Monsoon in a Bottle

If you're driving along West Ft. Lowell Rd. you can't miss this very large mural on the north side of the street.  I took these photos on Nov. 23, 2021.

By Ignacio Garcia

Fig-Eater Beetle on a watermelon

Tarantula Hawk

Monsoon in a Bottle

 

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger images.

An unusual shopper

It's Christmas Eve. Maybe you need to rush out for some last-minute shopping? One character can't get enough of the La Encantada shopping center… she's there every time you stop by:

It's another of Joe Pagac's critter murals — this time with a huge turquoise necklace and a bunch of shopping bags.

Here are some close-ups:

I shopped until I dropped on November 20th.

Untitled

I chose 'Untitled' over 'Large Round Object'.  Without knowing the intent of the artists I can only guess whether it's a sunrise or sunset or even a partial eclipse.

The mural was found and photographed on Nov. 23, 2021.  It's located on E. 1st St. on the north wall of 1000 N. Park Ave.

By Brady Fellows and Mike Cochiolo

Click on the photo for a larger image.

Community mural dedication today!

This past Monday, I posted an announcement about the 200-yard-long Stone Curves mural being repainted. The dedication is today (Saturday 12/18/21) from 2 to 4 pm. Here are photos of the artists busily painting on Tuesday:

At least some of the artists will continue painting in the next few days. You can contribute, and show your love for the mural too, on their GoFundMe page North Stone Avenue Mural Revitalization Project.

I hope to see you this afternoon!

Update (December 19, 2021): Quite a few people turned out yesterday to see the mural. Police blocked off the lane of Stone closest to the mural to give more space. Here are two photos:

Some parts aren't finished yet. Artists will be working from time to time this week.

Learning Bee is buzzing (sorry :)

The corner of 22nd & Longfellow has two long walls that've had murals for years. You can see some of the older murals in our posts on March 06, 2011 and August 08, 2016. On November 11, 2021, I stopped by to photograph a new mural along 22nd Street where there the wall had been mostly blank for years. The new mural is yellow in the photo below; the other murals are to its right:

(As always, you can click for a larger view.)

Here's the mural along 22nd Street, then two closeups and the artists' signature:

Untagged Treasure

On Jan. 15, 2014, Jerry Peek posted a mural that had been heavily tagged.  You can find it here: Tagged treasure.  I came across this same mural on Nov. 23, 2021.  All of the tags have been removed yet the underlying mural remains unchanged.  Thus, the new name, "Untagged Treasure".  Here's my photo:

Artist Not Known

 

 

It's along N. Los Altos Rd., on the west side of the building at 502 East Ft. Lowell Rd.

Click on the photo for a larger image.

Huge community mural repainting: help needed!

If you've driven along North Stone Avenue between Roger and Limberlost in the past 20 years, you've likely seen this 200-yard-long mural on the east side of Stone:

You can see the whole mural in our July 12, 2016 post Ten years of Tucson murals, for this blog's 10th anniversary. There are photos of the restoration on lead artist Pasqualina Azzarello's Instagram @pasqualinaazzarello (you don't need an Instagram account to scroll by the photos). Here she's refreshing a star:

The mural has been there since 2001. Last week and this week, the artists who came together 20 years ago to paint it are back together repainting and making some changes. I'll stop by once or twice this week and aim to post an update by Thursday. The rededication will be this coming Saturday, December 18, from 2 to 4 pm.

Can you imagine how much paint it takes to cover a 200-yard-long mural? (It's a lot.) The team of artists is in the final homestretch to meet their fundraising goals. Their GoFundMe page North Stone Avenue Mural Revitalization Project has details and a place where you can donate. For donations of $50 and above, they'll also hand-paint a star with your name or someone's you choose.

Thanks for your help. I'll hope to see you on Saturday!

Update (December 14, 2021): KGUN 9 TV news ran a story today (with video): Tucson mural along Stone Avenue in need of some restoration.

Promo

Mural to promote H & H Small Engine and Equipment Repairs.

Artist Not Known

Click for a larger image.  Photo taken on Nov. 23, 2021.

