Tag: painting

San Diego artist James Watts and 100 Paintings!

Have you visited the downtown studio of San Diego artist James Watts (@jewattso)? The experience will blow your mind!

I’m personally inspired by James Watts. Like a perpetual motion machine, he happily creates, creates and creates. His studio is so jam-packed with creative genius that you don’t know in which direction to turn your eyes.

That’s going to be more true than ever, because he’s now in the middle of a new project. He’s creating 100 Paintings!

James showed me his work yesterday when I happened to walk by the open door of his magical studio. He has finished 18 of the 100 paintings so far.

His paintings are in groups of five; each group includes a still life, a nude, a portrait, a cityscape, and a symbolic or literary painting. He intentionally emulates the styles of different famous painters.

Gazing about his studio, you’ll notice that many works of art–paintings and sculptures–depict characters from classic novels, history or mythology. When he was a kid, James loved to sit in the library and read comic books and magazines. Today, as an accomplished visual artist, he brings the written word to life in new, fantastic ways.

For some reason, James reminds me of science fiction and fantasy author Ray Bradbury. His energetic love of life. His love of everything–from pop culture to the classics. His smile and enthusiasm.

Up next is a painting showing James Watts’ studio. Do you recognize it? Look for the art-filled windows (and his cats) in downtown San Diego on 7th Avenue between C Street and Broadway.

A couple of photos of new paintings inside the studio…

The next photo shows a painting inspired by Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis! (Lying next to it is a lamppost just outside the studio.)

James loves to use wood and other materials for his myriad projects. The next photo shows wood block finger puppets painted with images from the Epic of Gilgamesh!

Endless wonders fill the downtown studio of San Diego artist James Watts!

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The whimsical Skinny Art of Mark Smith!

If you love whimsical, inventive works of art, head over to Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park. The walls of Gallery 21 are now bursting with happily tipsy, distorted watercolor paintings known as Skinny Art. Skinny Art is the specialty of San Diego artist Mark Smith!

Buildings, rooftops and landscapes tilt every which way in Mark’s delightfully elongated images. While his perspectives might be dizzy and uncertain, his sharp watercolors are minutely detailed–he paints over pencils. One might say his unique art is kind of realistic, kind of surreal.

Mark also creates totem-like sculptures containing old objects from years past. When I viewed these skinny sculptures I felt a sweet rush of nostalgia. You must see them with your own eyes! Then perhaps bring some great artwork home–all the pieces in Gallery 21 are available for purchase.

Mark is a super cool guy who loves to talk with those visiting the gallery. I really enjoyed my visit a few days ago!

You need to step into Gallery 21 by December 16, 2024, which is the final day of this very cool exhibition.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Mural painted near Chula Vista trolley station!

A big, very fun mural is now being painted on a long wall in Chula Vista! The artwork, which appears to be almost competed, can be seen by San Diego trolley Blue Line passengers along the tracks north of the E Street station.

The mural is part of the ongoing MTS Color the Corridor project. The design is by prolific Southern California artist Michelle Ruby (aka Mr B Baby). With a colorful Mexican flavor, the mural contains doll-like characters that one often finds in her artwork. You’ve likely seen her murals all over San Diego.

The painted wall is in the trolley right-of-way and cannot be approached on foot. I took these photos through the slightly dirty window of a moving trolley this morning. They show small but notable parts of the long mural. I had to enhance the images to make them less blurry…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

More creative street art in downtown Escondido!

It seems every time I walk through downtown Escondido, I discover more street art! That includes last weekend!

I believe that some of the art in these photographs is fairly new. The above electrical box, for example.

The box in my last photo I’ve noticed in the past, but I walked right past it as I hurried down Valley Parkway to or from the Escondido Transit Center.

Enjoy!

This great street art is by Shirish Villaseñor. If you’ve walked around during Comic-Con and seen fun window graphics painted at Sweet Things Frozen Yogurt near the San Diego Convention Center–that’s her art, too!

I believe this agricultural artwork is by Zane Kingcade. His amazing murals can be found all over Escondido.

Passion Flower was painted for the City of Escondido by Cedar Covington in 2023.

More beautiful flowers painted in Escondido, by artist Brenda Gunderson Townsend.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Fun skate mural in Escondido’s Washington Park

While walking through Escondido’s Washington Park this weekend, I noticed a new mural. It depicts kids having fun at the Washington Park Skate Spot.

