Though I’ve been drawing and painting on paper since I was a small child, for some years I’ve been making chalk art in the driveways and sidewalks in front of my homes. The pictures can provide a little visual enjoyment for neighbors and passersby, and perhaps instill in them some appreciation for band logos, famous record and magazine covers, and classic paintings. Chalk drawing on public or semi-public pavement has a long tradition as folk culture, or even as a form of busking – George Orwell described his encounters with impoverished “screevers” in his 1933 account Down and Out in Paris and London – and in my case it’s a medium that enriches the short seasons when Canadians are not hibernating under snowdrifts. And like corn mazes, ice sculptures, and sandcastles, the impermanence of the finished works adds to their appeal. Chalk it up to experience.