Chalk-Your-Walk
My daughter (5) and I went around our community lake and participated in a chalk-your-walk challenge. I wrote messages of hope, encouragement, and love while she drew pictures of flowers, hearts, and cat/unicorn-cat heads. We chalked up random spots around the lake path, which is a .8-mile loop. We worked all day with our art and was pleasantly surprised when we got back to the first picture set at how well the messages had held up. People were taking care to walk around the artwork, very few treaded over the work and most of those were oblivious to it being there. At one point we sat down in the shade under a group of trees and watched the people who were out walking, biking, or jogging. Many turned their heads as they walked by, glancing at the message. A few stopped to look at, read, and comment on/talk about what was written. The best reactions we got were from the ones that stopped to take pictures of the art and messages. One lady approached us and was gushing about how happy it made her feel to see the words of kindness and hope written out on the sidewalk. She told us that she was going to post her favorite message on her Instagram and share it with her followers. We talked with her but never told her it was us that drew them. The best moments were watching how happy people were just reading the messages and watching the art spark conversations with smiles. I also loved the care that people took to protect the art by running, walking, and biking around each one to help them last. At one site, someone had moved a rock to either side of the work to alert others. I loved sharing this moment with my daughter and seeing how happy she would get when someone commented on her cats.