Tag: imagination

More positive murals by students in Escondido!

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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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Newly painted panel in Oceanside’s Artist Alley!

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)!

Year of Dragon mural coming to Little Saigon!

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)!

Monsters, myth and love in National City!

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)!

New dreams, same Normal Heights corner!

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)!

11 Short Stories About New Beginnings.

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:

An Unexpected Sunflower is a short story about changing lives with generosity.

The Firefly is about friendship, hope and a moment of forgiveness.

One Strange, Shimmering Dream is a magical story about a dreamlike transformation.

A Half Dozen Odd Things concerns elements of a past life gifted to the future.

Night Walking is an odd tale about renewal.

The Wheel concerns creativity. Is there no end to beginnings?

The Hand of Fate is about mysterious human acts that change the world.

A Secret Junkyard is about the despair and hope of those who create.

The Ghost Ship is about unexpected bright moments that can change a life.

Every Butterfly is New shows a world that is always beginning.

Here We Go is full of eagerness for life ahead.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Richard

Creating clouds full of energy in San Diego!

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)!

Exhibit recalls Green Tiger Press in La Jolla.

Tigers, Unicorns, & Puppy Dog Tales is the latest exhibit that the public can enjoy in the La Jolla Historical Society‘s Wisteria Cottage museum.

Colorful displays recall the years when the Green Tiger Press, the Unicorn Cinema and the Mithras Bookstore were much loved La Jolla institutions. The local publisher, theater and bookstore were all established by Harold and Sandra Darling in the 1960s. The Darlings were a visionary couple who loved art, literature and the magic of imagination.

The exhibit contains printed material–postcards, stationery, children’s books, and more–bursting with unicorns and dragons and rainbow dreams and talking animals. Step into the museum and you might feel as if you stepped into a fairy tale. Or traveled through time back to your own childhood.

Bring kids to the exhibit and they will be enchanted. There’s a table where they can pore through picture books and create their own art!

Adults will be intrigued by Green Tiger printed posters that promote the eclectic, often independent films that screened inside the Unicorn Cinema. The dark theater was located through the back door of the Mithras Bookstore. The docent with whom I spoke loved the tiny theater and its popcorn machine. It sounds like a place I would have loved, too.

The Green Tiger Press relocated to Seattle, but they have lent their wonderful “carousel tiger” for this exhibition.

If you want to see all this magic for yourself, make sure to visit the Wisteria Cottage museum by January 21, 2024.

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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)!

Sculptures installed at new City Heights cultural center!

San Diego has a new cultural center in City Heights. Columbus Hall, located at 4425 Home Avenue, has recently become a destination where artists and lovers of art can gather.

A sculpture installation around the Columbus Club of San Diego‘s building opened last week. It’s titled Beyond the Anthropocene.

Beyond the Anthropocene is a three-dimensional, sculptural collection that asks each artist to project their idea about “what is next.” Three of the pieces are new. Others were previously located in the sculpture garden that used to be along University Avenue just east of Interstate 15. (You can see blog posts about that past sculpture garden here and here.)

Local artist Jim Bliesner is the curator of Beyond the Anthropocene. The other contributing artists are Karl Gindelberger, Tarrah Aroonsakool, Spenser Little, Marcus Montes, Lionel Delevingne, Dianne Brunner, Randy Lane and Iain Gunn.

Drive down Home Avenue just east of Fairmount and you’ll notice several of the pieces beside Columbus Hall. The extraordinary wire art hanging against the building will undoubtedly catch your eye!

During my visit yesterday, I noted that there was a food truck and picnic table nearby for hungry visitors.

If you’re ever in the area, you definitely want to stop on by!

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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)!

More treasure inside La Jolla’s Athenaeum!

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla is like a friendly palace filled with endless treasure. Step through its front door and you’re surrounded by jewels.

Shelves filled with knowledge and beauty. Works of art on the walls, around corners, in nooks and crannies. Comfy places to sit, read, listen, write and fill oneself with wonder.

I headed to La Jolla and stepped through the Athenaeum’s front door yesterday.

In addition to works of art that I hadn’t previously seen, I enjoyed looking at the newest exhibitions in the library’s galleries.

Here are a few of the jewels that I discovered…

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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)!