Tag: artists

Chinese brush painting event in Balboa Park!

An exhibition and sale of Chinese brush paintings continues tomorrow, Sunday, March 1, 2026 in Balboa Park. To view some very beautiful artwork, step into Room 101 of the Casa del Prado between 11 am and 4 pm.

The event features original Chinese brush paintings by members of the Lung Hsiang chapter of the American Artists of Chinese Brush Painting. Admission is free. Most of the pieces on display are for sale.

Visitors get to meet the artists, view a painting demonstration, and even try their own hand at brush painting! If you’re looking for gifts, you’ll find framed and matted paintings, and hand painted cards and crafts.

I visited the exhibition today and am pleased to share a few photos.

When I asked one artist the difference between traditional Chinese brush painting and Japanese brush painting, I was told the Chinese style has more “pop” and more chi, or vital energy. To me, generally speaking, the Chinese style seems a little more bold and colorful than Japanese brush painting, which appears more delicate and impressionistic.

All that I saw was exquisite and very beautiful.

2026 is the Year of the Horse!

For curious eyes, there’s much to discover. I was shown the historical evolution of the Chinese pictograph for horse. The three strokes represent a horse’s mane and legs.

Visitors can learn how to paint it!

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Open Print Studio invites artists in San Diego!

Are you an artist in San Diego? Would you like free access to an extensive and amazing Print Studio?

The Athenaeum Art Center at the Bread and Salt building in Logan Heights has the fantastic facility you see in these photographs. I’ve worked at a local print shop, and the number of presses I saw today blew me away! You’re invited to use them, or take printing classes!

The Print Studio features 5,000 square feet of creativity…and 10 presses and over 300 cases of type. Read more about the equipment and possibilities by visiting this webpage.

My mouth flew open when I saw those many drawers of type–I thought I’d stepped into a printing museum!

The studio offers free weekly Open Print studio time to the public for printmakers of all skill levels, from beginner to advanced, thanks in part to the Prebys Foundation and Dr. Edward Petko.

How cool is that? You’ll be greeted by smiles,too!

As this Instagram post indicates, Open Print Studio invites artists to work independently in our print studio space… Some printmaking familiarity is helpful as Open Print Studio is self-guided, and limited technical support is available for refreshers or help finding supplies. Our facility supports intaglio, screen print, relief, and letterpress. Printmaking classes are also offered throughout the year.

To learn of open hours and events at the Print Studio, follow this Instagram page, and/or this one!

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All Shall Be Well at Athenaeum Art Center!

Do you love art? Have you ever visited the Athenaeum Art Center in Logan Heights? You should!

The Athenaeum Art Center is located inside the Bread and Salt building at 1955 Julian Avenue. The art center includes the Catherine and Robert Palmer Gallery, a secondary classroom gallery, and an extensive, very impressive print studio (which I’ll blog about shortly). The main gallery is currently hosting the exhibit Jonathan Paul Parker: All Shall Be Well.

San Diego artist Jonathan Paul Parker‘s first solo exhibition features drawings and painted works that are mostly on paper. His abstract pieces are colorful, complex and dreamlike. They are informed by his involvement in experimental film and improvisational music.

I visited the gallery today.

The images appeared to me like confused dream-shards a sleeper tries to assemble and retain in memory shortly after waking. Or perhaps they’re a sort of visual stream of consciousness–fragments of thought, feeling or memory that take strange form, rising mysteriously to the mind’s eye from a person’s inner being.

The exhibition webpage states: Using color, gesture, and rhythm, [Jonathan] works in a state of focused openness that allows intuitive and archetypal forms to surface. His process draws on the idea of active imagination, where inner images and impulses rise to awareness and shape the direction of the work.

Visit the free exhibition and discover how this unique art speaks to you!

You have a little over a week. Jonathan Paul Parker: All Shall Be Well can be enjoyed through March 7, 2026.

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Peanuts holiday mural painted in North Park!

A super fun mural was painted in North Park last December in time for the holiday season. Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the entire Peanuts gang are now frolicking on the side of 420 Smoke Shop, at 2559 University Avenue!

The talented artist’s Instagram is @cravemoreart. The artist identifies as Scenic Painter for Haunted Trails of Balboa Park 2025. Very cool!

I hope this art remains on the building, even as seasons change and San Diegans dream of sunny, warm beach days–not of Christmas trees, snowmen, winter snow and ice.

Is that Santa and his reindeer up there in the starry sky?

This mural is simply too much fun!

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Mural honors San Diego player Kyra Carusa.

I discovered this mural yesterday while heading down University Avenue in North Park. It honors past San Diego Wave FC player Kyra Carusa. The artwork is painted on the side of The Original 40 Brewing Company building.

The mural was created by Ground Floor Murals (@groundfloormurals). Their work is always awesome!

Honoring KYRA CARUSA for her community leadership and contributions to women’s soccer – 2025

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Black Comix Day this weekend in San Diego!

If you love San Diego Comic-Con, you’ll love Black Comix Day!

