At a time when division and conflict dominate global headlines, Paige Hurley has started collecting good news. For the past four weeks, the Burlington artist has been illustrating everyday acts of kindness around the Queen City. The color sketches only take her a few minutes but are a good way to keep her artistic skills sharp and remind people that compassion still abounds, she said.
“It’s nice to hear something good once a week,” Hurley said. “There is so much darkness out there.”
Hurley said she was inspired by her friend and fellow Burlington artist Kristin McCole, who runs a small business called Compliment Coins. McCole sells handmade wooden coins that feature painted animal illustrations and kind phrases.
Hurley doesn’t sell her finished sketches, which resemble a newspaper’s front page. Instead, she puts them on a bulletin board at Speeder & Earl’s Coffee on Pine Street every Thursday.
Sometimes, the illustrations are whimsical. In her most recent edition, Hurley drew two Canada geese flying through a rainbow and wrote about a chance discovery between two random roommates. The roommates’ grandmothers were best friends in Québec 60 years ago, Hurley wrote.
“I’ve been doing it for four weeks, and I was going to just do it as an eight-week project, but I have so many stories now that I’ll keep going ’til I run out,” Hurley said.
After the work is displayed for a week at Speeder & Earl’s, Hurley delivers it to those who either did the act of kindness or were involved. She’s still seeking a home for some sketches.
It’s been especially challenging, Hurley said, to find the subject of her first sketch: a stranger riding a scooter and handing out chocolates on Charlotte Street in Burlington’s South End.
Know who it was? Reach Hurley @paigehurley__arts_ on Instagram.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Good Views of News”
This article appears in August 5 • 2026.
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