Longmont's 'Rock Fairy' brings a touch of magic to trails, park benches and fence posts
Apr. 14—Tiffany Merlo's art rocks. Just ask anyone who's stumbled upon one of her creations.
The Longmont woman has made hundreds of rocks, adorned with designs, pictures and positive messages. Merlo has scattered her creations around and near Longmont, mainly while walking at Pella Crossing. Lately, the artist has been getting feedback that the rocks have resonated with those who've found them. In places where she's hidden her art, several thank-you notes have appeared.
"I've always been someone who likes to do little sneaky positive things, like for years I would write little notes on sticky notes and leave them in public places," Merlo said. "I want to be the person that puts a smile on someone else's face or makes them feel like they're loved — a sign from nowhere, like I got this rock just when I needed some positive reinforcement."
While Merlo says she has no artistic background, save for one college art class, she's been honing her craft for rock art since about 2017. At the time, Merlo said she was recovering from a 2016 case of viral encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain that is caused by a virus. The medical condition led Merlo to experience seizures and put her in a coma for about a month.
Merlo said that while she was healing, she needed something to do to pass the time.
"I just started writing messages on rocks," she said. "Pretty soon, I had 50 rocks (lying) around the house and I didn't know what to do with them. I would just start hiding them wherever I would go."
Merlo, a mother of two, said some of the first rocks she created were for her mom and her sons, now ages 14 and 18.
As her passion for the craft progressed, Merlo didn't like the idea of potentially taking rocks away from anyone's landscaping, so she purchased a concrete mold that allowed her to create her miniature canvases. Sitting at a paint speckled kitchen counter with some music on in the background and a snack nearby, Merlo sets to work to craft her next rock. She paints about 10 to 12 rocks a day.
"I like color. I like sparkles, patterns, mandalas," she said.
The rocks feature a multitude of detailed creations from Godzilla to tiny gnomes with bushy beards, striped socks and pointed shoes to flowers, feathers, a rock lobster, Freddie Mercury singing and striking a pose, and a nurse in superhero cape, a syringe gripped in one hand.
With the rocks painted, Merlo goes for a walk. Along the way she will tuck a rock into the crook of a tree, perch one on fence post or rest one on a park bench. Usually, Merlo has a rock to leave behind wherever she goes.
While getting her second coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, she slipped a rock on a desk for the nurse who gave her the immunization. When she ran into a worker cleaning the bathrooms at Pella Crossing, she dropped a rock in his work bag as a thank you.
Merlo said she's never seen anyone find the rocks, but while checking her path later to see if anyone has picked them up, she has discovered thank you notes in their place. On a walk one day a couple months ago, she found a bag nestled into a tree with a note. The letter referenced her as a "Rock Fairy" and the writer said that she and her two daughters searched for the rocks as a treasure hunt every day and thanked her for creating them.
"It warmed my heart and made me feel so good," Merlo said. "Of course, because they wrote me that note, it made me want to make them rocks."
In response to the note, Merlo crafted rocks bearing the girl's names and paintings of an angel, and then hid them.
"They don't know who I am and I don't know who they are. ... I hope they saw that and the girls just loved it," she said.
With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to take its toll, Merlo said she believes people may be craving a sign of hope and that perhaps her rock art has offered them some comfort.
Bruce Gunther started finding Merlo's rock art about a year ago. The Longmont man likes to walk every day, and Pella Crossing is a place he frequents.
"I saw the rocks and they were cheerful and they were mystical," Gunther said. "They were clearly there because someone was trying to brighten peoples' lives. I think that's who Tiffany is."
Gunther has taken many of the rocks he's discovered home.
While walking at Pella Crossing a few months ago, Gunther ran into Merlo. He noticed that she was stamping shapes into leaves — another artistic project, and the two struck up a conversation. When Gunther told her he wanted to meet the person creating the rock art, Merlo revealed that she was the one making them.
"An awful lot of people love Tiffany's rocks," Gunther said. "I have a friend from a different area who found one and treasures (it)."
Merlo later created a rock with a portrait of Gunther's face on it and gave it to him.
"I have kind of an afro, and when I'm on the trail I wear sunglasses, so I have a rock that's me with my afro and sunglasses," Gunther said.
Although she has tried to keep her identity secret, others have found out Merlo is behind the rock creations. After making the connection, one woman told Merlo that she has 42 of her rocks. Another time, a person created a thank you note on a piece of pottery and left it for Merlo to find.
Gunther said he believes Merlo's effort should serve as a source of inspiration to others.
"I think the world needs love," Gunther said. "I think in general ... we aren't good to each other. This is a good act. The reward is smiles. We need more people like that."
