Creativity is a coping mechanism
By Ashley Shah
Scripps Ranch resident Amy Salomon’s hobby has caught the attention of the community.
Salomon is painting on rocks and leaving them around her neighborhood.
“It’s such a pleasure to see her painted rocks when you go out. It makes you feel connected and like someone is thinking about you. Seeing her work has inspired my kids to do this and it’s great because it’s an accessible craft,” said neighbor Laura Stephens.
Such artistic efforts serve as a coping mechanism throughout these challenging times.
“Doing these projects calms my mind and it’s meditative. I feel like working with the natural elements such as rocks, glass, tiles and more helps ground me and it keeps stability,” Salomon said. “When I am focused on my craft – whether it’s painting or gluing – it takes my mind off of whatever I am stressing about and makes me focus on something fun and creative. Creativity is a joyful thing that makes you feel good about yourself and using bright colors can create a positive aura.”
Salomon has always been invested in crafty projects.
“Ever since I was little, I loved beads. I grew up in New Jersey and I would always go to Greenwich Village in New York and I would visit the shops and buy these large, fun beaded earrings and I just loved it,” Salomon said.
She even began making her own earrings later.
“I used to sell some earrings at small boutiques, but mostly made them as a way to design and create or as gifts,” Salomon said.
While Salomon was a speech therapist for about 40 years, spending the last 20 years in the San Diego County Office of Education working with infants and small children with developmental disabilities, she has always done the arts as a hobby on the side.
“There’s always been this part of me that liked designs and the natural elements. I just enjoyed working with my hands and I’ve always liked that,” Salomon said.
Since her children were young, Salomon engaged in the creative projects they were doing.
“One time my kids had a project that dealt with stepping stones and I remember they just went to town with painting and designing. I found the project to be really fun and I wanted to continue working on stepping stones and painting,” Salomon said.
Before she moved to Scripps Ranch in 2016, Salomon resided in Encinitas.
“I remember we were redoing the tiles in my house in Encinitas and we had extra tiles, and while we were moving them, they fell. When I picked up the broken tile, they were sort of these asymmetrical pieces and I started to glue beads on them and I just kept going with it,” she said.
Salomon works on these projects when she feels inspired.
“There are weeks I’ll go without touching any rocks or doing any projects. I just do this when I feel inspired. I’ll see an interesting rock outside and just work on it. I just keep going on and create until I’m happy,” she said.
Salomon promotes using this time as a way to relieve stress.
“I never went to art school or took formal classes, but if you have a feeling for the natural elements, you should just feel for it and create. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living or what you have going on, creating can be a way to escape,” she said. “This is not a structured business or anything, it’s just a hobby that provides me with tremendous pleasure and keeps me connected to the earth.”