Painted rocks ideas aesthetic

On a recent residency with Q Bank Gallery in Queenstown, Tasmania I began a project of transforming collected rocks into painted eyes and returning them to the landscape to be found or lost forever. Queenstown has an extensive mining history and there was many unusual rocks everywhere. So I began a collection and what started as something for myself grew into a treasure hunt/community art project.

These fun crafts—hand painted by you—are also international symbols of good luck. The blue eye design, popular in Greece, Turkey, and all over the Middle East, is meant to repel bad vibes and secure good luck. Once they’re done, they can be used as paperweights, to hold down picnic blankets, or as fun favors or lucky charms. (To give someone the gift of luck, wrap them with a horseshoe, four-leaf-clover or other fortunate symbol and write To and From, or a sweet message and the date, on the…