Poppy painting party produces a plethora of painted poppies

LEAMINGTON — For the past few weeks, about 15 friends, all tenants of Seacliff Heights II in Leamington, have been painting Remembrance Rocks in the common room there.

Tracy Sharron and Karen Demarell spearheaded the idea after Karen saw some painted rocks on a Facebook page.

So, the two organized a regular PPP (poppy painting party) in the common room, being careful to adhere to social distancing and room capacity guidelines.

“We had 10 at a time come in shifts,” said Tracy. “This way, we could include everyone who wanted to paint.”

Some of the poppy stones painted by the tenants of Seacliff Heights II in Leamington.

Sun photo

The group created about 57 painted stones, rocks and pieces of shale of all shapes and sizes. Each one was adorned with a poppy or other patriotic symbol, and some of them were even done in honour of veterans from their families.

Demarell, who has experience dealing with crafts and tole painting, was able to produce some patterns and give some guidance and reference to the painters.

The result was four colourful baskets full of nicely painted rocks — all commemorating Remembrance Day in some way.

They contacted area Legions and donated most of the pieces of art to each of them, while keeping a few to lay on the steps at the cenotaph in Leamington. “We want to go there and put them on the steps,” said Sharron.

Tracy Sharron, left and her friend Karen Demarell, display some of the rocks painted during their poppy painting parties.

Sun photo