Painted Rocks Borderline, Rock Star Treatment

The video is star-studded with previously encountered painted rocks. The rock star treatment includes starshape outlining of the 48 rocks and two limestone path enders.

My topic evolved from revisiting "Painted Rocks Borderline" (article | video), from 2018. At that time, I used Dreamweaver for web page, PaintShopPro for graphics, and MS Movie Maker for video. Since then, I've moved on to Bluefish for web page, GIMP for graphics, and OpenShot for video.

I concluded I no longer had the raw video input(s), so picked my finished 2018 video apart and used newer skills and different on it. I gave it star quality with wordplay and imagery renovations/innovations. The video's rocks piqued my wordplay about rocks.

Rock Theme Playlist for the Blog Topic

Rock and roll was a natural inspiration for my painted rocks topic. I've created a playlist with songs that include "rock". Eh, MOST of listed songs have "rock" in their titles. Exceptions are "No Man Is An Island" (opposite sentiment to "I Am a Rock"), "Rocket Man" ("rock" syllable), "Roxanne" (phonetically includes "rock").

"Life Is a Rock" by Reunion is my anthem choice. The first listed version in the playlist has no lyrics. The second one has lyrics; the chorus is Reunion's, but a DJ does the narration parts. BTW, I made it a point to gather YT vids that included lyrics. Enjoy the good rockin' music!

Mini-background on Painted Rocks Trend

About a decade ago, painted rocks were trendy, mostly individual ones left for others to find. In 2018, I published a blog article pertaining to a neighborhood painted-rocks path. I also uploaded a video featuring the path, 48 painted rocks, "bracketed" by a couple of larger limestone rocks. The blog article "Painted Rocks Borderline" ( includes sections titled "Rocks and Pebbles" (size differentiations) and "Painted Rocks Background" (kindness rocks).

Painted Rocks Borderline

While strolling one morning, I spotted a line of painted rocks along a homeowner's sidewalk. (Charming!) I decided to record them, starting from the left-side marker limestone boulder and ending with the right-side boulder. Being an amateur videographer, I wasn't very steady in moving sideways. It might have been cool to put the camera inside a toy train and pull the train with "record" on.

I also took pix for size and distance info, using my measuring stick (size refs) and extended tape measure. The border measured over 27 feet. (View pixstrip at top.)

My YouTube video includes individual images of the rocks—48 painted ones and the limestones, followed by a 4X speed clip of my original recording. Note that several of the painted rocks have circular designs with numerous dots (mandala).

Rocks and Pebbles

I initially thought about using "rock" in the blog title, but also considered"pebble". What's a pebble, and how does it differ from a rock? Some answers might surprise you.
From the Straight Dope forum with topic title " How small is a pebble? how big is a boulder? ":

The Wentworth scale seems about right to me - clearly in a casual context, it's all down to local definition - for me, it would be something like:

Pebble: something small enough to conceal in my closed hand, crucially, worn smooth and rounded, or it's not a pebble. …

Boulder: Something big enough that I would struggle to carry, or would find altogether impossible to lift. Compact shape (or else it's a slab or something else) …

A commenter provided a link to Wikipedia's "Grain size". A table lists sizes in increasing order. The columns titled "Aggregate name (Wentworth class" and "Other names" lists descriptive categories (picky, picky, picky).

Painted Rocks Background

"Here’s Why Painted Rocks Are the Next Big Thing", published in May 2017, describes the recent origin of painted rocks, suggestions on how-to's, and distribution. "The idea is simple—paint something inspiring or cheerful on a rock, and leave it for someone else to find."

"The Kindness Rocks Project" is the heart of the origin, mostly emphasizing the founder's inspirations and messages. As you might infer, the painted rocks in my article and video have deviated far from messages and visual display. The homeowner had apparently painted and placed the rocks as decoration, aligning them to the sidewalk rather than leaving individual rocks for others to discover.

"The Kindness Rocks Project", uploaded August 22, 2016, includes scenes from a community group session of rock painters. The accompanying music is "Fire and the Flood" by Vance Joy.

Some Beginner-level DIY Painted Rocks Videos

• "DIY painted rocks / Hidden Rock Game", uploaded Mar 31, 2017
• "DIY ROCK PAINTING for the First Time | Ideas and Tips, What I Learned", uploaded Sep 16, 2016
• "How to paint rock mandalas" uploaded July 10, 2016
• "DIY crafts: MANDALA STONE - Innova Crafts", uploaded June 28, 2016

Newer Painted Rocks Look (March 2026)

"Painted Rocks Borderline, Rock Star Treatment", (article | video)
"Painted Rocks ..." YouTube playlist (27 songs)