rock in their hand and they’ll tell me about what a bad day they were having until they got their rock and that’s why I will keep painting rocks.”
Everyone is welcome to go rock hunting in the parks in Prince George or for a closer look, check out the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HeartofPGRock.