This mural replaces another that I spotted in the summer of 2023. See that old mural here–it’s the one with a hand reaching for splashes of color.

If you want to see several colorful murals painted on Washington Park’s community center buildings, and learn something about them, click here.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Hummingbird Jubilee painted at Escondido’s Maple Street Plaza!

Feast your eyes on this!

An absolutely amazing mural is being painted in Escondido. It’s on the side of a building at Maple Street Plaza, and appears to be almost completed. I spotted the new mural behind a fence today as I walked down Grand Avenue. Information posted on the fence tells the story of this colorful artwork, which is titled Hummingbird Jubilee!

The artist is teacher and small business owner Brenda Gunderson Townsend. She operates Brilliant Spectrum Art. Here’s her Instagram page.

According to the posted info, she’s an Art Educator at the Center for the Arts Escondido, as well as the center’s lead Scenic Artist. The mural is her special gift to the entire Escondido community!

Brenda started painting Hummingbird Jubilee in late September. It’s in a stained glass style, in a nod to the Arts & Crafts movement. It measures 100 feet long by 14 feet tall. According to what I read, the City of Escondido will host a big unveiling event for the finished mural.

Wow!

I took photographs through the surrounding chain link fence…

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Exhibition by San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild.

An excellent exhibition by members of the San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild is now showing inside Gallery 21 at Balboa Park’s Spanish Village Art Center.

The exhibition, curated by Alex DeCosta of the Hyde Art Gallery, features fine works by some of our city’s most outstanding artists. These eclectic pieces, all of which are for sale, would be valuable additions to any art collection.

I wandered into Gallery 21 late this afternoon and enjoyed viewing all the artwork. I took a few photographs so you get an idea of what you’ll find when you visit.

Make sure to swing by in the next few days. The 2024 SMMAAG Membership Exhibition will be on view in person through December 2, 2024. If you can’t make it by then, view the exhibition online here until the end of the year.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Modern Day Artist appears in San Diego!

A successful artist these days must wear many hats, and keep working at their art around the clock. That appears to be an important message in the recently painted Modern Day Artist mural in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood.

It’s easy to miss this colorful public art. It’s on the east side of a building on the 800 block of Washington Street. Those driving east, right past the mural, will likely not see it unless they check their rearview mirror at the right moment.

The cool artwork was created a few months back by Kolten French (@koltenfrench), co-founder of Mindful Murals.

When I learned of the mural about a week ago, I walked from downtown up to Hillcrest to check it out!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

An epic lucha libre match in Hillcrest!

Those who’ve passed through Hillcrest recently might have observed an epic lucha libre wrestling match taking place near the sidewalk. When I walked by last Saturday, a fierce luchador had his opponent in a devastating head lock. Several onlookers were cheering! And a young would-be luchador was standing by, emulating his masked hero!

The big wrestling event, as you might have guessed, is colorfully painted street art. Two electrical boxes have become canvases for the scene!

The artist is Gerardo Meza. Here’s his Instagram page. You’ve quite possibly seen other examples of his work around San Diego, particularly down in San Ysidro near the Mexican border. That’s where I originally discovered some of his very unique street art many years ago.

You, too, can watch this fun lucha libre wrestling on Sixth Avenue, a bit south of Anderson Place!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Art treasures of Maritime Museum: Celebrating the Sea!

Inchcliffe Castle, San Diego, circa 1940, by artist Anton Otto Fischer.

An important new exhibition has opened at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. It’s titled Celebrating the Sea: Exploring the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s Hidden Collection.

Notable works of original art in the museum’s extensive collection have been placed on view. Included are beautiful paintings of ships, local scenes that include San Diego Bay, and coastal vistas. Many of the pieces are by renowned artists, like Maurice Braun and Arthur Beaumont.

Visitors will also marvel at rare artifacts, such as an antique Chinese lacquer cabinet with ivory chess set, circa 1720.

The fine exhibition reinforces the Maritime Museum of San Diego’s reputation as a world-famous destination for lovers of both art and the sea!

Coaling Station on the San Diego Waterfront, 1930s, by artist Marie DuBarry.

East View of the Coast Guard Station, 1934-1937, by artist Maurice Braun.

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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.