These very beautiful murals were painted a month ago in San Diego’s City Heights neighborhood. I saw the murals last weekend as I walked down Fairmount Avenue, just north of University Avenue. They decorate the Plaza del Sol affordable housing building.
I’ve learned the colorful artwork was created by ArtReach during a Community Paint Day!
ArtReach is a program in San Diego that inspires and educates youth with art. You can see their website’s Mural Programs page here. ArtReach’s mission is: Igniting youth creativity through visual arts expression and community connection.
Check out these fantastic murals! The images reflect cultural diversity in the community and regional flora and fauna.
Many hands held paintbrushes. The lead artist was @thisisntjosue.
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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 X (formerly known as Twitter)!
Comic book artists and writers of African decent gathered in Balboa Park at the WorldBeat Cultural Center. They greeted fans and sold their work during a very cool Black History Month event!
So many creators arrived from Southern California and across the United States that the WorldBeat Center was packed wall to wall, with exhibitor tables spilling outside onto the patio. I was amazed at the size of this event, and excited by the unbounded creativity.
Black Comix Day is organized by local artist Keithan Jones, the writer and artist behind KID Comics. His philosophy is the Kid In you never Dies. He conceived of The Power Knights when he was himself a kid, and has gone on to publish mind-blowing professional art.
Yesterday I walked past the exhibitor tables and spoke to many of the comic book and graphic novel creators. You can see the positive energy and enthusiasm simply from my photos!
Check it out!
Poster for Black Comix Day at front door of the WorldBeat Center in San Diego.Marcus D. Newsome is a comic book artist, animator, illustrator and creator of Lightning Strike. Check out his website here.Eugene Randolph Young is an artist, illustrator, graphic designer and educator. He is inspired by indigenous lore, cyberpunk and Afrofuturism. He’s fascinated by artificial intelligence, too! Check out his website here.Some cool comic artwork by Eugene Randolph Young!The Surge Series is full of great Afrofuturistic cyberpunk artwork by Mike Haynes-Pitts. Check out his Instagram here.JSPR BLVK Entertainment’s table at Black Comix Day. Lil Red is a cool coloring book for kids that teaches safety! The website is http://www.jsprblvk.comJamaal A. Harley is the writer/creator of Royal Oak Comics. Check out his website here!Cool artwork displayed at the Royal Oak Comics table.A look inside the colorful WorldBeat Center during Black Comix Day 2024.Andre Owens is a creator/writer who produced Force Galaxia–Cosmic Tales of Adventure! See his Hiro Unlimited website here.Andre Owens told me that creating The Bovine League has been a lot of fun. Super-powered cows from Switzerland, The Bovine League, must go on a global quest to find the stolen Cosmic Udder and the Four Teats of Matter.KolaNut Productions has produced all sorts of cool content, including animation, that is filled with African magic, ancient folklore, and the NeoAfrican Universe. Check out their website here.Cool artwork everywhere you turn at Black Comix Day 2024!These three friends are bursting with smiles and creativity. They represent Thingamajig Studios! I love their groovy artwork. Check out their website here!UjuBeam displayed by creator Jared Lipscomb. amateur entomologist and founder of Hud Bug Comics. Super-powered insects! Check out his website here!The awesome smile of an artist creating her first comic book! I learned of her page on Facebook: mind of madness art, but could not find it! I wish I had asked more questions! (If anyone has more info, leave a comment!)Fun artwork at Black Comix Day 2024.David Phillips is the creator of Agents of S.O.U.L. As a kid, David was inspired by his Mom! Why don’t you draw some superheroes that look like you? Check out his website here!In Agents of S.O.U.L, non-super-powered heroes battle super-powered villains! Technology and science provide Black and Brown empowerment.Jason Reeves of 133art has produced many comic book titles full of Black heroes. There are comics for both kids and adults! Check out the website here!Keithan Jones works on commissioned artwork during Black Comix Day 2024.Creativity unites lovers of life and art.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
If you love great art, and you’ve never experienced the annual Small Image Show in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center, you’re missing out!
In 2024 this popular event is celebrating its 48th anniversary. Small works of art by about a hundred artists from all around San Diego County fill the walls of Gallery 21. You’ll find juried paintings, sculptures, and works in other media. The pieces are so small that dozens cover almost every wall, competing for your attention. There are many bold colors and beautifully detailed images. A few tiny pieces appeared to have been created using a magnifying glass!
When I visited today, a couple of very friendly artists were greeting everyone who entered the gallery. They are happy to answer any questions.
