Wishing stones refer to naturally occurring stones that have a specific feature or characteristic believed to make wishes come true. They can take various forms and are found in different parts of the world and cultures.

The ones I refer to are the ones most of us can find on a shingle beach in Ireland: mostly greyish with a white line around. A fun fact: there are 153 'listed' shingle beaches in Ireland; look them up here.

Usually, the line on the stone forms when strong pressure breaks the rock, creating a crack. This crack gets filled with a different mineral due to water underground carrying silica or calcite. Pieces of stone often end up in the rivers and sea, where water and sand smooth them out over a few hundred years.

I painted my first wishing stones watercolour for my dear Polish friend’s 40th birthday (it's four of us - friends since we were single digits, now living in Poland, Norway and Ireland, and all turning 40).

I picked the four stones on Burrow beach in north Dublin and painted them inline. It's a celebration of our friendship and being four decades young. The message at the back of the painting reads:

“4 decades of our rocking woman, 4 rock-solid friends (perfectly imperfect but perfectly aligned), 4ever love x”.

Each of us will have a painting of the four stones and an actual stone as a reminder of our beautiful friendship for years to come.