mama

mama, a photo by killah.poopface on Flickr.

and what a mama she is! i used to spend a ton of time in the Mission, but not so much lately. some, but definitely not much time. i hadn’t even realized that the ever-so-incredible Women’s Building outside mural, MaestraPeace, was being restored. A friend visiting from Chicago was in town and so close to seeing them! Alas, scaffolding abounded. Luckily, the inside artwork is still available to enjoy in all of its colorful rainbow inspiring hopeful glory!

I love this mother with child strapped to her back and it makes me think of the word swathed, which is a word i rarely think of but like a lot. wow, how soothing to be swathed. i am jealous of that bebe now.

also i like that there is a fire alarm in this mural. go mama go!

and i certainly look forward to seeing MaestraPeace restored to its full beauty! Apparently they are still seeking donations to get to the fundraising goal of $130,000, so if by chance you want to help the Women’s Building and Mission be extra beautiful, inspiring, and amazing, feel free to chip in what you can. Last week (or so)(time flies) I went to the fabulous Roxie Theater for a showing of documentary footage of the Clarion Alley Mural Project, which is also an incredible contribution to the Mission and San Francisco. They showed some footage of what the Women’s Building looked like pre-mural and woah! what a difference and how boring. It really does make the neighborhood so much nicer to be in, colors and art and love and power that comes through these murals. I am grateful to get to experience it all.

what are you looking at?

what are you looking at?, a photo by killah.poopface on Flickr.

I got to hang out with all kinds of flowers this weekend – many real ones at Green Gulch Farm in Marin, which I happily visited for the first time – and big beautiful flowers on the wall in the city like this one. Delightful accessories for the lovely lady in red.

I was just driving by, actually, as I’m sure I have a million times before, but it totally caught my eye this time. I like that someone could just be casually near it, distracted by headphone sounds and phone visuals and maybe not even notice the awesomeness behind him. Or maybe he did! Who knows. Anyway, San Francisco provides so many great moments like this and they make me really happy.

i’m also very happy to have a new iPhone 5, a super generous and fantastic birthday gift! It takes really beautiful and impressive photos. My last phone camera broke many months ago (years? I’ve lost track of time) and I have really missed the quick snap fun! These results also look waaaay better than those ever did. Holy guacamole it even has a flash. I hate using a flash but dang! That is a fancy phone camera. How far we’ve come! Well, some of us. I know it is incredibly lucky to have such a useful and fun piece of technology in my pocket. I am a fatcat! And loving it and superduper extremely grateful.

lovely lady

lovely lady, a photo by killah.poopface on Flickr.

i looooove this mural. this lady, and her friend, and the flowers and rainbows and colors and swirls – so gorgeous.

it is on an alley off of 10th Street in SOMA. on the way to the 101, as it were. normally i get on the 101 at 7th street, but my neighbors were blocking my street so I was forced to use a different route. At first I was mad! even though it really didn’t matter. How rude! I huffed, those selfish #$%^^#@! hogging the dang street.

My street is one way so I had to reverse down it, illegally, and then reverse illegally onto another one way street. So I guess the potential for crashing was increased and I had to look behind me a lot more. annoying, this city life thing that I forget about so quickly thanks to my suburban journeys (odysseys, really) during the week. not that commuting doesn’t remind me daily about selfish people and their odd maneuvers with cars.

anyway, all of the trickiness was successfully executed and then I was glad it happened because I got to see this mural. As I whizzed past in my car! But then I walked over there yesterday to spend some quality time with it (in the wind. the wind yesterday was FIERCE!) lesson learned, detours appreciated.

3d

3d, a photo by killah.poopface on Flickr.

aw yay another one i would have missed if not for being on foot these days. i don’t walk down Clarion Alley so often anymore and some things get tagged/disappear so quickly…ok most things. no respect. lame.

anyway i love the elephant(s) in this piece. the other elephant is not included because even more! i love that the painting of a tree neatly transitions into being a real tree. it’s like…the art belongs there even more. that and makes you (me) really see reality and art, not so far apart! i hope one day for real elephants in the Mission. well, really happy elephants. seems unlikely. so i will stick to being happy with snakes for now!

uhoh!

uhoh!, a photo by killah.poopface on Flickr.

i love this guy!
he’s been there for awhile, i believe, but alas i have not!

my car was totaled two weeks ago in a pretty intense accident that i am super lucky to have escaped from with the most minor of injuries. mostly, i feel lucky to be alive each day and don’t want to waste time doing dumb things because, well, it was a great reminder that life is quite unpredictable and any moment could be your last. i really thought that i was about to die.

once in awhile, though, i slip into some self-pity, and really wish that the guy who hit me would just admit fault and his insurance company would pay me for my poor totaled car – I miss having one, and it is hard for me to imagine causing an accident that nearly kills someone and totals their car without accepting responsibility. i am not that kind of human.

anyway! the accident has me back on public transit and walking around for the most part, which has quite luckily been great in terms of the opportunities to enjoy more ART in san francisco. it’s everywhere! and i love it! and i never would have met my newest octopus pal whilst whizzing by in a car. I’ve probably driven past him many times, in fact, and not known he lurked there. so i am grateful that the accident has made me get my lazy butt walking around again and enjoying sunshine and sea creatures in san francisco.

oh – the interwebs tell me this giant amazing mural is by Pemex and is called Sink & Swim and a picture of the whole thing is here. But you should really just go see it for yourself, if you can. on foot!

with peacock

with peacock, a photo by killah.poopface on Flickr.

i love this panel! part of a five-part mural by Sam Flores on Haight Street, in the Lower Haight.  There is always plenty of good street art to be found there – I mostly aim thereabouts to get my hair cut, since it is hair salon central, but I should visit more often for the art. And the eating. Those big fat hush puppies at Kate’s Kitchen, oh my!

all of the panels of this mural are great, but my love of peacocks makes this one my favorite, i do believe. the colors and flowers and everything about this mural makes me happy. thanks, San Francisco, and super duper thanks to Sam Flores!