The exhibition is free, the art is for sale, and Gallery 21 is open 11 am to 4 pm every day. The 48th Annual Small Image Show continues through February 25.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
When I returned to Washington Park in Escondido yesterday, I noticed that four more positive murals have been painted by local students on two of the community center buildings. Click here to see the murals I found during my walk through Washington Park last spring.
Here’s a great article that concerns these four new murals. They were painted later in 2023 by Del Lago Academy students in teacher Sudi Memarzadeh’s class.
I like how, in the first two photos, young human figures are together covering over hurtful words. Goodbye loner, poor, hate and ugly. Hello bright, positive colors!
The next mural honors Mahsa Amini and the women’s freedom movement in Iran…
Women, Life, Freedom.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
A long panel was painted for Oceanside’s outdoor Artist Alley last year. Check it out!
A variety of artists applied their creativity, filling the panel with life and color. There must have been a special 2023 event during which this panel was painted. You can see some artist signatures. Not all of the works have been completed. Leave a comment if you know more about this.
I happened to see this new artwork today during a long, meandering Oceanside walk.
After I’ve strolled through Artist Alley the past few years, I’ve posted photographs here (where you can read more about the alley) and here and here. Some of the art has changed over time.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
A large Year of the Dragon mural is now being painted in the heart of San Diego’s Little Saigon!
Thao Huynh French has begun creating this street art, which will be located at El Cajon Boulevard and Menlo Avenue, across from Sin Lee Food and the oft-photographed Little Saigon postcard mural.
I happened to noticed this nascent artwork as I walked in east San Diego this morning.
The Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac, begins February 10, 2024. A number of festivals will be held around San Diego. I plan to visit one or two!
Next time I walk this way I hope to capture cool photos of this Year of the Dragon mural, finally completed.
If you want to see another incredible mural by the same artist, which was painted a couple years ago on Menlo Avenue north of El Cajon Boulevard, click here!
UPDATE!
To see the completed mural, which is utterly awesome, click here!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
At the corner of Plaza Boulevard and Highland Avenue in National City, you’ll find monsters, myth and love!
These four electrical boxes have been painted this way for many years. Today I enjoyed a long walk through National City before the rain started. As I approached the intersection, I remembered that I hadn’t yet photographed this particular street art!
So here we go!
One box has a cool design that appears to have been inspired by mythology. Another shows Godzilla battling King Ghidorah. Then there’s the abstract elephant, a feline rocket ship and a rainbow-powered cat! And love on roller skates!
As always, if you know more about this very creative artwork, please leave a comment.
Stay tuned for more street art photos from my walk. The next blog post will be amazing!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Dreams live in Normal Heights on the corner of Felton Street and Adams Avenue. These dreams are given life by artists.
But dreams are fleeting. They eventually fade; new dreams appear.
I photographed different dreamlike street art on this San Diego corner almost seven years ago. The group of electrical boxes has been decorated for as long as I can remember. Some of the past artwork was nightmarish. See those old photos here.
New, happier dreams have been painted since then.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
It’s true: time flies. Soon another New Year’s Day will have passed us by.
Every year, on January 1, many people vow to make positive changes in their life. Of course, every day, every hour, every moment provides us with a new beginning.
Cool San Diego Sights readers might know that I also write short fiction. Occasionally I’ll post a blog concerning stories that I’ve written. The approach of New Year’s Day provides an opportunity to share eleven inspiring short stories about new beginnings.
If you enjoy reading, you might explore the following links:
Inspired artist James Watts works in downtown San Diego. His studio is a fantasyland jammed wall to wall with amazing creativity. I like to swing on by occasionally to see what he’s up to!
Having finished his whittled fingers and toes project, James is now sewing together one hundred pillow-like clouds. Not ordinary clouds, mind you, but ones that gather and radiate orgone life energy like a battery!
James, whose creativity has no limit, intends to use the finished clouds to form a portal–an art installation on a wall where people can experience heavenly orgone energy. The carefully handsewn clouds are made of canvas, filled with steel wool and cotton, and painted in twenty shades of blue. It’s the same canvas the artist used for his fantastic Jekyll and Hyde project.
James explained that artists are like alchemists. They transform otherwise ordinary materials into things of immense value. Of course, he’s exactly right.
His unique visual art stirs up complex, subtle ideas. His surprising art inspires those who gaze upon it with an open heart and mind.
James Watts has also painted clouds–like ancient wisdom–on scrolls!
Check out his whittled fingers and toes, the cool project that preceded his clouds…
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
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 (formerly known as Twitter)!
Cool San Diego Sights! 