My friend Vivienne has an uncanny ability to find hearts and messages of love around our neighbourhood of Commercial Drive, and she often shares these on Instagram. It got me thinking about leaving more hearts for her to find, which in turn led to an idea for a collaboration we could do together.

I created a couple of heart stencils, three by hand and one using the digital cutter, and bought two cans of spray paint. I was curious to see how well my elaborate heart paper cut work would translate when painted on the sidewalk. We wanted to do this in time for Valentine’s Day, and bring a little more love into the world.

Vivienne and I went out twice last week and added hearts to parts of Strathcona and The Drive. Some of these have already washed away in the rain, because that’s how it goes with street art. It’s not meant to be permanent and the work is at the mercy of the elements. I think a few of the hearts will stick around for awhile, and at some point I hope we’ll go out again and add more.

We decided to title the project #HeartingTheNeighbourhood. If you come across our hearts around town please share them on Instagram and use the tag so we can see.

I hope you had a happy heart day.