Tag: artwork

Giant jaguar spotted near San Diego freeway!

For the past several weeks, a gigantic jaguar has been spotted in Barrio Logan! It lurks right next to Interstate 5, just south of the ramps to the Coronado Bay Bridge.

Have you seen it yet?

The giant Jaguar mural was recently painted on the side of a building by the artists of Ground Floor Murals.

I took the San Diego Trolley to Barrio Logan early this morning to see the big cat myself, and to take these photos from across the freeway.

Enjoy!

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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!

Pandemic art: Paintings from the Confinement.

The COVID-19 pandemic was difficult for all of us. Tragically, many would not live through it.

We all remember the long days of uncertainty, fear, loneliness, forced isolation.

If you head to Balboa Park today, you need to stop by the San Diego Museum of Art to experience Paintings from the Confinement. Today is the final day of this emotionally moving exhibition.

I viewed the small egg tempera paintings, created by San Diego artist Marianela de la Hoz, at the urging of my museum docent friend Catherine.

The images are symbolic, spare, often grim. There is darkness. There are claustrophobic spaces. There is flat human life on small cold screens. But there are a few rays of hope beyond the confining walls. Thank goodness those walls have now mostly come down.

The artist found it hard to honestly paint her many feelings. In particular, it was very hard to portray death.

In her statement, Marianela de la Hoz explains the only treasures I have are my loved ones, family, friends, and art; everything else remained as non-essential.

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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!

Chalk art at Lemon Festival in Chula Vista!

Around noon today, chalk artists were doing their thing at the 25th Annual Lemon Festival in Chula Vista!

The enormously popular community event is taking place today in Chula Vista’s historic downtown, along Third Avenue.

I paused to admire the half dozen creative works, most of which were in progress.

As you might expect, all this lemony artwork required a fair amount of yellow chalk!

Sweet!

Chalk art by Dorothy Corona.

Chalk art by Brenda Mora.

Chalk art by Eric Arcala.

Chalk art by Colin Moyer.

Chalk art by Meg Canilang.

Chalk art by Cecilia Linayao.

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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!

Painting the windows of Starbucks for Comic-Con!

Isabel Garcia is painting the windows of Starbucks for 2022 Comic-Con! I saw her today as I walked behind the convention center near the Hilton San Diego Bayfront!

Isabel is a local artist and muralist, part of Arte Atolondrada. Her creative partner is Shirish Villaseñor, who paints the windows of nearby Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt during Comic-Con!

If you’d like to check some of their mural work around San Diego, click here or here or here!

In the past few days, I’ve photographed the progress of Shirish’s windows for 2022 Comic-Con. You can see that here and here!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, 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!

New murals at California Center for the Arts, Escondido!

In the past few weeks, three amazing new murals have been painted at California Center for the Arts, Escondido!

The colorful artwork was created in conjunction with the center’s new museum exhibit Street Legacy: SoCal Style Masters. I’ve already blogged about the exhibit here.

A large new mural covers the south wall of the museum. I was told it was painted last weekend. It’s by Kenny Scharf. The book In Absence of Myth concerning the artist’s life is available in the museum’s gift shop.

Two walls along the walkway that lead to the parking lot north of the museum have bold new murals, too!

I noticed the signatures of San Diego artists Carly Ealey and Christopher Konecki on the first mural, which depicts a mountain lion and the word UNTAMED…

On the opposite wall, a beautiful bird and flowers have been painted…

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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!

A very cool San Diego mural in Logan Heights!

Here’s the rest of that very long mural by artist Fizix (@alexfizix) in Logan Heights that I first referenced a couple days ago here. The artwork wraps around a business at the corner of 33rd Street and Broad Avenue.

San Diego is proudly painted in an elegant graffiti style!

As you can see in these photos, the theme transitions from a nostalgic noir theme including classic cars and figures with an old school mobster look, to a Día de los Muertos sugar skull painted lady, to . . . Batman villain Penguin!

You can enjoy photos of the adjacent Batman imagery, also by San Diego artist Fizix, 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!

Celebrities, giant chickens, and history in Carlsbad!

Did you know the historic 1914 Twin Inns restaurant in Carlsbad hosted a variety of celebrities over the years? (Including Groucho Marx, who took the occasion to promote his latest movie Duck Soup.)

Did you know the restaurant’s big plaster chickens along Highway 101 were featured in National Geographic Magazine?

Did you know the first Carlsbad City Council meeting took place underneath the restaurant where a teen hot rod club met?

Did you know the Twin Inns provided take out chicken dinners that were packed inside a hollow loaf of bread?

I learned all this and more during a visit to the Carlsbad Historical Society‘s museum, which occupies the old Shipley-Magee House at 258 Beech Avenue.

Walking through rooms filled with fascinating exhibits, I discovered several displays that celebrate and remember Carlsbad’s famous Victorian restaurant.

Should you visit the museum, you’ll find a glass display case that contains an elegant Twin Inns guest register. And examples of the Blue Willow pattern china that diners might remember. And you’ll see old photos of the architecturally amazing building and some very beautiful artwork.

Photographs I’ve taken of Carlsbad’s landmark Twin Inns building can be found 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!

Copper printing blocks form storytelling art.

These copper Batik Printing Blocks, combined like words on a page, seem to tell a beautiful story. A complex story about life.

You can find this huge “panel” of Indonesian tjaps at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park. The artwork has been installed on the second floor, near one of the doors that leads to the outdoor terrace overlooking the Plaza de Panama.

The copper blocks were used for wax resist textile printing. Each block, whose intricate design would be repeated on fabric, is combined with about 200 other unique blocks.

The cumulative effect is like a pile of golden Autumn leaves. Or shining memories collected like precious coins, spread on a table before one’s hands. Or a page ready set for a printing press.

It’s the story of a culture, created by many hands.

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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!

Hidden birdhouses, art planters in Balboa Park!

Very few visitors to Balboa Park will see these fun birdhouses and artistically painted planter boxes. They’re a bit hidden behind the Centro Cultural de la Raza’s home, their repurposed water tank off Park Boulevard.

I believe the birdhouses were created in 2021 and are designed for owls. The way they’re painted certainly suggests that!

It appears at least some of the planter boxes were painted this year.

I took this series of photographs Sunday as I walked randomly around waiting for a San Diego Fringe Festival performance to begin. I thought I’d share them.

Enjoy!

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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!

Natural beauty and art at the Bromeliad Show!

Did you know pineapples are bromeliads?

I had no idea until I checked out the Bromeliad Plant Show and Sale in Balboa Park today. It was the second day of a weekend event held at the Casa del Prado.

A friendly gentleman answered all sorts of odd questions that popped into my mind concerning bromeliads. They’re distinguished from other similar-appearing plant types primarily by their flowers. Many bromeliads are found naturally at higher elevations and are pollinated by hummingbirds, that tolerate colder temperatures than bees. And . . . and . . . I already forgot half of what I was told!

I did notice some tiny, beautiful purplish flowers, and all sorts of fun artwork and crafts at several tables.

The San Diego Bromeliad Society, who hosted the show, has many enthusiastic members. Perhaps you’d like to join!

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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!