One day in early November, I happened to see a new mural was being painted on the back of a 7-Eleven in the Morena neighborhood, at the intersection of Linda Vista Road and Napa Street. I took evening photographs of the “FIERCE” tigers mural, which you can see here!
About a week ago I noticed a second mural has been painted directly next to it!
This beautiful new mural is by Coco Morton of @LadiesWhoPaint.
I admired the artwork a few days ago and took these photos!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
I enjoyed another walk through National City today. I wanted to photograph a mural that was unveiled earlier this month outside the National City Chamber of Commerce.
You might recall I posted a blog about its “upcoming debut” when I glimpsed a small corner of the brand new artwork beneath a protective tarp.
As I wrote then, the mural memorializes “the life of Manuel “Memo” Cavada, a longtime community photographer who passed away in 2020 after having captured 50 years of local history.” It was painted by artists Guillermo Aranda, Sal Barajas and David Avalos… Here’s a link to a great article concerning it.
Well, the mural is now in full view, and it is glorious.
Check it out!
I’ve collected loads more photographs from several recent walks, so I might be posting more actively than I anticipated a few days ago. Stay tuned!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Have you seen the amazing 300-foot mosaic wall along A Avenue at National City’s Kimball Park? If you haven’t, you really need to!
This extraordinary public art was created in 2015 by local students, community volunteers and the nationally recognized local organization A Reason To Survive (also known as ARTS). It is part of ARTS’ Creating Vibrant Neighborhoods Initiative. Numerous public art projects have beautified National City and uplifted young lives.
The long A Avenue mosaic wall depicts water flowing through National City’s watershed to the ocean. Tiles, clay shapes and small objects represent blue water, fishes, birds, animals and meaningful bits of life from the community. The wall stretches along a row of parking spaces just east of City Hall.
A Reason To Survive has been working for years to beautify our small corner of the world, and perhaps more importantly, to provide hope and inspiration to at-risk South Bay youth. Their innovative art programs have transformed literally thousands of young lives. The ARTS Center is located on 12th Street a short distance east of this wall.
I believe another mosaic wall that I blogged about this year was also a Creating Vibrant Neighborhoods Initiative project. That wall is near the National City’s War Memorial and Veteran’s Wall of Honor, also located at Kimball Park. You can see those photographs here.
I’ve taken additional photos of other nearby ARTS mosaics, which I’ll be blogging about shortly!
(One more thing. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but A Reason To Survive also helped to create the Manzanita Gathering Place in City Heights. See those photos here.)
Okay! Now enjoy a look at this truly amazing A Avenue wall…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Travel down Palm Avenue in Imperial Beach with perceptive eyes and you might discover My Wish For You. The long mural on an alley wall is located just west of Florida Street. It was created by Imperial Beach artist Michelle Lubin and installed in 2018.
According to a sign at the mural, My Wish For You was inspired by the love of the artist’s daughter for all things, including butterflies, ladybugs, dandelions, flowers, sticks, leaves and rocks. Do you see and love these things, too?
These simple things, so easily taken for granted, are among the infinite wonders all around us.
The beautiful mural is a project of the Imperial Beach Arts Bureau.
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Over the past decade, different Murals of La Jolla have appeared, then been replaced.
On Sunday I saw this particular mural, titled Gamboa Seasons in La Jolla, for the first time. It was created by Beatriz Milhazes in 2020.
It’s one of my favorites so far!
The four complex images, from left to right, represent the four seasons. Every season is uniquely beautiful.
Learn more about the artist and this dazzling, super colorful mural here.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Many pieces of amazing glass art can be enjoyed this weekend in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center. The public is invited to view the Art Glass Association of Southern California’s 40th Annual Members’ Exhibition in Gallery 21. Unfortunately it ends much too soon on Monday.
