Tag: art

Lemon Grove Art and Photo Contest!

Do you live in Lemon Grove? Do you love to create original art or take photographs? The Lemon Grove Art & Photo Contest is now accepting entries at the Lemon Grove Library!

I learned today that the free contest has just opened. So you’re hearing about it early. The public is invited to submit entries to the library by mid-August. The theme of the contest is What does Lemon Grove mean to you?

Entered works of art and photographs will be displayed inside San Diego County’s Lemon Grove Branch Library through August 31, 2024, and winners will receive a valuable gift card! I was told there will likely be multiple winners!

Whether you’re young or old, why not go for it? You can learn more and get your entry forms at the library’s front desk, where friendly staff members will be glad to help you. Do you know families that lives in Lemon Grove? Pass the word!

(By the way, the beautiful graphic on the above flyer is from a mural that was painted recently by the library’s entrance. I’ll be posting photos of this colorful new mural next!)

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Three more fun murals in Encinitas!

Enjoy photographs of three fun murals I discovered last weekend while walking in Encinitas. I was winding my way from Coast Highway 101 to the parking lot above Moonlight Beach and back.

Yes, our Southern California surf culture is alive and well in coastal Encinitas!

I hadn’t seen this street art during previous walks, so my camera got busy!

Surfer on side of building at 2nd Street and C Street in Encinitas.

Surfing Madonna and dolphins appear outside Moonlight Beach Apartments.

A fun mural on the side of Raul’s Shack in Encinitas.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Win a historic, handmade quilt this Fourth of July!

You can win a valuable and historic handmade quilt in Old Town San Diego this coming Fourth of July!

The beautiful quilt has an antique Churn Dash top that was probably made in the 1890s or early 20th century. It was purchased in 2015 and finished by volunteers at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, while sitting on the front porch of the Threads of the Past building. Perhaps you saw these ladies dressed in old fashioned garb during a visit. While talking to passersby and explaining their stitching, they carefully applied cotton batting and a reproduction blue cotton backing.

The quilt’s mostly red, white and blue pattern has other fun names: Monkey Wrench, Hole in the Barn Door, and Hens and Chickens! The quilt can presently be seen inside the State Park’s Robinson-Rose House Visitor Center. That’s where you can purchase your opportunity drawing tickets, too!

One dollar purchases one ticket for the Fourth of July quilt raffle; five dollars will get you six tickets. The big jar containing tickets wasn’t terribly full when I saw it today, so your chances might be fairly good at winning!

The proceeds from the raffle will help fund Living History programs at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. You need not be present to win!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Fantasy world inside Doug Snider’s studio!

Those who enjoy a visit to Balboa Park in San Diego really should wander over to Spanish Village Art Center. Every artist studio is filled with magic. It’s hard to choose, but perhaps my personal favorite studio is number 15, the home of Doug Snider.

Doug Snider is an accomplished ceramics artist whose public art can be seen around the world and could be enjoyed in your own home. His colorful creations are utterly fantastic–there are weird amphibious and reptilian creatures, and exotic masks and eyeballs and tentacles and beaks that fill the walls and shelves of his studio in every direction. A sunny outdoor working area in the rear of the studio is home to even more creativity, including a big, happy, chameleon-like bench that would be perfect in your backyard!

Have you’ve seen his public art benches in Coronado’s Tidelands Park and National City’s Pepper Park? If not, you can view photographs of those four wacky, fun benches here and here!

When I visited Studio 15 the other day, another studio artist was hard at work. I asked if I could take photos. She said yes!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Public art inside the Del Mar Plaza.

Great works of art greet shoppers and diners inside Del Mar Plaza. Wander about and you’re bound to stumble upon surprising artwork, in the form of a sculpture, mosaic or mural!

These pieces are part of the Public Art Collection at Del Mar Plaza. I discovered them in no particular order…

I found this mural in a quiet hidden area. I saw no information concerning it.

Level Head by artist Tony Cragg, 2006, Bronze. Tony Cragg is a British sculptor. His works are held in many leading museums.

A beautiful swirling mosaic extends on the ground from Level Head through a nearby passageway.

Beautiful mosaic looks like water.

LEVER II by artist Anthony Gormley, 2012, Cast Iron. Anthony Gormley is a British sculptor. This is an example of his “digital-cubism” where the human form is rendered in many different postures.

It does appear like a lever!

OPUS #1 by artist Maidy Morhous, 2019, Bronze. I’ve photographed other pieces by local artist Maidy Morhous around Del Mar.

OPUS #1 from a different angle.

A beautiful tree mural grows in Del Mar Plaza. By artist Kelsey Montague.

Jackass and Elephant by artist Barry Flanagan, 1995, Bronze. The renowned Welsh sculpture enjoyed creating humorous, anthropomorphic figures.

