Barrington resident, Ruth Hatfield says the idea for her whimsical take on aliens just sort of “came to her” last August as she was sitting on the porch of Crowell’s Midnight Store, a business she co-owns with three others.

She can’t say for sure if the month of unusual dreams she had 12 to 15 years ago has anything to do with her new passion.

“I had a dream about aliens landing in my back yard and taking me to their ship,” she said.

“I know I went aboard the ship in one dream. I don’t remember what happened on there. And then nothing for 15 years and then all of a sudden it just came right out of the blue, complete images of what to paint,” she laughed.

“I kept getting images after images and I thought, well, I’ll paint till they stop,
but they haven’t stopped yet.”

Her first rocks, now on loan to the Shag Harbour Incident Society museum, depict scenes of the aliens’ arrival and their explorations immediately after the crash.

There are scenes which show them changing a tire on their ‘Zipper’ vehicle at a local service station, and others which feature local landmarks like the Old Schoolhouse Restaurant,
Kiack brook, and Dan’s Ice Cream Shop.

She also has them going into the Shag Harbour post office mailing parcels and letters
(Q’s, A’s, R’s and others).

“Sometimes I sneak little things in there just to see if people are paying attention,” said Hatfield. 

Another rock features the Cape Island marathon with runners coming across the causeway. Letters on the vests of the participants, combined with a portion of the passing line on the road, spell out E=MC2.

The zipper enables the aliens to travel the world. In one scene an extraterrestial clings to a giraffe’s neck to pick coconuts. Another is bronco-riding a lobster. A wild night in Halifax, complete with mini-skirts, high-heeled boots and dancing in the street, brings a smile to viewers.

Although Hatfield has never thought of herself as an artist in the past - painting only the occasional flowerpot and fence - she says her father, the late Everett Smith, painted. Her brother John (Sign) Smith is a sign painter and also does scrimshaw.

Her choice of “canvas” was easy; she has a large collection in her yard.
“I’ve always liked rocks. I suppose if you come from Shelburne County
you kind of have to like rocks.”

Her logo is a Shag Harbour Gothic rock, the image a play on America Gothic, a painting by Grant Wood of a pitchfork-holding farmer and a younger woman.

“My market is going to be all the UFO enthusiasts on the globe hopefully,” she said. She signed her early rocks Ruth NS but has now adopted Ruth Rocks as her signature. She also occasionally adds words in different languages on back including Hebrew and Tibetan.

Each rock is unique, never to be repeated. “I don’t duplicate any of them,” she said.

Plans are underway for a website and she has hired a marketing manager.

Sales of rocks, in addition to prints and calendars of their designs, have been good. Some have gone to England, New York, British Columbia and Toronto.

Prices vary from $15 – 20 for smaller rocks, to $35 - $100 for the larger,
depending on how much artwork is on them.

Hatfield sells her rocks from Crowell’s Midnight Store in Barrington Passage
and can spin a pretty good tale for every inspired image.

Crowell's Midnight Store
P.O. Box 33
3203 Highway #3
Crowell, Shelburne Co., NS
B0W 1S0
(902) 637-3274

Source: Nova News Now

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