“Pebble power” artist paints healing stones with therapeutic properties that can be found everywhere from memorial gardens to celebrity homes

An artist whose healing pebbles can be found everywhere from memorial gardens to celebrity homes has praised the therapeutic properties of her decorated stones.

Inspired to create a range of designs after painting a kingfisher on a stone in honour of her dad, Ian McDonald, a keen birdwatcher, Sarah McDonald, 41, then started selling pebbles to fund a £7,000 Himalayan trek with her mum, Nicky, 64, in aid of hospice care.

Now Sarah, who has two sons – TJ, 16, from a past relationship and Robin, four, with her husband Blair, 41, an IT analyst – sells her special stones through online shop Etsy and had one, decorated with an explicit message alongside the hashtag ‘boundaries,’ commissioned by a friend of Fearne Cotton’s for the TV star.

Based in Exeter, Devon, and painting under the name Sarah McFloof, she said: “My stones started after my dad died of bowel cancer in 2017, just after Robin, was born.

“Dad, a retired housing officer for the civil service, had always been a keen birdwatcher, so on the first Father’s Day after his death, I painted a kingfisher on a pebble and left it at the crematorium.

“I’ve always loved art and studied it at college. I got my artistic streak from my dad, Ian, who loved to paint and did watercolours.”

Painting pebbles to help raise money to fund a Himalayan trek, which has been postponed because of Covid, her stones – often emblazoned with witty and even rude, or “sweary” messages – have struck a chord with the public.

She said: “We hit our fundraising target to go on the trek, but it was postponed because of the pandemic.

“We’re still hoping to go, because my dad also loved walking and we would walk together as a family when I was growing up,”

Now painting and selling around 100 pebbles a month – charging £4 for the smaller 3cm pebbles (or £2 each if you buy 20 or more in bulk) and £20.50 for a larger 10cm pebble – she says she could easily double that figure.

Her more memorable commissions have included one to commemorate the incredible fundraiser, Captain Sir Tom Moore, as part of a fairy garden in his memory, which she decorated with his inspirational catchphrase ‘Tomorrow will be a good day’.

Sarah said: “The rainbows and sweary pebbles are really popular.

“Fearne Cotton’s friend told me she had put a picture of herself with hers on her public Instagram page.”

As someone who suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic period in her life, which she prefers not to discuss, Sarah is a great champion of the role of art as a force for helping with mental health problems.

She said: “I was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), depression and anxiety at the end of 2017.

“People understand PTSD when, say, it happens to a veteran who has experienced something awful over a short period of time.

“But complex PTSD results from stress and trauma that goes on for years, which is what I experienced.”

Suffering with flashbacks and nightmares about the events that caused her difficulties, she also had eye movement desensitisation reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, which is used to help people recover from stress and other traumatising events.

But she says painting, too, played a valuable role in her recovery.

She said: “I’d been through some very dark times and had stopped painting altogether.

“When I started again, I would paint on canvas using acrylic paints. I would paint self-portraits and portraits of TJ when he was younger.

“Somehow, I sort of found myself again thanks to art.”

At first painting on polished pebbles she ordered in bulk from garden suppliers, she now makes her own plaster pebbles and hopes to branch out into new art projects in 2022.

“I couldn’t get hold of any pebbles during the first lockdown, so my husband suggested I made my own and, actually, I prefer them,” she said.

“They are smooth and white in colour, so the bright colours of the paint can really pop and when you hold them, they don’t feel cold like a real pebble does.”

Now showcasing her healing pebbles on Instagram, business is booming.

She said: “I wasn’t very confident when I started this, because I wasn’t sure people would even like the pebbles.

Sarah’s healing pebbles can be found everywhere from memorial gardens to celebrity homes (Collect/PA Real Life).“But I paint my thoughts and the fact I talk openly about how this helped me during dark times I think makes my work relatable.”

Happy to provide bespoke designs, using words to suit her customer, Sarah says popular affirmations that always sell well include, ‘one day at a time,’ ‘keep going’ and, ‘after every storm comes a rainbow.’

Selling almost 3,000 pebbles since she started producing them 18 months ago, they have been shipped around the world and she even received one order for 400 ‘rainbow of hope’ stones, which went to a charity that supports people with prosthetic limbs.

“I love to think of my positivity spreading globally,” she said. “It’s pretty amazing and something I would never have dreamed of when I first started out.

“This really is a case of pebble power!”

To follow Sarah on Instagram or Etsy go to: https://www.instagram.com/sarahmcfloof/ or https://www.etsy.com/uk/people/sarahbobis