A previous post, ‘stencils on a blue fence‘ featured art in San Francisco’s Balmy Alley. This post contains a lot more street art from the same location! Although the alley is only one block long, there is a lot to look at! Most of the art depicts Mexican or Hispanic history and culture; there is a strong reoccurring theme of social justice as well.

below: Street art paintings have been a part of Balmy Alley since the early 1970s. it is now home to numerous brightly colored murals.

below: Part of “Five Sacred Colors of Corn” at the entrance to Balmy Alley. Prior to 2021 these panels were at Mercy Housing.

below: A Day of the Dead image – a holiday to remember and honor those who have died.

part of a mural on Balmy, day of the dead theme, mexican roots

below: Max from “Where the Wild Things Are”

mural based on the character Max from the book Where the Wild things are, boy dressed in white wolf suit

below: This photo, and the following two, are from an older mural by Hector Escarraman. It was painted on a wood fence in the alley back in 1995. The colours have faded and the vines have started to encroach on the top of some of the heads but enough of the image remains that you can get a good idea of what the original painting looked like. All of the people in the mural are icons of Mexican art.

faded mural on wood fence, two people, man and woman, man wearing glasses, woman with long braids

below: A lonely red heart has been added.

mural, faded, portrait of a man, with a small red heart sticker on it,

below: One of the figures in blue is Frida Kahlo.

faded blue mural of people standing together

below: Three generations of women working in Nepal are depicted in this mural by Martin Travers. “Naya Bhinana” (A New Dawn) was painted in 2002.

part of Three generations of women working in Nepal are depicted in this mural by Martin Travers. "Naya Bhinana" (A New Dawn) was painted in 2002.

below: These stairs were decorated by Precita Eyes Muralists with a mural titled “Dragon Eyes”. It was painted way back in 1998. For more than forty years Precita Eyes has used murals to enrich communities in San Francisco – murals that focus on positive images about such topics as culture, nature, unity, and history

below: Zigzags and triangles in bright colours with a couple of hummingbirds flying around.

below: There’s a lot of religious and cultural symbolism in this mural and it shows how much the two are entwined.

mural, Madonna, dragon, butterfly in center, symbols, woman's portrait, bright colours

below: On the left, Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti with a few origami birds added to the scene.

faded murals, on left is Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti, both of wooden doors in an alley at number 86, small origami birds have been added

below: Mother and child

on a wood fence, large faces of mother and child

below: At 50A

painted buildings and fence in alley. Large brown and white cow in a landscape

below: Women of the Resistance, 38 women’s portraits in a group, painted in 2018 by Lucía González Ippolito aka Cia Lu Art

women of the resistance mural in balmy alley, featuring portraits of many women

left side of women of the resistance mural in balmy alley, featuring portraits of many women

right side of women of the resistance mural in balmy alley, featuring portraits of many women

below: Ruby throated hummingbird resting on a very blue finger.

street art mural, small ruby throated hummingbird sitting on the finger of an outstretched hand, along with some desert vegetation, cacti and succulents, red sky

mural, Cosmogonia by Chilovia, Raiz Peskado, dedicated to Andres Hernandez, on a wood fence in a lane in San Fran, blue woman with a hummingbird on her hand, boy riding a wolf, turtle, frog, and other flora and fauna

below: There is a dragon here too!

half of mural by Carla Wojczuk, a woman in front of a building,

below: The other half of the mural… It as painted by Carla Wojczuk in 2011 and is titled “56 Lu the Wanderer”.

below: “The Mission District is for Everyone” is the text on the sign that the little blue bear is holding. The mural is “Victorion” by Sirron Norris

mural of houses and apartment buildings that have become parts of robot like monster,

below: A tribute to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who gave his life fighting for social and economic and ecological justice. He was murdered by the CIA (or at least by CIA-backed assassins) on 24th March 1980, the day after he he urged Salvadoran soldiers to disobey their superiors. A few days later, more than 30 people were killed at his funeral. In all, at least 75,000 people lost their lives during the 12 years that the civil war lasted in El Salvador.

mural that is tribute of El Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murdered 24 March 1980, as well as the people killed at his funeral

part of mural that is tribute of El Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero who was murdered 24 March 1980, as well as the people killed at his funeral

below: Un Pasado Que Aún Vive (A Past That Still Lives Here) by Joel Bergner, from 2004

mural by Joel Bergner, mother holding a child, sitting outside,

below: Standing in a barrel is El Chavo from a Mexican television sitcom from the 1970s and 1980s. He is standing beside a mural from 2001 of a butterfly and a palm tree in “Memorias Primas” by Marta Ayala. The butterfly has been covered up for some reason.

below: Happy singing tree? Scared yelling tree? Enchanted and magical forest? Haunted and creepy forest?

mural of a tree with a human face that seems to be screaming

below: Another tree/human mix. This time there is a contrast to the hot colours of the desert on one side and the cooler colours of the city on the other. It is titled “Love and Compassion” and it is in memory of Father Richard Purcell (1938-2011), a Franciscan friar who ran a homeless shelter nearby for men with AIDS. The mural was painted by Laura Campos, a Precita Eyes member.

