Graffiti?

On the easier than it looks Troll poll, one of the questions was, have you ever written graffiti?

My answer is yes and no. You see I love sidewalk chalk! It's just so Mary Poppins you know?
Remember when Mary and Burt the chimney sweep "pop" through a chalk drawing and the movie combines animation with real actors? That was the first time I can remember seeing that mix and I was young enough to have been enthralled.

Later in life, when in Europe, I walked through an arty district where artists were recreating classics from Botticelli, Raphael, Michaelangelo and even a few dark and broody Caravaggios with sidewalk chalk in the square. The art was stunning. Obviously they were dependent on donations from the tourists for their days work. Imagine having 'Graffiti Artist' as you regular job? I certainly made a donation but I thought at the time if I had artistic talent enough to recreate a Botticelli in sidewalk chalk .... why not a more permanent and mobile medium? I think money is the answer, lots of tourists were as impressed as I. Once the chalk image stopped being a crowd pleaser, an artist would just dip her bucket in the fountain and those incredible images vanished! Soon as that patch of sidewalk dried a new "graffiti" was begun. I might also add the speed of acomplishing a recognizable image was quite impressive. I could have happily gone there every day and never have gotten bored. A part of me even yearned for that er, vocation.

We all know there have been many "graffiti" themed art shows and sales which gets me to this curious point. Is it actually graffiti if it is mobile or you can wash it away with the hose?

Certainly when Mermaid was still at the Pond we often indulged ouselves by using our tennis court as the location of choice for some very large scale sidewalk chalk art. I always wanted us to do a huge scaley dragon that spanned end to end of the court but we never got to it. This was a pretty daunting ambition because you have to do it in one shot because chalk is temporary. Even a good morning dew can erase your art. And a tennis court is a HUGE canvas for just two people to cover. We once spoke of having a dragon party that never came to be. I just had marvelous visions of giggleing little girls all working on various dragon parts and then a great photograph at the end of all the girls with their dragon....followed by the girls playing in the sprinkler in bathing suits to "clean" the tennis court. Sigh.

I do get my sidewalk chalks out often and to tell the truth I often give them to children as gifts. They are such a great incentive for nurturing the child within us at all ages. I sometimes chalk a fishy in front of our mailbox or up at the back drive because our place can be hard to find. I'd rather do a chalk drawing than put a stick in the ground with balloons attached. ( Although I have done that too in the years Mermaid pleaded for me to be like the other Moms) And also because you cannot see chalk drawings after dark.

So now I am wondering. Is sidewak chalk drawings or commentary "graffiti" ?
And my other curiosity is this,
What would you graffiti?

when you answer this please remember this is a family rated pond!