There’s no doubt that 2020 was a difficult year for most people around the world and some people have chosen to take up creative hobbies to spread some hope and positivity to others. Casey Drake, a Florida-based self-taught artist, is one of those said people and she’s making the streets in her neighborhood more colorful and cheerful with her sidewalk art creations.
Drake, a stay-at-home mom, who was a high school biology teacher, has no formal background in art, but she’s always loved painting and she started creating sidewalk chalk art in April to make social distancing for her kids better. While her work is quarantine-themed, pop-culture icons, Pixar characters, and Disney princesses appear in the drawings.
The artist told Bored Panda that to come up with the art, Drake starts by thinking of what’s relevant and funny in her life and then she matches the characters to fit these scenarios. Sometimes, the art doesn’t come together until after she’s drawing.
The chalk art drawings have helped her relieve stress during pandemic, “[Quarantine] changed my life in similar ways to everyone else,” the artist told us. “I was lying awake at night worrying until I started doing these drawings as a stress relief. Now I lie awake at night figuring out my next drawing. These are certainly stressful times and anything we can do to lift ourselves and others up is valuable.”
Drake hopes to spread the message to “stay safe, stay healthy, [and] stay home!”, which is great advice that we should all follow.