Jackass rides an elephant through Del Mar Plaza!

In every direction, Del Mar Plaza is full of fun, unexpected artwork!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Gaslamp mural remains from 2019 Comic-Con!

Did you know a cool mural painted five years ago in downtown San Diego for Comic-Con can still be viewed today? Yes!

Back in 2019, I took these photographs of celebrated comic artist Rob Prior painting the above mural halfway up the grand staircase at the Theatre Box movie theater. Today the building at 717 Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter is home to Mr. Tempo Sports Bar.

Because of several popular movies, the characters depicted in this pop culture mural were in the limelight five years ago. Climb the stairs today and you can still find Darth Vader and a stormtrooper from Star Wars, Thanos, Black Panther and Deadpool from Marvel Comics, and Wonder Woman from DC Comics.

Comic-Con 2024 will be here before we know it! As I walk around and discover related developments, Cool San Diego Sights will gradually be entering Comic-Con mode! I haven’t seen any Comic-Con trolleys yet, but they should be appearing soon!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Denise Cerro’s art: My Colors of Home.

I met a super cool artist today in Balboa Park!

Denise Cerro was working on a mixed media piece in Gallery 21, at the Spanish Village Art Center. With a great big smile she was greeting visitors to her solo exhibition My Colors of Home.

I looked at her artwork and immediately loved it. Denise tends to use the same color palette in her works–earthy colors that appeared to me like water, leafy green and the soil beneath our feet. She embraces the same palette in her house, dress and life. They are her colors of home.

To create art she utilizes all sorts of materials–from bits of wallpaper to newspaper and magazine clippings to other interesting found objects. She can find all sorts of odd little treasures at estate sales. The junkiest stuff is often best!

Denise loves to create art filled with flowers. She confided to me that after she produces an abstract piece, she feels compelled to return to flowers.

I learned Denise has her studio at Liberty Station in one of the old barracks. If you like what you see in my blog, you might want to pay a visit. Her website is here.

The exhibition My Colors of Home in Gallery 21 is about to conclude–it runs through tomorrow, June 3. I caught it just in time!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

More art on South Cedros in Solana Beach!

South Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach is a place where creativity thrives. Walk down the sidewalk through the Cedros Avenue Design District and your eyes will discover surprising art wherever they turn.

I walked this way three years ago and found a bunch of cool stuff. See it here. I also stepped into the fun Art Alley on Cedros. See that here.

Yesterday I took a similar walk and found new sights that I hadn’t previously seen! In addition to a very colorful tile mosaic bench south of the Belly Up Tavern, I photographed the following…

The planet I live on is the planet you live on.

You turn graves into gardens – You turn bones into armies – You turn seas into highways – You’re the only one who can

Out of the Blue

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Mosaic bench near the Belly Up Tavern.

This bench decorated with tile mosaics adds beauty to the edge of a parking lot south of the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

I saw the artwork yesterday during a leisurely walk down South Cedros Avenue. It was one of many new discoveries that I made in the very colorful Cedros Avenue Design District!

I believe I see a starfish, garibaldi, seahorse and crab. The curving bench appears to show an underwater ocean scene. What do you see?

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Cool photo memories from June 2019.

Do you have a curious mind? Five years ago, during the month of June, Cool San Diego Sights featured a whole universe of photographs. Perhaps you might enjoy viewing colorful moments from the past!

From Escondido to La Jolla, from North Park to City Heights, from Barrio Logan to National City to Chula Vista, my camera recorded many places and events. I took so many photos, in fact, that I’ve had a hard time choosing which posts to share!

The upcoming links will take you back to June 2019. It was a fine time to take a walk. Summer events were underway. San Diego Comic-Con was on the way. Human creativity, activity and possibilities could be discovered everywhere!

To see many photographs, click the following links!

Neighbors gather to beautify a city park!

Exhibit shows Kumeyaay history in the South Bay.

Art and history around the Chula Vista Library.

Art by Canyon Crest Academy seniors in Balboa Park!

More cool art seen during a National City walk!

Lots of street art on Logan east of Chicano Park!

Here come the 2019 Comic-Con trolleys!

Dance, food and fun at the Greek Festival!

Cool new bird mural at Red Crow tattoo studio!

Wearable art at San Diego Pin and Patch Con!

Learning to dance on a ferry.

Good times at City Heights’ colorful Fair @ 44.

Walking up the Snake Path at UCSD.

Beautiful complexity at La Jolla’s Athenaeum.

Amazing walk at Scripps Institution of Oceanography!

The gigantic bronze leaves of Kit Carson Park.

Photos of Queen Califia’s Magical Circle!

Naoko creates a flower.

Creativity at a museum helps to mend lives.

A summer whale watching trip in San Diego!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.