![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/picMarkAlston-FollansbeeArtCarWaltham180528_1014w.jpg\")
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If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t have a car for years,\u201d Alston-Follansbee goes on. \u201cAbout 10 years ago, I stopped drinking and drugging, so I thought I could have some further expression with my car because I didn\u2019t have to worry about being pulled over now. The funny thing is people say, \u2018Do you get pulled over because you have this weird-looking car?\u2019 But I\u2019ve never gotten pulled over.\u201d<\/p>\n That first car was also a Camry. \u201cIt was a 1993, I think. I loved that car. It got to be 276,000 miles and the air conditioning went out, and when I took it to my guy who\u2019d kept it running for years he said all the hoses had disintegrated because of old age.\u201d<\/p>\n So Alston-Follansbee passed that car on to a friend and about four years ago got a 2002 Camry with 176,000 miles on it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always loved street art, and I always thought cars were stupid and people had too much identity with their cars,\u201d Alston-Follansbee says. \u201cSo I\u2019m sort of like fuck you, let\u2019s have some fun instead of being serious.\u201d<\/p>\n He usually has friends help him repaint the car once a year. When I arrive, the Camry is surrounded by a plastic drop cloth, brushes, and cans of Rust-Oleum paint in shades of red, black, blue, white, and yellow. \u201cI have some colors I want, but no real theme,\u201d he explains. He repaints the face on the red hood. I paint a bee and flowers over last year\u2019s shooting stars and an eyeball on the driver\u2019s side. He says, \u201cI like eyeballs. See the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Alston-Follansbee says, \u201cI\u2019m retiring June 30. I\u2019ve been working with homeless people for 30 years. I\u2019m 71. I need less stress in my life. More fun, less stress.\u201d<\/p>\n The Tibetan letter A was painted repeatedly on the passenger side in last year\u2019s rendition. \u201cIt\u2019s the first letter in the Tibetan alphabet and it\u2019s sort of the primordial sound. I usually have something from the Buddha on the back.\u201d Currently the rear bumper reads: \u201cLife is a big dream.\u201d<\/p>\n The quotes from the Buddha serve as \u201ca little inspiration. And a lot of times some people don\u2019t like it or they don\u2019t get it. The one before this was \u2018Nothing is real,\u2019\u201d Alston-Follansbee says. \u201cThis one is going to be, I don\u2019t remember the exact words, \u2018Peace comes from within.\u2019 It\u2019s my attempt to find peace and harmony in myself. Still struggling to find it. And wishing it in our world. Because God knows there\u2019s not enough of it.\u201d<\/p>\n This article originally appeared in Dig Boston<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n On a cool, overcast Memorial Day Monday, I join Mark Alston-Follansbee as he\u2019s repainting the exterior of his Toyota Camry in the driveway of his Waltham home. Over the years, his cars have been painted with suns and eyeballs, flames and waves, flowers and peace signs, hot-air balloons, a winking sun, a giant orange octopus. 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