man as a tree, orange desert background on one side, blue city background with a house on the other

below: Parrots and toucans and other details, mural by Dallas Hyatt

large mural covering garage front, parrots, macaws, toucan, and other birds, also a Jesus with woman and baby.

mural on a garage door in balmy alley, large eyes looking at you

below: “Enrique’s Journey” by Josué Rojas,

mural by Josue Rojas in Balmy Alley San Francisco

mural by Josue Rojas in Balmy Alley San Francisco, man playing guitar

mural by Josue Rojas in Balmy Alley San Francisco, Uncle Sam holding a baby who is crying, ICE immigration depicted as skulls

mural by Josue Rojas in Balmy Alley San Francisco, angel, young boy with arms outstretched as if flying

below: “Tu doy una Cancion como un Disparo como un libro, una Palabra, una Guerrilla, Como Doy el Amor. I give you a Song Like a Tribute, like a Book, a Word, a Freedom fighter, like a I give Love.” Silvio Rodriguez.

man playing guitar, rainbow coming out of guitar and swirling around to form cornucopia of fruits and vegetables being held by a woman.

mural, two people with rifles pointed, three people holding framed photographs of other people

below: Day and night. The man in the moon reflects on the water below. The sun shines in a blue sky.

Photos taken February 2025

On rue Ourcq there is a large building covered with multicoloured faces all painted by DA Cruz. So many eyes!

two women walking on the sidewalk pavement along rue Ourcq in Paris, on the left is a large building covered with street art painting of many stylized faces in many colours painted by d a cruz.

close up of part of mural by d a cruz of bright coloured faces and eyes

There is then a whole wall/fence painted by many different artists including these blue and gold faces by Un Kolor Distinto.

mural by un kolor distinto of two faces in blue and gold

mural with word sadio in it, tribute in memorium moral

below: In grey tones, a mural by American artist BK Foxx. This is the left half, a girl pushing against a wall.

street art mural of a young girl pushing against a wall, in black and white

below: The righthand side of the Foxx mural,

portrait of a young boy in shades of grey, street art mural, with his eyes closed, side view, very realistic

people waiting for a bus at a bus stop on rue ourcq, a large mural with bright pink background is by the bus stop

below:

mural on bright pink background, portrait of a black woman with long pink, orange, and green hair

below: “Can’t stop; won’t stop. Hip Hop” and Yellows. Decipher as you will.

street art painting of a man with back foreward, wearing jacket with word yellows written in yellow, also wearing a red hat with letter Z on it, mural has text can't stop won't stop hip hop

below: More Cruz faces – this time it looks like a happy couple.

two very stylized faces, a street art painting by d a cruz

below: A lovely portrait with a panda along for the ride, by Doudou Style.

street art portrait of an older black woman, smiling, with a small panda on her back

below: A spray paint can in her hand?

a street art painting of a woman squatting on the ground, with a spray paint can in her hand

below: Signed by Kaidea – a portrait in lilac and lavendar with long flowing hair.

street art portrait of a woman with lavendar colour hair

below: Baseball ptcher

below: A book reader who can’t stop dreaming, by FKDL aka Franck Duval.

part of a street art painting of a person holding an open book in front of their face, the word dream written many times

below: Blue faces peaking out from behind the mask

close upp of street art mural of a mask with white straw hair and two blue faces peaking out from the straw

two people walking past a wall with street art on it

below: Rue Ourcq ends at Av. Jean Jaures at the same time that the railway passes overhead. The end section is also covered with DA Cruz faces.

street art murals on rue ourcq as it ends under railway overpass, street art by d a cruz as well as one piece with text french kiss

Photos taken March 2023

Tanini’s colours and shapes

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Mary C

As I walked around Tirana I saw several examples of murals by Albanian artist Eljan Tanini. This blog post features three – a whole building covered by his shapes and colours, a tall vertical mural, and last, a wall with four panels.

below: All sides of the building are covered with whimsical playful shapes in Blloku.

a our storey building with stores at ground level, covered with mural of shapes and colours, lower floors have grey background, upper level has yellow background, painted by Eljan Tanini

close up of some of the windows of a building with the mural that is painted around them

below: Street scene on Rruga Myslym Shyri with the bottom part of Tanini mural showing. This mural was painted as part of MurAL Fest 2018. street view, pedestrians on sidewalk, umbrellas over fruit stand, shops, bottom part of mural by Eljan Tanini

below: Four panels in a concrete wall have abstract paintings by Tanini (one on the left, with a blue background, is not shown). yellow building in the background, concrete fence with recessed panels that have been painted with bright coloured abstract paintings a panel from exterior wall painted byEljan Tanini, abstract shapes and colors on orange background

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Tag Archives: colors

Balmy Alley on a winter afternoon

rue Ourcq in the 19th

Okudart in Ronda

Tanini’s colours and shapes