Free Art

On your way to work, you walk down a busy side street, littered with people with their heads down hurrying to whichever workplace is going to keep them occupied for the next 8 hours or so. You pass by the post box, noticing the glint of bright sunshine as it bounces off the immaculate red paint. You carry on placing one foot in front of the other, continuing along the same road you've hurried down a million times before. You pass the big house with the broken picket fence, wondering to yourself why they haven't bothered to fix that section yet and how they manage to ignore it when it so irritates you. You pass the garden that is full of old mattresses, sofa's and broken furniture. Noticing that someone has obviously been ransacking the pile as its now spread over into the street a little... and that coffee table has gone. Someone obviously wanted it after all. You listen carefully for the sounds of the bus, you don't want to miss it. It would be typical for it to pass as you approach the end of the road. As you turn the corner you look up to see the traffic lights changing and come to a standstill at the edge of the road to wait for the green man to return.

That's when you see it.

A small package tied with a red ribbon hanging from the tree on the opposite side of the road.

You see it has a piece of paper attached to it. Someone must have dropped it, you think to yourself. Yes, someone has dropped it and a kind stranger has hung it up to stop it getting trampled on and ruined. Hopefully the owner will come back the same way and find it! You hope it isn't important.

The traffic lights change again and so appears the little green man. You set off over the pedestrian crossing smiling as you catch the eye of the lady driving the car on your right. As you step onto the pavement you remember the package, and look up to see the words 'FREE ART' written carefully and in Italics across the side of the package. You hesitate for a brief moment, and then reach out to read the carefully written handwriting on the piece of paper clipped carefully to the ribbon with a silver paperclip.

"Hello and welcome to FREE ART - A Nottingham based project that aims to spread the joys of art and creativity to everyone. This gift is YOURS to keep, all you must do in return is make something yourself, a painting, a picture, a poem, a paper-mache dinasaur....(anything creative!) and leave it out for someone else to find. 

Leave a note like this one clearly visible to the finder to keep the project going.

Please take a photo of your work or what you have found and get involved on the 'Free Art' facebook page, or email themollyqueen@googlemail.com for more info.

Happy Free Art!"