Tag: artists

A huge collection of street art images!

Do you love to discover new art?

Do you love to turn a street corner and suddenly find an amazing, unexpected mural splashed on a city wall or in a back alley? Or a small creative work painted on an electrical box by a neighborhood artist?

Cool San Diego Sights is now over seven years old. During my walks through San Diego’s diverse communities I’ve taken thousands of photographs of street art. I’ve recorded so many examples that’s it’s difficult to find them all in one place. Unless you visit my street art Pinterest page!

Even if you don’t ordinarily use Pinterest, click here and you’ll see (as of this moment) over 600 selected images of San Diego street art. Click any one of the “pinned” images and you will be presented with a link to my particular blog post featuring that art.

If you are a regular user of Pinterest, you can follow my boards and discover fun new things in San Diego as I walk around taking photos!

The general Pinterest page for Cool San Diego Sights can be found here.

If you simply want to see lots of great street art, click 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!

The beautiful, living art of Tree.

Tree has returned to San Diego. She has been travelling.

This morning Tree had her beautiful art on display on a downtown sidewalk. I happened to see her as I walked down Broadway near the Santa Fe Depot.

Tree is a passionate artist, full of life and energy. She’s always happy to greet passersby with a big smile.

Her small abstract watercolor paintings are like splashes of life seen through prisms. They are created with a careful eye and fine brush. Every complex design is a surprise. The colors are brilliant like jewels.

Next time you walk down Broadway just south of the Santa Fe Depot, keep your eyes open. You might discover unexpected treasures spread at your feet. And a smiling Tree.

Beautiful mosaics in Escondido sidewalk!

My Sunday walk along Grand Avenue in Escondido began at Centre City Parkway–the Mercado area across from the big Escondido landmark sign. Just as I started east down the sidewalk my eyes suddenly fell upon a gorgeous tile mosaic at my feet!

A quick exploration of the intersection and I found three more similar mosaics!

I’ve since learned that the four circular mosaics were created by local artist Tama Dumlao and installed in 2003. As you can see, they pay tribute to art, entertainment and shopping in Escondido’s historic downtown, and its Friday night Cruisin’ Grand tradition!

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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!

Mother and child sculpture on Escondido bench.

Today I enjoyed walk down Grand Avenue, through the heart of Escondido’s historic downtown. I have many colorful photographs coming up!

During my walk I was struck by a wonderful sculpture in front of Felipe’s Restaurant. Life-size cast bronze figures sit on a public bench. A mother holds a small child, who is reaching curiously into her purse. It’s a celebration of ordinary living.

This public art is by T.J. Dixon, whose many extraordinary sculptures can be viewed all around San Diego. Created in 1990, the piece’s title is Reflections on Downtown.

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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!

Augmented reality outside the Museum of Art!

The San Diego Museum of Art recently installed a unique new outdoor exhibit in Balboa Park’s central Plaza de Panama. The surprising exhibit is titled Augmented Reality al Fresco. Using your cell phone, you can bring seven works of fine art to life with augmented reality!

Download the SDMA app, select the AR feature, point your phone’s camera at any of the displayed artwork reproductions and suddenly they begin to move!

A painting of the Molo in Venice, Italy by Bernardo Bellotto suddenly comes to life! Gondolas drift dreamily across the water, and flocks of birds rise among moving clouds!

Kilauea Calder, Sandwich Islands, by artist Jules Tavernier, begins to bubble and fume! Lava erupts! My San Diego Museum of Art docent friend showed me how the painting comes to life a couple years ago inside the museum. This innovative use of augmented reality is very cool!

Most of Balboa Park’s museums have closed again due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a little culture–with an unexpected and delightful twist! Walk toward the Museum of Art’s front entrance and turn left. Then pull out your phone for a unique experience!

Now that most of Balboa Park’s museums have been forced to close their indoor galleries again, you can help them survive this difficult COVID-19 situation with a generous donation.

Earlier this year, I posted links to the donation pages of Balboa Park’s museums 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!

