I read this article about the new mural painted on Beyer Boulevard in San Ysidro, so I had to go see it.
The multi-wall mural was created by artist Mr. B Baby, whose real name is Michelle Guerrero. It’s her second collaboration with the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), which operates the San Diego Trolley. (The first mural painted late last year is also on the trolley’s Blue Line in South Bay–but just north of E Street in Chula Vista.)
This latest addition to the “MTS Color the Corridor” project contains colorful doll-like imagery you might recognize from other Mr. B Baby murals.
As motorists proceed under the trolley’s steel bridge, their attention is drawn to the two walls on either side, which represent the two sides of the San Diego/Tijuana border. The characters’ love for each other transcends the border.
Some online sites claim the mural is at the Beyer Boulevard trolley station, but that’s not true. It’s actually located here.
Unfortunately, relatively few people enjoy this amazing public art. Beyer Boulevard at this spot has very little traffic. Commuters on the trolley can’t really see the mural. Perhaps a rider could glimpse a small part of it while sitting at a right side window seat looking down. I’m not sure.
This very beautiful Día de los Muertos mural was painted in San Ysidro in 2024. I saw it for the first time last weekend during a long walk.
The mural is filled with traditional Día de los Muertos imagery. It was painted by artists Berenice Badillo (@bbadillos) and Shirish Villaseñor (@shirishtheartist) on the long wooden fence at the north end of San Ysidro’s Cultural Corridor.
Curious? The art-filled Cultural Corridor stretches for a quarter mile along Cypress Drive, from San Ysidro Boulevard to the trolley tracks near the Beyer Avenue station.
Community organization Casa Familiar has been working to make the corridor more than a mere alley. It is a vibrant place that provides residents with physical and spiritual connection.
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The San Diego Bonsai Club hosted their fall show this weekend in Balboa Park. Amazing works of living, growing art filled long tables in Casa del Prado’s Room 101.
Members of the club presented their bonsai for public viewing, and everyone was invited to learn about the unique art form from experts and make purchases of plants.
When I visit these shows, the beauty and wisdom makes an enduring impression.
What did I learn? Working with bonsai takes patience. Make a mistake–clip where you shouldn’t have–and your error isn’t fatal. Simply put your bonsai aside for a time and let it grow.
Then revisit it. You’ll find a newly grown living thing, ready again to be sculpted into a wild-seeming, aesthetically pleasing object of beauty.
That would seem to be good advice for other types of artistic creation.
Seriously frustrated with a painting or written manuscript? Put it aside, let it live for a time in your subconscious.
New perspectives and ideas will grow in your mind. Then train and prune your creation again.
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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.
An organization is turning an inspired idea into reality in Chula Vista. Why can’t vacant storefront windows become art galleries?
“Art Through the Glass” is an initiative of the San Diego Art Society. See their webpage concerning this project, and an example of a storefront gallery at the Chula Vista Mall, by clicking here.
Turning vacant storefront windows into galleries can benefit so many people: local artists who receive valuable public exposure, and the greater community, which receives enjoyment and a surprising cultural experience!
Look at those smiling people in my first photo! They’re the force behind this very cool initiative! I met them yesterday at the Chula Vista ArtFest.
I was told efforts are being concentrated on storefront windows in Chula Vista along Broadway. Seems to me this great idea could be applied everywhere! Why not?
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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.
I can’t believe how many great artists came out this afternoon to the 2025 Chula Vista ArtFest! The annual event, which celebrates local artists from South Bay, was held in the outdoor courtyard of Chula Vista City Hall.
A big crowd gathered to meet artists and view some live painting. Most of the creators I saw had a table overflowing with completed works for sale.
The festival also featured representatives from the City of Chula Vista, community organizations, art-related vendors, live music on a stage and plenty of food.
I met many of the artists, and was wowed by their amazing creativity. As you’ll see, one of the artists was winner of a super prestigious Eisner Award!
Consider supporting these artists by clicking links to their websites or social media.
First, let’s meet some smiling people working for the City of Chula Vista. They were providing information that helps residents care for the environment.
On Saturday, October 18, you can join others in your community to Beautify Chula Vista!
Learn more about this great volunteer activity by clicking here.
Now a few fun photos before we meet some artists…
First artist is Tanisha McCullough, aka Nini, a super talented youth who loves to create portraits in oil paint!
The next creator, Tony Washington, won a 2024 Eisner Award at Comic-Con! He’s also a New York Times best selling artist!
His professional accomplishments, which include work in comic books, animated movies and video games, will blow your mind. See them here!
Next artist I met was Ed Roeder. Check out some of his awesome pop culture stuff!
He and his wife, both artists, operate the website Castle by Design.
Next is cool self-taught artist T. Jay Santa Ana. He’s fascinated by Time, Space, and Line… an expressionist and a surrealist experimenting in a framework of abstractions.
@GRASSHOPPERCV.OFFICIAL was airbrushing shirts and stuff at Chula Vista ArtFest.
Last, but certainly not least, is Chicana artist Isabel Garcia (@artbyisbl) from Southeast San Diego. She was just as nice as the first time I met her, years ago! Still going strong!
San Diego Theatres and ArtReach are partnering to create a new community-driven mural in Civic Center Plaza. And they want to hear from you!
Do you have any ideas?
I noticed the above sign in a window of San Diego’s City Administration Building.
The mural will be on three Concourse exit doors facing Civic Center Plaza. The plaza’s overall architecture is mid-century modern. (I once blogged about how sculptor and architectural designer Malcolm Leland created modernist elements of the plaza and nearby parking garage. See that here.)
If you’d like to provide your own input on the future Civic Center Plaza mural, here’s the form where you can make suggestions. The link also leads to more information about this project.
Once the design is finalized, members of the community will help paint the mural!
UPDATE!
The following day, during a San Diego Civic Theatre open house event, I met Isabel Halpern, ArtReach’s Mural Program Manager. She had a display concerning the Civic Center murals.
Included was a graphic showing early mural design concepts. The leading artists are Regan Russell and Donald Gould.
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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.
There’s a tiny parking nook on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights where new murals often appear. The nook lies between Adams Avenue Tattoo and Bosforo, a Turkish restaurant. (Bosforo’s building used to be home of El Zarape Mexican Cantina).
Over many years I’ve photographed these ever-changing murals. Most or all of the art has been painted, I believe, by graffiti artists Hasler (@hasler_88) and Sharky (@bigchill8825).
Last weekend, as I enjoyed the Adams Avenue Street Fair, I noticed two new murals in this nook. It had been about a year since I last peered into it.
I’m fairly sure the same artists created both of these. Check it out!
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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.
San Diego artist James Watts (@jewattso), whose fantastic studio is located downtown, is a creative dynamo. Even as he continues to work on his 100 Paintings project, he has begun to produce 100 Scrolls!
His scrolls are painted on fabric and utilize wood sticks he’s found, cut to size and sanded smooth. Unroll the scrolls and you’ll likely find something mysterious, symbolic, humorous or wise. (Possibly all four!) The art of James Watts often concerns aspects of mythology, religion or literature.
The scroll in my first photograph refers to two other works he has created, the Portal to Heaven and the Gates of Hell. Apple and cloud are accompanied by the words: It was not always like this. Seems everything changed with one bite of the forbidden fruit.
The next scroll in unrolled:
If only they knew.
The next scroll, filled with writing, was used by the artist for practice:
…we laughed and cried Oh what a night Who is to know the reason, the whys, the whats, the meaning of it all. To Love is to Love well…
As you can see, some images are created using sumi-e, which is Japanese ink painting.
We are all Broken. We must mend Ourselves.
What is understood Does not need to Be Explained.
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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.
An amazing free event that attracted creative talent from around our region was held in Chula Vista today. FilAm CreatorCon 2025 brought together lots of Filipino-American artists and their fans!
I was surprised by the huge popularity of this annual convention. It was my first time.
The interior of the Chula Vista Library was filled with artist tables overflowing with fantastic artwork: posters, prints, comic books, graphic novels, stickers, jewelry–you name it!
Several community rooms hosted panels or screenings; a fundraising art auction was open to all; and outside, on the library patio, there was plenty of food and even musical entertainment. Neighborhood families came out to the fun event, kids were active and exploring, and smiling artists were busy showcasing and selling their artwork.
What a great experience!
I loved the positive creative energy! I even recognized some of the artists or their great work!
I started out on the patio…
I saw the following information poster.
Bridge the Gap is a nonprofit organization based in San Diego dedicated to celebrating and preserving Filipino-American representation and heritage.
In the spring they have a Creative Summit which supports the next generation of Filipino creatives.
Now I’m inside the main Chula Vista Library.
Look! It’s super nice artist Mary Jhun!
You’ve seen many examples of her distinctive art on Cool San Diego Sights. Click here and here and here and here.
Some of her work:
Here’s another cool artist and illustrator: Robert Rodriguez (@robz_drawings).
Some of his great stuff…
Watch out! Godzilla is energizing his dorsal spines!
This is Raina Ramos (@thrillustrated). She likes to create dog portraits and other cool stuff, like Star Wars art!
Ron Rubio (@rubiobroscartoonstudio), Director, Animator, and producer of smiles!
He has worked on King of the Hill and The Cleveland Show! His brother who has worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender, and for Pixar and others was present, too.
Little Yellow Jeepney author Jocelyn Francisco, Ph.D. was at the con, too! Literacy is more important than ever.
The FilAm CreatorCon panel From Roots to Resonance: Crafting Filipino Stories with Universal Appeal was fully attended.
Look at all the people at FilAm CreatorCon in Chula Vista!
Big respect!
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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.
People heading down National Avenue in Barrio Logan might be stunned to see this amazing work of art in the parking lot of Barrett Engineered Pumps. It’s an old tree stump carved into the likeness of mythical Quetzalcoatl!
The sculpted wooden Quetzalcoatl (an important deity in Aztec culture whose name translates to Feathered Serpent) was created by Cesar Castañeda. You can watch a YouTube video that follows the artist’s five month project back in 2012. The documentary is titled The Rise of Quetzalcoatl. Find it by clicking here!
Quetzalcoatl was carved by hand from an enormous stump that was salvaged from a fallen tree. The tree had fallen in Balboa Park beside State Route 163.
(I once observed a tall eucalyptus tumbling onto the 163 during a violent wind storm years ago. It seemed to descend in slow motion, narrowly missing an oncoming car. I wonder if this was the same tree?)
I learned from a friendly worker at Barrett Engineered Pumps, where Quetzalcoatl now resides on a trailer, that this very cool sculpture is for sale! I didn’t ask the price, but if you’re interested you should probably swing by and check it out!
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 