This Brother-Sister Duo Is Travelling The World Through Chalk Drawings

Macaire Everett and her brother are setting wanderlust goals from their home with realistic chalk drawings of popular places from around the world.

By: Priyanka Chakrabarti Published: Aug 03, 2020 07:00 AM IST

This Brother-Sister Duo Is Travelling The World Through Chalk Drawings — Courtesy: Shutterstock

Nine-year-old Camden Everett has been travelling the world leaving us all green with envy. From running through London traffic to scaling Mount Everest, the youngster has been embarking on whirlwind trips these past few weeks with chalk drawings. Wondering how? Well, all credit goes to his elder sister, Macaire Everett, who has been using their driveway as her canvas and has been recreating popular tourist destinations with just a bunch of coloured chalks! We speak to this talented teenager on how she turned her lockdown days into a world tour. By Amitha Ameen and Pallavi Phukan

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A post shared by Macaire’s Muse (@macairesmuse) on Jun 28, 2020 at 7:19pm PDT

Can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

I’m Macaire and I am 14 years old. I am excited to start high school in a few weeks. In addition to drawing, I also play soccer, golf and cello. Camden, my brother, is nine and he likes playing tennis and golf.

How did you and Camden react when you learnt about the lockdown?

We were very sad because we couldn’t go to school and missed our friends. We were also sad because our family couldn’t travel during our spring break. It’s our family tradition to visit Amelia Island, Florida every March. We soon got bored at home.

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A post shared by Macaire’s Muse (@macairesmuse) on May 16, 2020 at 5:01pm PDT

How did you come up with the idea of drawing chalk murals on the driveway? How easy or difficult was it to convince Camden to play muse?

We had some chalk in our garage but hadn’t used it in a while. One day Camden was outside, riding his bike, and I started drawing balloons on our driveway. I asked him to lay down on the driveway to hold the balloons. He was excited to do this but he first ran inside to get his stuffed bunny, Hopper, to be in the picture too. Camden asked me to draw him playing golf the next day since he couldn’t take his golf lessons anymore. This quickly became something fun for us to do together. After doing this for 10 days in a row, I set a goal to chalk for 100 days in a row.

How did your parents react when you revealed your first mural to them?

When our parents saw our first chalk drawing and the picture of Camden in it, they were excited for us that we found a fun activity to do together.

Is drawing your hobby? Does Camden enjoy drawing too?

I have always liked to draw and doodle, but didn’t draw that much. When I chalk, Camden often keeps me company, but he doesn’t do the drawing. He sometimes helps me pick chalk colours and asks for certain colours when I draw vehicles.

What do you plan to do with this project once school reopens?

I will continue chalking since we are very happy that our initiative is spreading joy. Once school reopens I may be just chalking on the weekends. Right now I chalk every other day.

How did this project help you bond better with your brother?

My brother and I have always been close, but chalking for 100 days in a row gave us something exciting to talk about and plan together. Camden comes up with a lot of fun ideas and requests based on places we’d like to go someday.

What was the last trip you took with your brother?

My parents, brother and I went to Maine last August and actually stayed in a town called Camden. In addition to spending time in Camden, we went hiking in Acadia National Park and whale watching in Bar Harbor.

Where would you like to travel once the pandemic is over?

We have a family friend who lives in Dublin, Ireland (we call her Aunt Eileen) — we want to go see her and her family and explore Ireland.

Schools are still closed in India. Any advice to the students here who are getting bored at home?

Our schools are still closed too and when the school session starts again, we will still be learning from home. My best advice would be — pick a hobby or activity that sounds interesting and try it. If you look back at my first chalk drawings, you will see they were so simple. I never imagined how much I would learn and how much fun we would have.