Hipster Senorita

Yesterday, after my visit to the Phoenix Art Museum, I ate lunch at Carly's in the Roosevelt Row district, after taking a photo-snapping stroll around the area.  Here is a detail from a mural I really loved.  Again, the Day of the Dead, which is a favorite theme of mine.

A Skullful Celebration

It's that time of year: Happy Halloween and Dia de los Muertos!

The Cheerful Dead

The perfect gift for me after a long, rough week: a Day of the Dead mural painted on the side of Tacos De Juarez Mexican restaurant on 7th Street, just off of Roosevelt.  These two remind us that you can never be too stressed (or dead) to live it up.  Keep the weekend chill...and on ice...and enjoy the day.  What a great mural to find during the month of October.  And speaking of the dead, the new season of The Walking Dead premieres next weekend.  I can't wait!

Femme Fatale

Followers of this blog are already familiar with my love for and fascination with anything Day of the Dead. This beautiful image graces the side wall of Ide Mania Salon on Central Avenue and Ashland. You can see it when taking the Light Rail north on Central Avenue. It's been a favorite of mine for sometime and I've been wanting to capture it in a photograph, but have repeatedly lost the battle with sloth. This morning, however, interest and determination overcame laziness and this is the happy result.

More Urban Art in Downtown Phoenix

This last week I was a little lazy, which is why I never posted the other photos from my excursion last Sunday through downtown Phoenix. But here are some more murals, including the very festive wall painting above a potted prickly pear cactus.

This psychedelic mountain chain makes me yearn for another trip to Boulder, where I can order a lunch of burger and beer at Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery and enjoy the very cool art that graces the restaurant walls.

It's an established fact on this blog that I am a lover of all things Day of the Dead, and so naturally I had to take a photo of this mural, complete with accompanying garbage can painting. You gotta appreciate extending the artsiness to the dumpster, as well.

One more painted garbage dumpster, seemingly with a sci-fi motif. And all of those disembodied eyes! Kind of creepy.

Drop Dead Gorgeous!

Tie-Dye Vendor, Portland Saturday Market, Portland, OR

Look at this spiffy dresser! When I saw this in Portland last year, I couldn't resist taking its photograph. Having lived in the American Southwest, I have developed a fondness for all things Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Maybe not so much beauty encountered by happenstance as cool stuff encountered by chance. I also love tie-dyed shirts. When I was a kid, we used to tie-dye our own shirts. They never came out as spectacularly colorful and intricate as these, but there was something fun in the mystery of unfolding the shirt for the first time and seeing the resulting design. This photo was taken last October. Hence, all of the Halloween decorations. At one time, I made a tie-dyed shirt using the colors of orange, black, and brown. It was my all-time favorite tie-dyed shirt. Depending on my mood, I could call it either "autumnal" or just "Charlie Brown." It's a Great Pumpkin!