Balmy Alley on a winter afternoon

Posted on December 2, 2025 by Mary C

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

Pink Men on 5th

Posted on March 31, 2024 by Mary C

On 5th Ave South there is a large mural painted by Colombian artist GLEO for SHINE 2021 as a tribute to two men who were important to her. SHINE is the annual St. Petersburg Mural Festival. Unfortunately part of it is now hidden behind a large white container.

at the end of a parking lot in st petersburg, one black vehicle, one large white container, a mural with men's faces by gleo

Left side

part of a mural, a man balancing a large pink flower by the bottom of its stem, a large man's face

Middle

a large hand over a man's face, part of a large mural by gleo

part of a mural in st petersburg painted during shine festival in 2021

Right side

Photos taken March 2024

under an Ostiense railway bridge

Posted on January 21, 2024 by Mary C

Once upon a time, about 2013, on Via Ostiense under the railway tracks, a group of artists painted the concrete walls… Names like 2501, moneyless, andreco, tellas, Martina Merlini, ozmo, and gaia. By January 2020 only parts of them could be seen. This post shows part of those concrete walls as they appeared at the beginning of 2020 (other parts of the bridge to follow in subsequent posts).

The artist 2501 (aka Jacopo Ceccarelli) is known for his black and white striped creations and some of those were still visible along with realistic looking hands and faces that were probably painted by others.

blog_striped_animal_eyes

blog_hand_striped_ball

below: Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poet, by OZMO

blog_shelley_by_ozmo

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below: Another portrait by OZMO

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below: A tarot card with an image of Temperance. She is often an angel and is one of the three virtues found in tarot cards along with Justice and Strength. A woman mixing water into wine was a standard allegory of Temperance in European art.

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below: “#BackToBlue” by Luca Maleonte, the original 2014 mural was tagged over before I saw it and just the top central two figures could be seen.

below: I found this photo online of the mural after it had just been painted.

Luca Maleonte mural #BacktoBlue from Widewalls site — Photo credit: Widewalls

below: The artist who created these is leonardo crudi novecento (Leonardo Crudi) The description of the black and yellow poster on his Instagram is “Alle bestie che strisciano da varie fessure Bisbiglio piano, di mio arbitrio: Prospera Allora mi guardo intorno – ma forse agisco, Sventurato contro la volonta di qualcuno Prigov e gli scarafaggi” Using Google Translate – “To the beasts that crawl from various cracks I whisper softly, of my own free will: Prosperous Then I look around – but perhaps I act, Wretched against someone’s will Prigov and the cockroaches” Prigov refers to Dmitri Prigov, a Russian writer and artist.

below: Helicopter silhouette

Pictures taken January 2020

The next installment of graffiti found under the Ostiense bridge is here – another section

Vegas hands and a shorty

Posted on April 22, 2023 by Mary C

There are two large murals near the intersection of East Fremont and North 6th in Las Vegas. In the foreground is this pair of teal hands. This is one of two murals that Brazilian duo Bicicleta Sem Freio (aka Douglas de Castro and Renato Pereira) painted in Vegas during the ‘Life is Beautiful’ event of 2017.

below: Closer view of the hands with their black finger nails and oval rings.

“below: Behind, Linus has a complaint writ large in a mural by Mark Drew. The text is a quote from C.R.E.A.M., a song by Wu Tang Gang.
“Life as a shorty shouldn’t be so rough
But as the world turned, I learned life is hell
Livin’ in the world no different from a cell.”

below: The other mural by Bicicleta Sem Freio has a musical theme.

below: Dark blue faced trumpet player.

below: Another blue faced trumpet player, but a little paler. There is a strong resemblance between the hands in this mural and those in the top mural.

Barreiro train station vicinity

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Mary C

Although it is a city in its own right, Barreiro seems like a suburb of Lisbon. It is most easily accessed by a short ferry ride across the Tagus River from central Lisbon. The Barreiro train station is next to the ferry dock. There are now numerous murals in Barreiro in part because of a project called Art in Town run by the City Council and ADAO.