All this Valentine’s Day weekend, artists, writers and publishers of African descent will be showcasing their work at the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park. The annual event is free, and it will blow your mind!

The last two years at Black Comix Day I met dozens of friendly creators. This year I saw quite a few new participants.

Together they have produced fantastic comics, graphic novels, books, animation, films, figurines, posters and more. Much of the work is informed by their unique experiences as artists of African descent.

Many of the participants come from outside San Diego. Most are self-publishing entrepreneurs with big dreams. Some of the artists have worked professionally or won prestigious awards.

Everywhere you turn, both outside and inside the WorldBeat Cultural Center, there’s something new and very cool. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, Afro-futurism, superheroes, just about anything the human mind can imagine. It’s pop culture heaven!

Read the photo captions and click links to learn about some stuff I saw…

Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls is the Civil War story of a man who escaped enslavement. He’d go on to make a huge impact on American history. There’s a graphic novel, and a major motion picture is in development! Click here.
Buy some great books at this outdoor table and you’ll support the Malcolm X Library in Valencia Park!
Derek Johnson wrote the noir supernatural horror The Caretaker. He’s a Las Vegas filmmaker and comic creator! Click here to support his work!
Mike Haynes-Pitts created The Surge Series! It’s about Afrofuturistic, cyberpunk Africa hundreds of years in the future! His Instagram is here.
Smiles at the Wingless Entertainment table. They publish comic books, coloring books and more cool stuff. Click here!
The Agents of S.O.U.L. and creator David Phillips have many adventures! Check out the DP Comix website here.
New Creation Comics is an independent Christian Publisher. Look at all the cool superhero-like covers! Their website is here.
Vampires! Blade! Vampirella! Look at the cool pop culture images created by Attiba Royster at his website here!
Bryttney-Mischele Salvant was creating a beautiful surreal expressionist piece at her table. To see more, visit her Poetic Artistry website here!
More smiling creators! It’s cartoonist and printmaker Lyssette Williams, and Annika B., who wrote Current Objective and was busy creating a business card!
What would happen if you turned the Frankenstein monster into a werewolf? To find the answer, check out this website by Eisner Award winning editor, writer and producer Chris Robinson!

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Mysterious symbols at SDSU trolley station!

Mysterious symbols and figures can be seen at your feet when you stand on the passenger platform at the SDSU trolley station. Lean over in the dim light and look closely. What are they?

The mystery is solved when you learn these symbols are part of a larger public art installation at the SDSU Transit Center. In 2005, when San Diego’s only underground trolley station first opened, artist Anne Mudge and the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) debuted the art.

What you’ve discovered at your feet is called Stepping Stones. As this page on Anne Mudge’s website explains: Etched into the surfaces of 60 granite “stepping stones” are symbols of various cultural and academic disciplines found on the SDSU campus. The granite stones interrupt and redirect the linear flow of bricks around them, just as ideas impact the surrounding intellectual and cultural environments.

Visit the above link for descriptions of other works in this art installation, which are visible inside and around the SDSU Transit Center.

Students waiting at the trolley station can step from ideas to microchips to the Earth to people to atoms…

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Two murals celebrate Normal Heights!

Yesterday I photographed two murals on Adams Avenue that celebrate San Diego’s historic Normal Heights neighborhood.

The first one is painted on the side of Dino’s Barber Shop at 3184 Adams Avenue. The mural features an old streetcar, colorful shops and the Normal Heights landmark sign.

The fun, nostalgic art was created by muralist Caroline Birch.

Can you spot two barber poles in my first photo?

A short walk away, a bit north on 32nd Street, you can find another very cool Normal Heights mural.

This one was painted by Hanna Daly of Hanna’s Murals back in 2022.

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Embroidery exhibit at Mission Valley Library.

Muchas Manos de San Diego, a group of hand embroidery enthusiasts, is celebrating their 50th Anniversary with an exhibit inside the Mission Valley Library. The library’s large display case is filled with carefully stitched examples of very beautiful embroidery!

If you’d like to join the supportive group and have fun creating amazing, exquisite objects like these, here’s their website! They meet once a month.

Muchas Manos de San Diego is part of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America.

Here’s what I saw yesterday during a visit to the Mission Valley branch of the San Diego Library…

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Orphan baby whale sculpture at La Jolla Shores!

These photographs were taken during a recent walk through La Jolla Shores, at the Kellogg Park playground. What you see is the 16-foot-long life-size bronze sculpture of J.J., an orphaned baby California gray whale.

The malnourished baby whale, near death, was rescued off the coast of Marina del Rey in 1997, and nursed back to health at SeaWorld. She would ultimately be released back into the Pacific Ocean to resume her migration to Alaska.

The sculpture of J.J., which children love to ride and play on, was created by sculptor D. Lynn Reeves. It was commissioned by Friends of La Jolla Shores and was installed at the Kellogg Park playground next to the beach boardwalk in 2011.

Signs posted beside J.J. tell the tale of her rescue and of the creation of her beautiful sculpture.

The image of J.J. also appears in the nearby mosaic Map of the Grand Canyons of La Jolla.

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