A Qualicum Beach senior is using his artistic talents to brighten the days of people who walk through his neighbourhood.
Don Elliott, 84, regularly paints rocks with positive sayings like “be happy” or “you are enough” and places them in a few spots close to the beach.
“He paints about four a day and takes them down every day," said his sister Diane Young. “He takes great delight in making other people happy, so he paints these rocks with acrylic paint and then covers them with shellac so it kind of preserves the colours."
Elliott places most of his creations on a retaining wall on Butterball Drive, Young added, as well as a log on the beach. Sometimes passersby will take one home, but most people leave the rocks for others to enjoy — and a few people have even joined in with rock art of their own.
The rocks can also vary based on the season, with Elliott painting Easter, Christmas and Halloween-themed designs. The retired entomologist also enjoys painting rocks with depictions of insects, Young added.
“He will paint different kinds of ladybugs and spiders and things like that on the rocks."
Young said her brother got started about two and a half years ago during the pandemic years.
"He just like doing nice things for other people and he just thought it would be nice to paint some rocks that had happy saying on them," she said. “Everybody went through so much with COVID. He thinks cheering people up is very important."