The building in the middle is ADAO Headquarters (Associação Desenvolvimento Artes e Ofícios, translation: Assoc for the Development of Arts and Crafts)

view from bridge, ADAO headquarters, an old industrial site, with street art murals on it

below: A hole in the concrete wall provides a short cut across the tracks as well as a different view of the murals painted by Gonçalo Mar (aka Gonçalo Ribeiro) and Odheit

concrete fence with part removed for a walkway, building with murals in the background

below: On the fence, a owl keeps a watchful eye on passers-by

on a concrete block wall, a street art painting of an owl's face

below: A closer view of the ADAO Headquarters mural . The fish-like figures swimming on the walls appear frequently in Mar’s work.

mural by Mar on A D A O building by the train station in Barreiro Portugal. Hands. Fish like creatures, a big pink flower, an adult habd reaching out and touching fingers of a small child's hand, grey hexagons

below: A head with long flowing grey and turquoise hair emerges from the hexagons.

mural of the head of a grey faced older woman with eyes closed, flowing grey hair, emerging from grey and turquoise hexagons

below: Backyard view

back of an old industrial building with a small fenced in yard, old plastic chairs, graffiti on walls,

below: Punk red feathers

street art painting in a yard, a brown skinned man with red feathers in his hair and orange paint marks on his face

below: Two street art portraits; the woman on the right was painted by Pedro Pinhal

two portraits, street art, on the left in black and white, an older wrinkled faced man while on the right in colour, a younger brown woman with a metal head band and necklace

a black and white street art portrait of a man with bald forehead but long hair at the back, hoop ear rings and necklaces

below: A mermaid, octopus, paper sailboat, and fish bones

below: Ursa’s laptop and old flip phone has begun to sprout.

below: Old School Futuristes

below: Each one teach one

below: Rays of sunshine above with sharp angles of concrete below.

below: Back to the front of the ADAO Headquarters ….

below: …. where this beauty stands by the entrance.

people in the abstract

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Mary C

Lodz Poland is full of murals. It’s the kind of city where Tourist Information gives out maps showing the location of more than 130 murals, most of which are in walking distance (but there are trams too if you prefer). Three of those 130 are here in this blog post.

First, an upside down wiggly line couple by Klone Yourself (aka Igor Revelis) titled “Midnight Lovers”. Painted in 2017.

mural by Klone of two people upside down on the side of building, one figure is missing a face because there is a window there, figures drawn with contour lines in black and white

street scene in Lodz Poland with parked cars, sidewalk, stores, and other buildings, a mural is partially visible

Another large mural in Lodz featuring abstracted human forms is this sort of art deco style painting.

The third is this mural called “Gentrification” by Tone aka Robert Proch (d. 2019). It was painted in 2013.

close up of a mural by tone in Lodz Poland

mural by Robert Proch, tone, of abstract people swirling

Photos taken May 2022

emo & remote collaboration in Hollywood

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Mary C

Emo (aka Eddie Mendieta) and Remote (aka Jay Bellicchi), both from south Florida, collaborated on a large mural in downtown Hollywood, Florida.

a mural by emo and remote, also known as Eddie Mendieta and Jay Bellicchi

Two women, one at each end, reaching for the sun in the middle. Their hands and fingers are loosely wrapped by a vine that is also reaching for the sun.

part of a mural by emo and remote, large yellow and orange sun in the middle, a hand is reaching for the sun, a vine is growing up the hand and fingers towards the sun

close up of woman's face in mural, in grey tones, lying on her side, width of face is height of wall, blank expression on her face

emo and remote mural, rays of light form the sun on blue sky with finges reaching out, vines wrapped around fingers, small green leaves

one end of a mural by emo and remote in hollywood florida can be seen on the side of a building, as seen from across the street, car parked in front, tall palm tree

J-DEF Peace Project, hands in unity

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Mary C

(continued from above)

Another J-DEF Peace Project mural in Pilsen, this time on the brick wall beside a small park on Allport Street.