Huge butterflies swarm corner in Normal Heights!

A swarm of gigantic butterflies has descended on a street corner in Normal Heights! They’ve perched upon three electrical boxes!

Those who walk down the sidewalk past the Adams Recreation Center can see enormous Monarch butterflies, Western Tiger Swallowtails and Painted Ladies.

Painted might be the perfect word, because all of these huge butterflies were painted this year. I see this very colorful street art is sponsored by Normal Heights Urban Arts.

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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!

Let’s Live, Let’s Love in Lincoln Park!

Lots of fantastic street art can be enjoyed in San Diego’s Lincoln Park community. On Saturday I walked along Imperial Avenue between Euclid Avenue and 49th Street and took photos of colorful artwork painted by many artists.

I saw faded old art and brand new art. All of it contains positive imagery, summed up by the message Let’s Live, Let’s Love. That saying was painted in several places.

As you can see from the photos, there are a variety of artist signatures.

I believe some of the newer street art was created by the Southeast Art Team. (I posted photos of two wonderful murals they recently painted near Imperial and Euclid here.)

The murals showing African American civil rights icons painted on two low walls by Gentry’s Beauty and Barber Headquarters I believe were created in 2016 by William Salas.

The blue painting of people rowing a boat under stars at Imperial Ave Auto Service is by Michael Rosenblatt. When I saw it, I immediately recalled how he showed me a super cool painting of Tony Gwynn during a past Earth Day event in Balboa Park. You can see that (and more) here.

The big fun mural near the end of my photos can be seen at the Community Gathering Place community garden.

Lincoln Park is fortunate to be touched by the hands of many talented creative people–artists who have a hopeful vision of the world, filled with heart. Who encourage us all with the simple but powerful words: Let’s Live, Let’s Love.

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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!

Southeast Art Team beautifies Lincoln Park!

The Southeast Art Team, a group of artists who reside in southeastern San Diego, recently painted very colorful murals in Lincoln Park!

The boarded up old Pete Mayo’s Original Waffleburgers building near the corner of Euclid Avenue and Imperial Avenue has new life–entirely due to the efforts of positive people who love their community.

I walked through the neighborhood today and checked out two cheerful murals on two sides of the now vacant building. (I also spotted more of the team’s street art along Imperial Avenue. Photos to come!)

The President of the Southeast Art Team is Kim Phillips-Pea. She’s a super positive, energetic community leader whom I met this summer while the team was helping Mario Torero restore his important Civil Rights mural at 32nd Street and Imperial Avenue. You can see photos of that mural being restored here.

If you want to learn more about the Southeast Art Team, and perhaps help them out, check out their website 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!

Cool new mural painted in Hillcrest!

A cool new mural was painted recently in Hillcrest! You can find it at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Check it out!

The muralist is @dropdead.grace, an artist who is new to me.

This wall use to be the “canvas” for some great artwork painted back in 2017 for the now defunct Ion Theatre, which was located steps away. The Broken Heart Tattoo studio now operates where the small experimental Hillcrest theatre introduced many edgy, original plays.

I learned that the old Ion Theatre mural was badly defaced. If you want to see photos of that mural being created over a period of days, click here!

Here are two more pics of this new mural…

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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!

Mural in Lakeside celebrates a moment in history.

A fantastic mural painted in Lakeside at the corner of Woodside Avenue and Maine Avenue celebrates an important moment in this East County community’s surprising history.

Spectators in old-fashioned garb watch an automobile race around Lindo Lake near the long-vanished Lakeside Inn, once called The Coronado of the Hills because of its architectural similarity to the Hotel del Coronado. On one historic day in 1907, race car driver Barney Oldfield set a new world land speed record.

A corner of the mural indicates this nostalgic artwork was painted by David E. Ybarra for the Ron Schafer Family.

I’ve included a vintage photograph of the race depicted in the mural!

Barney Oldfield driving the Peerless Green Dragon at the Lakeside Track, San Diego, California. April 7, 1907. (Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons.)

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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!