“A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty.”
~Rudyard Kipling

We mention this Kipling quote in this description of Street Artist Faring Purth because

a.) she often seems like she’s plucked out of a traveling adventure from a Kipling tale,
b.) her instincts for creating new pieces are frequently on-point and a bit happenstance and magic, and
c.) we know enough men who are resolutely, absolutely certain of their opinion who are also wrong on a semi-regular basis. Like Uncle Marty, for example, and that guy Hakeem at the bagel store on Bedford Avenue who is always pontificating about the METS or the right way to barbecue a steak…but let’s not get into that.

Faring Purth. Grace. Forest Park, Chicago. March 2017. (photo © Faring Purth)

So here Faring Purth is in Chicago just for the weekend and she decides to paint one of her ladies. It was just a quick trip with a friend from St. Louis to visit with a friend for a couple of days; “mostly just to explore and touch surfaces,” she says.

“I wandered on foot from where I was staying, bundled up, head phones echoing, and came across signs that read, ‘I (heart) FP’,” she says, still not really knowing what the abbreviation stood for. In fact, as we have learned, she felt “like Alice down the rabbit hole – no idea of exactly where I was.”

So how did this painting happen? Oh, you know, people you meet in your travels…

Faring Purth. Grace. Forest Park, Chicago. March 2017. (photo © Faring Purth)

“I then met some community members in a local coffee shop,” who happened to like her artwork and asked her if she’d like to paint a mural. Or as she says,” I was introduced to Forest Park via a small spontaneous mural on the corner of Madison and Circle Avenue.”

The name of the new piece in Forest Park? “Grace.”

“The embrace of this small Chicago community was truly heart warming. Excited to wander back in the near future. Perhaps after Uruguay in May.”

Faring Purth. Grace. Forest Park, Chicago. March 2017. (photo © Faring Purth)

Faring Purth. Grace. Forest Park, Chicago. March 2017. (photo © Faring Purth)

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