Murals by Happenstance

I had an eye appointment that was inconveniently timed. Our family has one car (my husband commutes to work by bike year round) to serve not only the 3 drivers in our house but also Chris's parents, who are legally blind and (obviously) can't drive. On this particular Monday, we had to juggle my 8:10 eye appointment, my mother-in-law's 9:30 appointment across town, and a late morning appointment that Chris had.

Our solution was for Chris to drop me off, and when my appointment ended I would start walking the 4 miles home. We knew he'd be able to pick me up long before I got all the way home, but a walk through Portland's neighborhoods on a sunny morning sounded much better to me than sitting in a waiting room for an hour.

On my way home, I came across this mural, informally painted on the side of a garage that faces an alley way. This is the uncropped photo that I snapped from my cell phone. I like how the roughness of the photo matches the setting of this modest neighborhood and the mural's theme with the money flying off the tree.

I also came across a mural in progress. I can't find any information about it. The white spots are numbered, clearly waiting to be filled in. I'll go back in a couple of weeks to see if any progress has been made, or if this is an unofficial project destined to be painted over by Portland's graffiti abatement program. I doubt that's the case here in the upscale Alameda neighborhood, an unlikely spot for renegade street artists.

I ended up having a fantastic walk through Portland's diverse neighborhoods, then Chris picked me up and we had just enough time for coffee and fresh doughnuts at the fabulous Pips Original before I had to drop him off at home to prepare for his appointment, before I headed across town to pick up his mom at the end of hers.

Here's another brand new mural I came upon recently. A few months ago, Ben got his ears pierced, and I snapped a photo of this bee mural outside the tattoo/body art/piercing studio. As you can see, it was a little worn, with sections of paint flaking off.

When we went back a couple weeks ago for some follow-up care, we found that the bees had been replaced by pigs! I shot this photo with a smudge filter, straight into the sun for dramatic effect.

Translation: the light was terrible for a photo facing west and I had a smudge on my lens. In other words, this is a really bad photo that no self-respecting photographer would post on the internet. 

I love street art, but even more than that I love coming across it unexpectedly as I go about my day. Even if the lighting and the lens aren't perfect for capturing the moment.
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Snapshot: A mural and a not-mural

Last fall I created a Portland murals walking tour for myself (I posted some photos of one of the murals here). I was hoping to offer public access to the route, but after walking it with my husband and son, I realized it was a bit too long for the average walker. I'm working on separating that walk into two, and also plotting out more for other Portland neighborhoods. I'm sure I'll be posting photos of those murals this spring.

Have you ever noticed how, once you start thinking about some specific little thing, it pops up everywhere? This has definitely happened to me with murals. I can't believe how many I used to drive right by without even seeing them.


Here's one I know I wouldn't have missed! A few weeks ago, Chris, Evan and I were walking in the northwest section of Portland. I was delighted to come across this mural along the way. Apparently it was just done in December, 2012.

I'd never heard of Mellow Mushroom but it seems to be prolific in the eastern part of the country. I have no idea what their pizza is like, but I sure like their mural. The artists are Travis Czekalski and Jon Stommel, who have done murals for two other Mellow Mushrooms in other states.



On the same walk, we passed a self-storage place.
It's not exactly a mural, because the decoration is made of metal instead of paint, but I think it's fabulous. It must be relatively new, because it doesn't show up on the pictures of the building from the company's website, but I can't find any information about the artist.

Just goes to show you, anything can be made beautiful with enough effort!



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Still Life With Mural

Murals seem to be popping up everywhere you look in Portland, and especially in the Alberta neighborhood in the Northeast quadrant. In the fall I plotted a walking tour for myself. I had a great day out with my husband and oldest son, walking through Portland neighborhoods in search of murals, stopping for lunch along the way, and taking photos. I'd like to plot more mural walks in other Portland neighborhoods this spring, and write them up as little walking tours at some point.

This mural isn't my very favorite one, but I love the interplay between the painted surface of the wall and the live grasses planted in front of it, and the way the angle of the roof of the structure at the far end of the wall is echoed in the real building behind it.

I can almost imagine this man in the blue shirt turning from his work in the garden, to part the grasses so that he can get a better look at the real world outside his painting.

This is what I love about public art--it interacts with its environment in a way that art in a museum can never do. It lives in our world.

Saturday Snapshot

is hosted by At Home With Books

To participate, post a picture that was taken by

you, a friend, or a family member, and add your link

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