Poppies not yoga

That was the scene June 20th, one block south of Broadway on 4th Avenue. It's the mural painted recently for the new business Arizona Poppy. We have photos of earlier murals on these walls, from Tucson Yoga, taken between 2009 and 2012:

• Country in the city (May 28, 2009)
• Country in the city, part 2 (October 18, 2010)
• Tucson Yoga (mural) reborn (October 14, 2012)

Bodega Solai

The Downtown Tucson Partnership (which promotes activities and businesses around downtown) wrote that Bodega Solai is a place to get "a quick bite to eat, snacks, drinks, CBD, workout supplements, smoke & vape products, and more! And don't forget their sock wall! All socks just $2!"

It seems that the inside is just as eclectic as the outside. Click on the photo for a larger view and look at the sign at the lower left.

I was there June 20th.

Mural conspiracy...

to make you want to buy food… is on the front windows of the Food Conspiracy Co-op on 4th Avenue:

Close-ups from left (the north end) to right (the south):

I snapped the photos (and tried not to buy any food) on June 20th.

Pet Portrait

 Found at 2926 E. Seneca St. on the east wall facing N. Bentley Ave.

By Sasha Aliza

Click for a larger image.

Flower Stop ten years later

It was November 23, 2011 when I posted a photo of Flower Stop on South 12th Avenue that looked a bit like a construction zone. When I came back on April 3, 2022, I saw:

Arte Bella's beautiful art

In Italian, Arte Bella means beautiful art. The muralist Chilli Mangos (on Instagram, @chillimangos) painted the entire front of Arte Bella. Here's the front from the left (north) side and the right (south) side:

Next, some closeups. The muralist also painted the underside of the roof… I'll show as much of that as I could fit into my camera:

I took the photos on June 20, 2022.

Update (November 15, 2022): There's More arte bella behind Arte Bella.

Paint for Pets

On 1st Avenue just south of Glenn is Pet Doctor:

That mural is on the north-facing wall. Here's a photo of just the mural, followed by close-ups of the left and right ends:

There's a mural on the wall's other (south) side too:

I drove by on June 22nd.

Desert Sage School

Desert Sage School is a Waldorf-inspired, tuition-free public charter high school guided by the Core Principles of Public Waldorf Education.  The first day of class is Aug. 8, 2022.  Accepting students for Grades 9 and 10.  Grades 11 and 12 will be added later.

Artist(s) Unknown

Click for a larger image.

Update (June 9, 2023) from Jerry Peek: I found finished versions of this mural in BG Boyd's Tucson Murals database, tucsonazmurals.com. He gave me permission to edit the first photo below so it shows the same area as David's. The overall photo at the end is directly from BG's site.

Angels

East wall of Noodies Restaurant (replaces Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea).

By Jenna Tomasello

Click for a larger image.

Update: Back on May 2, 2022, artist Jenna Tomasello (@jennatomasello) wrote on her Instagram post about the mural “The Birth of Venus painted for @noodiestucson. Thanks to @arterosas_ @ginger__love @alycatmiller @juju_bug__ for all the help on this big project.”

Transit Tea

Some chain businesses have the same mass-produced mural on many or all of their stores. Although I've only been to the Transit Tea location on Speedway in Tucson, I'm guessing that the outside of this building is like others:

I floated by on June 12th.

The Teal Saguaro

The Teal Saguaro is a resale boutique that benefits Tucson Medical Center. Angela Pittenger painted this mural on its west wall:

She wrote:

It is fully operated by volunteers. … We wanted to create something to represent Tucson to serve as a landmark for people looking for the shop. You'll notice a heart shaped cactus pad on the prickly pear on the left. That is to represent community since it is a volunteer operation benefitting a community hospital.

Here's the scene:

I was there on June 7th.

Aliens Attack!

West wall of EverChange (video games and more).  Next door to Cathy's Sewing and Vacuum.

By Katherine Joyce

Click for a larger image.

Living Mural still alive in June

There are two "living" murals on opposite sides of 4th Avenue. One, at 331 East 7th, looked like this on August 10, 2021: "Living" TUCSON AZ mural. I haven't gone back in the past year, but I'll aim to. The other is at 442 East 7th. Photos of it on May 3, 2021 are here: The "living" mural. I make a quick stop there on June 20, 2022:

I only had a few minutes, so I grabbed quick photos of sections instead of each little mural. From left (the north end) to right (the south):

(As always, you can click on an image for a slideshow of larger views.)

Across this little parking lot is another mural wall on the side of 426 East 7th. Here are photos from left (south) to right (north). Two of the photos were from the left and right of the vehicle parked along the wall:

Mosaics at the Pima Council On Aging

There are probably 12 or more mosaics at the front entrance.  I only had time for two.  I'll have to make a return trip for the others.

The artist is not known.

Click on the photo for a larger image.

Tucson Herb Store

Organic Herbs, Spices and Oils.

Artist Not Known

Click for a larger image.

Box Turtle

Fragile, handle with care:

That turtle in a box is part of a longer mural by Jerry Wagner Jr:

The left side:

Click on any photo for a slideshow of larger images.

Freedom -- thanks to a motorcycle, thanks to veterans

Thanks to Monty SES Esposito for that photo of his mural on the west side of Standup Bill's Annex in the parking lot of American Legion John P. Burns Post 36. He took it on March 10th after he had finished painting. I stopped by on March 21 to snap two closeups:

He painted another mural nearby with help from two other artists. It's in our October 8, 2021 post Greetings from ARIZONA.

Another big Joe Pagac mural: Zion City (Murals being made, part 70)

Q: How big is Joe Pagac's new mural?

A: Look at the bottom left below. The red box marks an SUV in the parking lot under the mural:

It's pretty big: 6800 square feet, Joe says.

For another perspective, here's an aerial photo taken April 25 by BG Boyd Photography (thanks, BG!):

Next, a photo of the blank wall from @joepagac on Instagram, February 14. By comparing it to the photos above, I'd say it's showing less than half the width of the wall. And if you look closely, you'll see a tiny person in the middle at the bottom. That's Joe:

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A post shared by Joe Pagac (@joepagac)

I stopped by on February 21 and was lucky to find Joe there, just starting to paint:

An Arizona Daily Star article said he planned to finish around mid-April: Tucson artist Joe Pagac works on his largest mural yet.

On April 6, Joe's Instagram had a photo of volunteers painting:

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A post shared by Joe Pagac (@joepagac)

I came back on April 27th to see the finished mural. Here are photos from roughly left to right:

When I stood next to the prickly pear at the bottom left of the photo above, I noticed that Joe used loose brushstrokes, as you'll see below. When you stand back a ways (which is normal for such a big mural!), the brushstrokes look just fine:

I'm always interested in how muralists deal with parts of the building like doors and pipes. For instance:

Next, looking in from the right side and at the middle:

The signatures of Joe and his crew are hard to spot. Usually they're at one end of a mural. In this case, they're below and to the right of the lion. I've highlighted them in the first photo: