I like walking. I also like to talk myself out of walking. I decided to commit to walking everyday during January and to look for a treasure on each walk. The treasure would become the day's art. Seems a simple enough idea, but questions arose very quickly.
- Do I have to be able to carry the treasure away?
- Can I buy the treasure, as in "walk to a cute shop and emerge with treasure?"
- If I find more than one treasure on a walk can I grab them both and save one for a "treasure-free" day?
- Can I sprinkle treasures on a common route then gasp with surprise as I find them another day?
- Do I need to put the treasures back where I found them, even if I really, really like them?
- Can the treasure be on private property?
Lots of questions. But, I DID find myself making time for a walk from 1-3 miles each day; sometimes early, sometimes in the dark, but did NOT miss a day.
I posted each painting as that day's "daily sketch", and revealed at the end that all the paintings were on one big sheet of Bristol. You know I love math, so I pre-measured; then decided quickly that uniform rectangles would be a snooze-fest; so included some variety.
Bottom line; I had a blast, and found fascinating things. Day 2 was tough, fresh, slushy snow, a 3+ mile walk and... nothing. I picked up the crushed McD's cup I found and decided that picking up litter certainly ranked as treasure.
Strangest find: It's a tie! One night, walking through the local downtown after dusk, I found an unopened jar of baby food sitting on a wall outside a closed gift shop. Turkey sticks. Yucky. Tied with the baby food were two small rusted crosses sitting on a wall by the local harbor. They had been there a while based on the rust. I painted them and put them back where I found them.
Check out the Key: You can see what each painting is and from whence it came.
The baseball: One of my favorite paintings. I found the baseball on the sidewalk one day while walking through the local downtown. I had already found my treasure for that day; so I left the baseball where I found it (okay, I moved it a little under a shrub) and looked for it on another day when I was treasureless.
The paper star: (Look below) Okay, this is the one treasure I did not find; but I asked for it (sort of). I judge the annual fashion show at the South Shore Charter Public School where students make fashion from unconventional objects. One student had folded these cool paper stars which adorned the bottom of her skirt. I told her how much I loved them and during the runway show she pulled on off and threw it to me. Score!!
Answers to the questions:
1. Yes, I had to be able to carry the treasure away. One exception: Mother Nature dropped two feet of snow on us so shoveling became my walking. On that one day I counted the bird tracks on our porch as treasure.
2. No buying treasure. No exceptions. Almost and exception, to read about in a future blog.
3. No grabbing two treasures on one walk and saving. No "treasure bank". See baseball story for how to handle two treasures in one walk.
4. Tempting, but no.
5. Hmmm. Not necessary to return treasures to their original spot; after all, none came from private property. I HAVE returned some... but not all.
6. No, the treasure can not be found on private property... isn't that stealing? I mean, I DID find something in a parking lot; but no pilfering cute winter windowboxes or hood ornaments. I DID collect things from two little free libraries.
Okay, more than enough. If you read to here, thanks so much. I loved the project; love the outcome and look forward to your thoughts. Please leave me a comment and follow my IG @jodypaints for more adventures.
