Despite living across the country, Mark Hendron is ready to welcome his first grandchild with open arms and artistic flair.
In early preparation for the baby’s January 2025 arrival, Hendron flew from Delaware to his daughter’s home in California to paint a dreamy mural on the baby-to-be’s nursery wall. His pregnant daughter, Makenzie Walters, filmed her dad as he painted away and compiled the clips into a TikTok post with more than 2.6 million likes and 14.3 million views on the app.
“Tell me you have the best dad without telling me you have the best dad,” Walters, 28, captioned her now-viral video, which sees Hendron sketching then painting a tree-lined, grassy landscape backdropped by mountains. He added a few hot air balloons floating through the cloud-filled sky, but even after 90 hours of work, Walters tells PEOPLE Hendron isn’t quite finished yet.
“My dad will be finishing up the foreground of the painting when he returns in October,” says the mom-to-be. “He will be adding some tall grass, a field of daisies, a few more trees to create a forest on the left-hand side of the mural and finish shading the river running through the painting as well.”
Considering Hendron’s masterful approach to the project, it’s no surprise to learn that he recently retired after a 20-year career as an art teacher. Walters says he continues to express his creativity through a number of mediums. “He’s currently writing and illustrating a children’s book he is hoping to publish soon,” Walters adds of her dad.
And he’s no stranger to murals either, both in the home and elsewhere. Hendron has been commissioned to paint them professionally, and he painted his kids’ rooms when they were younger, when the idea of having grandchildren was still a long way off.
Makenzie Walters
“I always knew that I wanted him to paint a mural for my baby whenever the time came,” says Walters. “He was more than happy to do this when I asked him.”
Hendron worked with his daughter and her husband, Tyler, 28, to dream up the perfect floor-to-ceiling painting for the little one on the way. Walters says the masterpiece is inspired by her love story with Tyler, which began when they met at Firefly Music Festival in Delaware.
“Firefly took place in what they called the ‘Woodlands,’ ” Walters explains to PEOPLE. “We wanted to have a woodlands-themed nursery, but more of a whimsical vibe than festival vibe!”
She says that “a hot air balloon flew high in the sky” during the festival, so the couple wanted the symbol to be present in the wooded scene. Beyond that, they let Hendron take total control of the nursery wall.
Andrew Graham Todes Photography, LLC
“We gave him full creative freedom because we knew he would create something breathtaking, and we were right,” Walters adds.
The proud daughter is already certain that the mural is only the first of Hendron’s many heartfelt gestures in his new role as a grandfather. She expects there will be “countless adventures, trips to amusement parks and hours spent playing games,” just like Walters experienced with him when she was a little girl.
“There will not be a single day that goes by that our baby girl doesn’t know how much her grandfather loves her,” says the TikTok creator. “My dad would do anything for me, my mom and my siblings, and I know he will be the same way for his granddaughter.”