Neighborhood DNA

Joe Pagac keeps amazing me with his creativity (…you too, I'll bet). What's now downtown Tucson, and the city-to-come around it, grew up and prospered when the railroad came in 1880. The Barrio Viejo neighborhood, on the south edge of downtown, grew up in the decades after… the railroad was part of its DNA. Joe showed that intertwined destiny in this mural along a driveway on Simpson Street:

The driveway is narrow, and my camera couldn't catch it all. Below is the original photo, which I stretched with my favorite free photo editor GIMP to make the version above:

Here's what you'll see from the street:

If the homeowners are available, they'll let you into the driveway. (Their dog might bark and be a "doorbell".) Tim told me the story of the mural:

"The man on the left is Frank Bone. He lived there many years. He was distinct because he always wore a white linen suit and a white pith helmet walking around downtown. We didn't know what he looked like, so we painted him from the back. The people on the right — the couple — built this house in 1910. The mural represents the neighborhood. It's got our home and our neighbors' homes, but it also has trains and the homes in the shape of DNA because it's part of the neighborhood's DNA: the trains and the train sounds."

You can read more about this mural, and others in the neighborhood, in the Arizona Daily Star article This historic Tucson neighborhood is exploding with works of art. It adds to Tim's comments: "…Andres and Guadalupe Herrera, who built the home in 1906, as well as Frank Bone, who resided there for more than 40 years."

Here are closeups from left to right:

I took advantage of a quieter downtown to snap a lot of photos on Veterans Day, November 11.

La Nalgona has neighbors

In South Tucson is a group of restaurants like a shopping mall food court, American Eat Co. Across the street are three murals:

The first, at the left, for La Nalgona, has been there for a while; on July 20, 2021, we showed a closeup of it. Here's are the two new murals on the right:

And the two murals, one by one, with the artist signature on each:

I took the photos on October 21 — as I contemplated stuffing my face :) at the restaurants behind me.

Same artist, same wall, new mural

On May 30, 2016, I posted a photo of a mural painted on a board and suggested that you decide whether it counted as a mural because it wasn't “on” the wall. This was on the outside south wall of the building along Toole Avenue that once housed George Strasburger's studio, which is (now, at least) called Pleasure World Galleries. (If you'd like to read more about that mural, click there.)

Fast-forward to this year. On a cloudy August 29th, I walked past the building…

…and noticed that the mural had changed. A closeup:

Here's the previous mural, from 2016:

I found the artist, Marcus Robiason, on Facebook. He wrote about that mural and how he's different than many muralists:

Looks like its faded a bit. Cool. Yeah I saw this a long time ago. Thanks for posting it. Im not like most of the muralist in town. Everything i create is from my head as I paint it. Nothing planned out. Its hard for people to give me a wall because i never know how it will manifest. I like it that way, but lots of places want to know ahead of time what the outcome will be. Luckily the people whom have let me paint these had full trust in me. All is freeform. No projectors or pre-planning. Thanks. I appreciate that you include me in the mix. Im definitely not a commercial artist.

The one at Tanline was painted probably six months after that one and the newest one is painted on top of the old one on Toole. The previous one was fading and they asked if i wanted to touch it up, but i ended up just painting a new one. Thanks again.

On April 19, 2017, we posted the mural on Tanline Printing that he's writing about.

Magnificent Mile-high Mural

Well, it's not quite a mile high. Located at the northwest corner of Oregon, the Astoria Column stands on top of 600-foot Coxcomb Hill, with views like this:

(That's the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean.) The column itself is another 125 feet tall…

…so the top of the column is a bit more than one-tenth of a mile high. Whatever. :)

The mural is covered with a spiral frieze. (So that it'll belong on this blog, let's call it a mural.) I visited it on a road trip this past month. Here's one side of the column from top to bottom:

We don't usually post murals outside Tucson. But since this is Thanksgiving weekend, we're taking a little vacation. I was there on October 6th.

Sunshine Mile

Tribute to the businesses along the Sunshine Mile which is a section of Broadway Blvd. between Euclid and Country Club. It's painted on the wall of a business called Caps and More owned by Larry Montoya and was finished around July 23rd. The mural includes a '57 Chevy Bel Air for nostalgia.

By Alicia Ramirez

Click for a larger image.