Here are some fun with a flip phone photos from in and around San Jose. These photos have no added filter effects; this is just how cell phone photos use to look. They are less than 2 megapixels and sometimes look a little like computer generated paintings and sometimes like incredibly detailed versions of foggy dreams.
Bathroom in downtown Santa Cruz food court.
Twin Lakes beach in Santa Cruz.
Cottonwood Lake in Hellyer County Park in San Jose.
A street sign in San Jose.
Bobblehead race at the A’s game in Oakland.
Bubbles in the air from a vendor at the Newark Days festival in Newark.
Monte Sereno is at the end of the building and is five murals around a doorway that focus on painter Thomas Kinkade who had lived there. These murals above were by Kachan Paranjpe Khadikar and Ketaki Adi. The following ones were, in the order shown, by Joseph Demaree, Francisco Ramirez, and Lila Gemellos.
From the street of San Tomas Aquino Rd. I assumed I was looking at a simple, though attractive, vegetable sculpture. Then I got closer and saw there was more to it. Notice the roof of this library has a rain spout directed to the top of the sculpture. Then, looking closer I saw that the sculpture has curves that channel water and a drain near its base. It is a part of the rain water drain path! That is just neat. I found that the artist Elizabeth Conner (https://elizabethconner.com/section/348652-Public-Art.html) calls this work “Cabbage”.
From the top you can see how the water is channeled all around the grooves of the sculpture’s leaves as it flows down towards the drain.
Waterways work their away around it all and it has integrated lights to backlight the leaves at night.
I like looking at this and hope to be near it when it is raining some day.
I stopped because I thought someone had given these koalas a scarf or something. It looks like it may actually be balloons or something that got caught up in the sculpture. According to SanJose.com (https://www.sanjose.com/2011/06/01/branching_out/) these numerous koala sculptures you see in the trees on E. San Carlos Street were put up by the San Jose Downtown Association in 2011.
When I saw this one I instantly liked it and assumed it was completed for the most part. These photos of the Alley behind the corner of Stevens Creek and Bascom were taken a couple of weeks apart and show some changes. For this mural, it was dramatic and still excellent even though very different to me after the artist added the lines you will see next.
I like it both ways so much I can not quite make up my mind which way I would prefer it. Each way feels different to me like separate and excellent works. I ran into the artist, Augie WK (https://www.thejamsbrand.com/augiewk), selling some of his artwork at a SoFA First Friday event and told him how I liked this mural off of Stevens Creek and how I liked it both ways so much. He told me that he’s heard similar thoughts often from people with his art. He sometimes uses the lines and sometimes does not when he employs this style in his work. I’m glad that I was able to stop and appreciate this mural in both phases.
Here are some more works in the alley from various artists. New pieces pop up every once in a while so this alley already has more works than is captured in these photos.