Hands in Unity, a mural featuring large hands in various positions, making heart shapes, making peace symbols, a mural on a wall

hands forming a heart shape around a man's profile in white

hands in a mural called hands in unity

on a yellow background, a list of 30 names of the young people who helped to create a mural on a brick wall on the exterior of St. Pius church

Cleveland – Waterloo Road

Posted on October 7, 2017 by Mary C

Waterloo Road runs parallel to the Lakeland Freeway (I-90) in Collinwood which is east of downtown Cleveland. It is an older neighbourhood in need of revitalization and, like more and more cities, it is an area in which street art is encouraged – now the Waterloo Arts and Entertainment District The following are the murals that I saw along Waterloo Road last month.

very large mural in black on a boarded up goldish coloured building, windows painted same colour as building, two storeys, man in a gas mask, at the corner of 156th Street and Waterloo in Cleveland

below: This large mural dominates the intersection of East 156th and Waterloo.

continuation of mural of man in gas mask, building is on a corner and the mural exte4nds around the corner, there is a large bird in his hand,

below: Hundreds of faces linked together

four panels in a a mural of people with large multicoloured faces, blue and red bodies, all holding hands,

close up of a mural with face in many colours, all drawn with lines, long red arm reaches in one direction, background is black and white faces

below: Pop Life building

upper part of a building that has been painted in stripes and rectangles of colours including black and white sections

below: The front of the building was painted by Lynnea Holand-Weiss as part of Waterloo Arts Zoetic Walls project, June 2015. The building is owned by Judy Wolfe, a weaver, and some her designs were used as inspiration for the mural.

street art murals on two sides of a two storey building, on side is a black person dancing and on the front are two older people that are facing each other, takes up whole front of the building, there is a blue shadow for each that represents their younger selves.

below: Treasure has left his/her mark

Cleveland street art, exterior, on the upper level of a building, face in many colours, with text that says treasure

below: A hammer and a pair of pliers and a line of little people below. Do the blue lines emanating from his eyes have any significance? It looks rather creepy. But maybe he’s just a visionary or is looking to rebuild the community.

a woman walks past a building with a large mural painted on it, a man holds a hammer in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other, blue lines loop from his eyes to the tools, old store front is empty, Cleveland,

below: A barber with bling in the city.

mural on side of red brick building on Waterloo Road in Cleveland, a large hand with rings and bracelets is reaching towards a cityscape in black with pink yellow and orange sky

below: All Ways, by Lynnea Holland-Weiss

double car garage with a face painted on each, one with black background and the other with blue background, big multi coloured faces that are looking at each other, beside the garage is a fence and gate with two more figures painted on them, one red with a yellow head and the other is blue with a red head

below: A messy pile of opened foldaway chairs. on the side of building in CLeveland, a mural of a stack of foldable chairs, open, disorderly pile, not neatly piled,

below: Abstract lines and shapes form an archway. abstract geometric shapes in a mural, pink background, shapes in blues and greys along with some blue and white lines

below: Part of mural by Nick Mann, 2013 (2 photos)

part of a mural by Nick Mann in Cleveland

below: Joined by an infinite rainbow. The wire fence prevented me from getting closer (trespassing in foreign countries is not as easy as it is at home!) so I didn’t get a good look at some of the detail in this mural.

mural on the side of a building, two people facing each other with rainbow coloured lines joining them

below: The Waterloo Arts building.

the front of the Waterloo Arts building in Cleveland, painted in light green with other designs, such as a long snake. three windows, two are closed and one is open

below: The mural on the side of the Waterloo Arts building…

a mural that is a collage of faces of many people, simply painted, each within a square or rectangle, Cleveland street art

below: … and the words that go with it.

words painted on a wall beside a mural in Cleveland that thanks the people who made the mural

“Inspired by the artwork and concepts of ArtsCollinwood’s portfolio project students, this mural represents our vibrant community and shows what can occur when established artists collaborate with students.

the following students participated in this inaugural year of portfolio project. Not only did they exhibit tremendous talent, they continue to amaze us with their energy, ideas, and fortitude, Imane Blaine, Arrielle Like, Marcel Mason, Miracle Smothers, Lorenzo Thomas, Siera Thomas, Destiny Ware, Derek Witcher. Mural by J. Kelly (with A. Merritt and C. [illegible] ) June 14th – June 24th, 2010″

an Athenian couple

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Mary C

These two people stand side by side on a wall part way up the hill to the Acropolis.

a black and white paste up of woman that has been painted over with many colours except for the head, hands and feet (wearing old fashioned shoes), on a wall in Athens,

I don’t know which artist is responsible for the black and white (pasteup?) at the bottom but the details in their work are wonderful even if a lot has been painted over (or is that what they looked like originally?). I like the texture of the stockings as well as the mix up in the gender – hands too big for her, shoes not right for him.

a black and white paste up of woman that has been painted over with many colours except for the head, hands and feet (wearing old fashioned shoes)

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: hands