CIBOLO, Texas — For 17 year-old Mackenzie Wood painting is a release.
"I try to paint every night to get away from schoolwork," founder of Cibolo Rocks, Mackenzie Wood said.
Her art helping is her to escape the reality of the pandemic.
"It kind of takes my mind off of all the bad things, prom getting canceled and all the gloomy things that have been happening," Wood said.
Her canvas is a rock.
"At the beginning of the quarantine I was pretty bored and I was sitting on my butt a lot, and I thought a lot of people are probably in the same situation," Wood said. "So I thought why not create something to encourage people to go outside, have fun and be a little creative."
Her artwork has evolved the more she has painted.
"I started off with like 30 I think they were just little characters, little pigs, and then I moved to bigger ones that had quotes on them just inspirational quotes on them," Wood said.
Along with the rocks she built a fan page, starting out with 20 followers.
"Then I started to drive around and put them in other neighborhoods and then it started to catch on," Wood said.
The movement growing with close to 600 rocks painted by Wood and just about the same number of followers sharing in her positivity.
"It feels really good to know that people can still find joy during this time when it can be a little down and stressful since we all are just locked up," Wood said. "But it feels really good I go out on walks a couple times a day and I see little kids running around and they get so excited when they see the rocks."
Many fans are also creating their own rock art.
"I think it's a lot of fun to see the really good adult artists get in on it as well," Wood said. "I think it's cool people post pictures of their kids painting rocks at the kitchen table and I think just everybody can get in on it."
An entire community is now spreading joy and positivity thanks to the creative mind of one teen who just wanted to bring a smile to her neighbors.
"I just hope all the positivity just keeps up, and thank you to everyone on those front lines who keeps fighting this, and lets stay positive and let's keep up this movement," Wood said.