Creators have to create. Somehow, someway, what is inside has to come out. It doesn’t matter if it comes out in a whistle, banging on the steering wheel as you drive, or doodling away during a meeting. It turns out this is especially true for painters, painters have to paint. During 5a recent trip to Florence, Italy, I stumbled upon a couple of sidewalk artists. If you’re a follower of this blog you will remember two previous posts where I showed off some chalk art in Palo Alto, California and at Trafalgar Square in London, England. I didn’t realize that this form of temporary art was so popular. But now that I have seen it around the world, I feel confident in observing that it must be part of the human condition.

These couple of photos come from a side street in Florence. I think we were just wandering, purposefully off the main pathway trying to experience part of the old city. I suppose the whole Renaissance section of Florence is fair game for anything and everything touristy (is that a word?) so I wasn’t really looking for “real modern day” Florence. The four of us were just meandering through the side streets, trying to take it all in-looking for the experience beyond the post cards photos when we stumbled into these three artists.

Each one had a page from a book with the art they wanted to duplicate, their organized toolbox of crayons and just enough space to complete their work.  As I watched them outline, color, brush or rub, and layer additional colors I briefly wondered how common art talent must be that these artists did it for free. They did have out a donation bucket…of course I threw in some cash!