Chalk the Walk

One of our family's favorite things to do together when the weather is nice is to sit outside with a bucket of chalk and cover the front walk with drawings. On Saturday, the weather was decidedly not nice, with temperatures well above 100 degrees. But we filled up our water bottles and slathered ourselves with sunscreen to brave the heat so that we could visit Chalk the Walk at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. It might sound excessive, but like I said: We are fans of the sidewalk chalk.

The boardwalk between 15th and 18th streets had been sectioned off into plots, each filled with a pop-art inspired drawing to go along with this year's theme, Walking with Warhol, meant to coincide with the opening of the Andy Warhol portrait exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Both professional and amateur artists were invited to claim a plot and contribute a drawing. So many of their offerings took my breath away! We definitely have a long way to go before our family chalking skills reach this level.

The heat eventually became A Problem, and we had to cut the afternoon short before spending as much time as we would have liked admiring these masterpieces. But we did stop by the section cordoned off for kids and let Baby Anne make her own mark before we left. 

I'm pretty sure the drawings were gone by the next morning, thanks to a passing thunderstorm that evening. I suppose that's the bad thing about chalk art. Or else the cool thing about it: to put so much effort into something that can't possibly stick around for long. I can't decide. I know it definitely does hurt to think about some of those amazingly meticulous drawings being washed away! But I am glad we had the chance to see them -- even if the experience melted our brains a little.