I can look at a pile of rocks and instantly find that one heart rock. It’s a thing! I guess I am the heart rock whisperer! -Ellen Thayer
At the age of 12, Ellen Thayer climbed atop a rock in her backyard to marvel at the clouds. Little did she know that her professional life would both revolve around both weather and rocks. Ellen got her degree in meteorology from St. Louis University in Missouri and spent 23 years working as a meteorologist in Portland and Massachusetts, including at WCVB Channel 5 in Boston. Always an artist, her love of boating, sailing, and kayaking along the coast inspired her to create a wide range of artwork in a variety of media, including shells, driftwood, sea glass, oil paint, and beach stones. During her beachcombing, Ellen (with the help of her beloved West Highland Terrier) discovered that she had a knack for finding heart-shaped rocks, and began her ever-growing collection of more than 700 “love rocks,” ranging in size from a third of an inch to one foot. She also started documenting her heart-art on social media: hearts she found in snow, tree branches, hydrangeas, grapefruits — you name it. “Maybe it’s from the years of collecting heart rocks that my eye is trained to see that shape,” she says, “but I see hearts everywhere, and usually in the most unexpected places.” Drawn to the Maine Seacoast, she purchased a home near Casco Bay in South Portland and began commuting daily into Massachusetts to be on the air.
The commute began to drain her and she struggled with wanting to change her life’s direction, end the hours of commuting time, and fulfill her dream of being a full-time artist in Maine. She was unsure of how to make a living in this role but then she heard about New Ventures Maine (then known as Women, Work, and Community). In 2010, she began exploring the world of self-employment through NVME’s Basics of Starting a Business class. After successfully completing that class, she enrolled in NVME’s Venturing Forth entrepreneurship class. Venturing Forth supported her in diving deeper into the self-employment planning process. “Both of these classes paved the way to enlightenment on all facets of what I needed to become an entrepreneur,” she shared. Ellen’s participation in NVME’s classes sparked ideas that she could put into action and, after taking the classes, her confidence in her artistic and business skills grew. She decided to move forward with creating art using her collection of hundreds of heart-shaped rocks and coined her own distinctive artform in 2010. Ellen creates large flat-lay designs and photographs them from a ladder outdoors. Love Rocks Me® began as a tribute to the great state of Maine, when she created an outline of the state with love rocks and photographed it for print. The success of this heART work inspired more designs in the ever-expanding line of greeting cards & art prints. With nearly 250 designs in the series, her art is printed on note cards, candles, coasters, matted prints, trivets, notepads, magnets, stickers, and playing cards.
In 2012, Ellen attended the New England Made wholesale show. At the show, she offered her first 20 heart and rock card designs and prints and the products were a hit. Subsequently, Ellen won 1st and 2nd place Best Booth awards at the trade show, and her designs and product line grew. In 2016, she was the SBA’s award winner for Maine and New England’s Home Based Business of the Year. Today, Love Rocks Me® sells seven product lines, all Ellen’s creations, to more than 200 shops in 16 states. In 2016, she was awarded Maine & New England’s Home Based Business of the Year by the SBA.
In March 2019, Thayer teamed up with Sea Love Candles in Kennebunkport, ME, to create a line of hand-poured, soy-wax candles featuring her designs on the label. Though the candles are poured only a half hour from her home, this is actually farther away than most of her products are made: all of her matted prints and notecards are printed in Portland, as they have been since the start of her business, and Thayer’s proud of keeping it local. “It’s fun to think the entire product has evolved from the beach to the art prints within a distance of 5 miles,” she says.
Ellen finds limitless artistic inspiration and is particularly drawn to the mesmerizing colors of the sea, resulting from fluctuations in light, weather, and the environment. Along with creating oil paintings and driftwood sculptures, she uses other media such as shells, stones, and sea glass to create coastal inspired works of art which are sold through her website. Recognizing the significant role and character of Maine’s islands, Ellen donates ten percent of sales to two organizations where she has been a long-standing member: The Maine Island Trail Association and Island Institute. She welcomes custom work and is happy to create and photograph your special sentiment or add a custom caption to any of the current designs. Follow Ellen on Facebook or Instagram and be sure to check out her full line of work on her website,
https://www.loverocksme.com/. You can find an assortment of Ellen Thayer’s cards and magnets at the Blue Hill Co-op in the General Merchandise section.
Sources:
