BREMERTON — When visiting parks throughout Kitsap County, it might be a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for some hidden surprises. These days, you might just spot brightly painted rocks hidden throughout the community.

In May, Cathy Tomko and Leticia Fontaine had an idea to do art project with homeschooled students they could spread around the community.

When Connie Quatermass joined the project, it became bigger than that.

“My friend Connie, she actually knew of Port Angeles Rocks, and said we should do this,” Tomko said. “We wanted to do Kitsap Rocks instead of … Bremerton Rocks because Kitsap is so unique.”

From left, Connie Quatermass, Cathy Tomko, Katey Rudisill, Stephanie Brinkman and Leticia Fontaine are Kitsap Rocks members who paint and hide rocks throughout the county. Photo by Michelle Beahm

When the group created a Facebook page and shared it to a few local pages, the idea really took off. Now, Quartermass estimated the group to have well over 650 members, combining a total number of painted rocks at too high to count.

“It’s like a potato chip,” said group member Katey Rudisill. “Nobody can paint just one.”

“We just wanted to spread positive messages, art, creativity,” Tomko said. “It happened at the right time, ecause summer kicks in and all these kids need something to do.

“So you hide (the rocks). You can tell people where you hide them, you can give clues, you can go and find them and then, you can either keep them or rehide them.”

Many of the rocks have messages like “Love,” “Dream,” “Relax” and more painted on them, according to Rudisill.

Some of the rocks have positive messages painted on them. Photo by Michelle Beahm

“Some of the ones I put are, ‘You’re worth it,” or ‘Keep sparkling,’ stuff like that,” Rudisill said. “I had one out here that said, ‘Take the first step, the rest is easy.’ Who knows who’s going to find that, and it’s going to be like, that’s my sign. It’s time.”

Tomko has a similar story. One day, she painted a rock with the phrase “Let go” (not “Let it Go,” to avoid the reference). She wasn’t sure it worked, and even her husband said it “seems weird,” Tomko recalled. But she hid the rock anyway, on her way to Seattle one day.

“That night, that lady (who found it), she didn’t even know anything about it, and she’s like, ‘I totally needed that message, let go.’” Tomko said. “That’s what I love about it. It either makes you smile, it makes you happy or it confirms something.”

Participating is as easy as finding a rock, painting it and planting it somewhere for someone else to find. Some painters have used nail polish, but Tomko recommends acrylic paint, as it seems to work best. Just remember to seal the paint to the rock — there are sealing sprays available at craft stores — to keep the paint from bleeding from the rock into the environment. National and state parks are off limits for hiding the rocks, but the group hid dozens at the Evergreen Park in downtown Bremerton July 9.

Tomko said she’s even started hiding the rocks in local businesses, with permission.

“I go into businesses and I hide it there, and then they get like a plug,” Tomko said, “because you get to say, I found this rock at (the business).”

Tomko said they encourage participants to have painting parties, to bring people together, but this is something really anybody can do at any time.

“I quilt, I crochet, I do that kind of stuff,” Rudisill said. “I’m artistic that way. I am not a drawer, a painter, anything. I started painting on the rocks … I did a starry night one with the Space Needle. I was like, ‘Oh, I can do this!’ That was the really cool thing about it.”

The backs of the rocks usually display a message to keep or rehide the rocks, and find the group on Facebook. Photo by Michelle Beahm

Quatermass said, “There’s something about painting on rocks that is so much easier than painting on a canvas.”

They try to include “#Kitsap Rocks Keep or Re-Hide” with the Facebook logo on the backside of the rocks to spread the message of the group, but it’s not necessary.

“Facebook can be just kind of one bummer after another,” Quatermass said, “and then all of a sudden: a rock page. Yay!”

Tomko said people have told her the Kitsap Rocks Facebook page is “the most positive Facebook page.”

“Especially right now, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from,” Rudisill said, “those kinds of things, it’s like finding a treasure.

“And if you find something positive … it just gives you something more than the junk that’s floating around right now.”

To learn more or find suggested supplies, visit the Kitsap Rocks Facebook page, www.facebook.com/groups/kitsaprocks.