蜜芽传媒 Scotland - 蜜芽传媒 Scotland - The small wonders spreading smiles during lockdown

The small wonders spreading smiles during lockdown

One woman's painted stones have encouraged strangers to create their own art.

Mischa was one of the thousands who found themselves out of work when lockdown began. As a scenic artist and prop maker, when the theatres closed her work immediately dried up.

But talented Mischa continued to create, channelling her energies into little works of art. And, as she reveals on Loop, these small wonders ended up brightening the lockdown lives of complete strangers.

Mischa began collecting and decorating rocks, which she then placed outside in her home town of Dunbar, East Lothian.

“I put them on the wall just over the way from the house… [hoping] that it brings somebody a smile,” she explains.

It didn't take long before the stones did just that.

“People started to stop. I could hear them and they were like, “Oh, look at that!'.

"They were smiling and talking and [there was] just such a lightness to complete strangers just from these rocks and, in a way, from my art. So I kept doing it.”

Mischa has painted patterns, palm trees, love hearts and aliens, but her favourite designs are smiles.

“At a time when a lot of people are struggling, just seeing a smile could make such a difference,” she says.

These tiny works of art have not only given Mischa something to focus on during difficult days, but they have inspired the local community to join in, too. There are now nearly 1000 stones painted by Mischa and her fellow Dunbar residents on the wall.

“I just couldn’t believe that people would join in in the way that they did,” she smiles as she reflects on the impact her work has had.

“I believe in the power of art.”