2021-08-25

Hidden paintings on local trails spreading joy

by CHRISTINA BAILEY

  • <p>SUBMITTED PHOTO</p><p>An assortment of Lane McLelan&#8217;s paintings that she hides on various trails throughout Lunenburg. She protects them in a plastic bag and asks anyone who finds one to send a picture to the cell phone number, email address, or Facebook page that she writes on a note within the bag.</p>
  • <p>SUBMITTED PHOTO</p><p>An assortment of Lane McLelan&#8217;s paintings that she hides on various trails throughout Lunenburg. She protects them in a plastic bag and asks anyone who finds one to send a picture to the cell phone number, email address, or Facebook page that she writes on a note within the bag.</p>

Special to Advocate Media

A local artist has been hiding acrylic paintings on various trails in Lunenburg County.

Lane McLelan, who has lived in Martins River for the past 15 years and been painting since she was a teenager, was inspired to start hiding paintings when she came across a painted rock on a trail during the COVID-19 lockdown.

"I'm a widow, and I have no family here except for my mother who is in a nursing home with dementia," said McLelan. "So, part of my coping skills was to get out and walk. During the COVID shutdown, because I wasn't in anyone's bubble, it was pretty hard."

"One day I was out walking, and I was feeling really down, and I came across this rock that said, 'you're not alone.' And it inspired me, and I thought, 'I wonder what I could do.' I had a bunch of these little canvasses that I wasn't using. So I thought, 'Well I'm just going to paint pictures and maybe it will help someone.'"

She hides one or two paintings a week, and so far has hidden 50 to 60 paintings since she started in May.

She trail walks daily with her dog, Skipper, leaving the paintings on various trails anywhere from New Germany to East River.

The paintings are of various, mostly nautical scenes.

"It could be starfish, it could be a sailboat, it could be buoys, it's just whatever I feel like painting at that time," said McLelan.

She protects the paintings by placing them in plastic bags, along with a note where she writes her cell phone number, email address, and Facebook page, and asks the person to send her a picture.

Of the paintings she has hidden so far, she has received about 20 messages from people that have found one, sometimes telling stories about the impact it had on them.

"There was one that really resonated with me. A lady who didn't really tell me her circumstance, but she just said that she found one of them and she was having a really, really hard time. She didn't know where she was going in her life, and it just kind of gave her that feeling that somebody cares," said McLelan.

"The reason I'm doing it is because I'm hoping it will help somebody along the way, the way that rock helped me. It's a form of expression to let people know that they're not alone."

Helping others also helps her, said McLelan. "It's very therapeutic for me."

Thank you for printing this article from lighthousenow.ca. Subscribe today for access to all articles, including our archives!