Festa!

I've always wanted to attend the annual Festa downtown in Little Italy, and today I had the opportunity.

Kids must have "decorated" the street today before the crowds arrived.
A lot of people were just walking over the mini masterpieces, not noticing, but I thought it was fun to acknowledge the doodles and scribbles


I've been to other events in Little Italy, and those were actually even more romantic because they featured opera-singing waiters.
The singing was sadly absent today, but the Festa does feature several bands, a show of luxury Italian cars, vendors, and lots of food.
The show stoppers, however, are the artistic entries in the chalk drawing competition--all voted on by the public, and vying for cash prizes.
The sidewalk or street chalk drawings are Gesso Italiano.


The art featured homage to Italian masters in painting and other arts, but also to this year's sponsor: Fiat

Gorgeous!

















My favorite drawing was a tribute to Caravaggio.
My photos don't do the drawing justice--the detail and realism was amazing


Miscellaneous:
Awesome mermaid balloon sculpture


Lots of scooters, and this pristine vintage Corvair


I love the juxtaposition of old against new (the whales painting is by Wyland)


A mosaic on a column


Birds on a wire (photo taken through the window of the Trolley)


My favorite moment of the day: watching an elderly couple dance, alone in a small plaza, to a smiling man playing an accordian.

Yes You Can

I'm considering entering Friskies "Together We Can" contest--to make a work of art constructed from Friskies cat food cans.
Art, especially three dimensional art, is one of my passions.

To garner inspiration, I went online, and was surprised by the quantity of can art available.
Friskies cans are aluminum, but for the sake of inspiration I am posting tin can art also.
I found some amazing stuff:
Wow, beer and soda cans made up an exhibit of opera costumes, including these amazing shoes (video)

Hmmm, lingerie?

Gorgeous wall art by Paul Villinski--these are butterflies from beer cans.

Eagle made from Red Bull Cans (entire gallery of art here)

Lots of examples on Make Magazine, including this cricket

Wee sculptures by Loren Scrugg (etsy)

And there are also huge installations, like this mermaid (found here, but no info on artists. Many more example of art at the link though)

Or this 20-foot replica of Big Ben, by Robert Bradford

Or a multitude of cars, including this Bud version

Or, holy cow, architect Richard Van Os Keuls covered his house in flattened can "shingles"
If you'd like to copy this on a more manageable project, he also made this planter

If you'd rather decorate the interior of your house, how about this wall covering?


Some items can be more everyday--such as assemblage bracelets or dolls made from tin (see my previous post)

or retro doll furniture techniques, sometimes considered Tramp Art, like this dollhouse chair (from Flickr)
or this pincushion(see my previous post, and note I have uploaded that entire booklet to my Flickr pages)

Clock made from recycled soda cans

There's even a book, Fine Art of the Tin Can, by Bobby Hansson">

More examples (and for sale) at Indigo Arts

Orlando Forge Gallery

Kim Groff-Harrington Gallery

Tutorial using tin can lid and bottlecaps, by Altered Art Junkies

Room with a View

View from my apartment window in Point Loma, 2000.
A mural on Nimitz Bouldevard.

When I moved in, my landlord said one of the advantages of the place was that it had an ocean view ;)
I adored that apartment.
I lived with a professional surfer, but she had me move out six months later so her friends from out of state could move in.

Sadly, both the teal colored apartments and the mural were painted over a dreary beige.

For the love of murals

I love street art.
That includes, for the most part, grafitti, and most certainly murals.

(click on image to enlarge)

This is part of a huge mural on the side of a building on Morena Boulevard in San Diego, featuring two marlin and a school of dorado.
It was painted by Chuck Byron.
The mural is easily visible to the adjacent freeway traffic (Interstate 5 North).

I'm not really a fish person (I'm definitely not into fishing), but this is so bold and colorful, it can't help but make me smile.

Bring back peace to OB

(click on image to enlarge)
I posted about the peace sign atop a rock in Ocean Beach, back in September of 2006.

It was stolen last weekend.

Sign On San Diego reported about it, but the OB Rag had a disheartening update.

Turns out the stained glass sign was an art installation by
Peace Rocks.
It lasted 18 months before someone either stole or dismantled it.
(gallery of photos)

The point of art, really, is to create a discourse.
If the work is successful, it will cause a visceral reaction, both positive and negative.
The peace sign most certainly has done that. (see reactions)

Personally, I loved it.
I thought it whimsical, fun, unexpected.
Others thought the natural seascape was beauty enough, and should not be embellished.
My thought is art by God's hands is magnificent, but art created by man's hands is also often divine.

Thanks to Beach Blogger for making me aware of this turn of events.

Neckties Galore!

Most of you know I have some kind of obsession with neckties.

I was cruising Flickr.com and came across some necktie images that are not related to sewing.
But they're still fun.
(click on images to enlarge)

Like this decorated vehicle posted by Cynner.
(she also posts under Cynner SF)

Neckties galore (art car)
Originally uploaded by Cynner_SF

Cynner says, "...all I really know is that it's a truck, covered in men's neckties, and it was parked near Barbie Death Camp at last year's Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. and I took a picture of it."


There are also assorted photos of dogs and cats wearing neckties--here's one handsome fellow.
Posted by JellyWatson. Visit her website.

Top Model
Originally uploaded by jellywatson

I would love to see this sculpture in Frankfurt, Germany, by artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen,
entitled Inverted collar and tie (1994).
More information here.

Tree of ties,
an imaginative department store display posted by Redxdress.


Onesies by Vintage Katie Jean (etsy).
You can also visit her website).
I guess this one does involve sewing. My bad.
I can see it in paint though too. Cute whichever technique is used.

necktie onesie
Originally uploaded by katie jean

Towel art
Posted by Slingload, who says, "The Wingate Hotel in Bozeman, MT folds the guest towels into a shirt and necktie presentation."

Shirt and necktie towels
Originally uploaded by slingload

Vintage ad for a glow-in-the-dark necktie (multiple sources).
I need to find myself a copy of this!