I’ve always had a love for lustrous, luminous glass art. Pieces often appear like liquified light, caught for an instant in time. Like carefully hand-crafted jewels, their appearance changes depending on one’s angle of view. One extraordinary piece, as you’ll see, cleverly uses prism refraction to produce many different bright colors.
I noticed that most of the exhibited pieces are for sale. If I had a million dollars, I’d grab them all.
To me every one is magic.
Sunburst, Diana Griffin.Abundance, Kathleen Mitchell.Bellora, Michelle Bohannan Sherer.Gen Z Redhead, Marti Blair.Drop Vessel, Krista Heron.Baby Blue Monk, Tom Marosz.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
During my walk through Chula Vista last weekend I noticed a bunch of colorful murals at the MAAC Community Charter School. The school was closed, so I walked through the parking lot around the perimeter of the building to check out the artwork.
I recognized the piñata character Chucho, found in the spray paint art of Michelle Ruby (aka MrBBaby), which you can see in my first two photographs. The other murals I know nothing about. They are obviously designed to inspire students and celebrate heritage. As always, please leave a comment if you have more information!
According to the MAAC Community Charter School website: As an MCCS graduate I will maximize my P.O.W.E.R.: Potential, Ownership, Wisdom, Expectations and Respect.
From one mural it also appears that leadership is an important value.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
During my long walk through San Diego’s South Bay last weekend, I spotted street art in National City that I hadn’t previously photographed.
Three colorful faces on electrical boxes!
The first happy face, in the above photograph, was discovered near the corner of 8th Street and National City Boulevard. That box used to feature some fun Star Wars artwork. You can see those old photos here!
The next two faces were observed near the intersection of Plaza Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
Here they are!
(It appeared there were more painted boxes had I continued north on Highland. I’ll check those out on a future walk!)
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A new exhibition recently opened in a gallery at the San Diego History Center. It’s titled Collecting San Diego, Selections from the Dijkstra Fine Art Collection.
Collecting San Diego is a special initiative by the History Center that shines a spotlight on fine art collections containing works by regional artists.
I noticed that many of the pieces on display depict places in and around San Diego, and paint aspects of our region’s history using color and brush.
These particular pieces in the ongoing Collecting San Diego series were discovered by North County art collectors Sandra and Bram Dijkstra. Over many years they have acquired art that moves them, whomever the artist might be. Consequently, you too might be moved by the unique qualities of these pieces. I personally enjoyed all of them. (But I’m very easy to please!)
Anyone reading this who loves art should consider a visit to Balboa Park and the San Diego History Center. You’ll feast your eyes on dozens of fine paintings. In addition to this new Collecting San Diego exhibition, you’ll discover a second large gallery full of art. That exhibit, titled Be Here Now, also displays the work of regional artists, many of whom have achieved national prominence.
These are just a few examples from Collecting San Diego, Selections from the Dijkstra Fine Art Collection…
Guaymas, Tom Craig, circa 1937. Oil on canvas.Imperial Valley Housing, Carol Lindemulder, 2002. Oil on linen.Five O’clock Shadow, Brad Maxey, 2013. Oil on canvas.Hair #9 (Hippies and Bikers in the Borrego Desert), Harry Sternberg, circa 1970. Oil on board.Sun Goddess of the Computer Age, Armando Nuñez, 1997. Mixed media and acrylic on wood panel. (Armando Nuñez helped paint the first mural in Chicano Park, The Historical Wall, in 1973. He was co-founder of Centro Cultural de la Raza and designed the Barrio Logan gateway sign.)
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A couple months ago a beautiful new mural was painted on a large wall in Imperial Beach. The artist is Carly Ealey. Her brilliant art can be found all over San Diego.
The title of this amazing mural is Grounding Frequency. It appears to me its message concerns an “electrical” connection between people–the connection of love and kindness. The artwork is part of the nationwide City of Kindness movement.
If you’d like to see it for yourself, this spray painted mural with heart is near the corner of Palm Avenue and Florence Street. You can’t miss it!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
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