Artists who use sidewalks as their canvas know that their art is temporary. If you are lucky enough to see one of these 3D-looking masterpieces, it’s best to take a photo right then and there, because next week it could be gone! I have only myself encountered one of these sidewalk paintings – usually I see them online somewhere – so I was happy to find this one, which was done on the sidewalk in front of the Des Plaines Public Library last August. I have not seen it since, so I assume it was removed or washed away.
Only having this one sidewalk masterpiece to post on the Photographing Public Art Challenge, I looked in my archives for a few other works of “art” on the sidewalk.
I’m not quite sure what this was about (we were just walking by) but it covered an entire block in downtown Denver when we were there three years ago.
This may not be considered “art” but these intersection crossings in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, were eye-catching and clever.
Sometimes, sidewalk art is in the form of mosaics, like this one that we sat next to while listening to our guide outside the Church of the Beatitudes in Israel.
More famous are the mosaic tile sidewalks in Rio de Janeiro. This view is looking down from a bar on the top floor of a hotel in Copacabana.
I picked an October 20 from my blog archives. I am featuring them here for Becky’s Past Squares (or SquarePast?) today. The photos below are from two posts on Oct. 20, 2016.
For Thursday Doors that week, I posted doors of houses in Des Plaines. I have selected the ones that are most seasonal.
I like the contrasting blue & orange in this photo.
The other post I did that day was for Cee’s weekly Fun Foto Challenge. Her topic was vibrant colors. This is, coincidentally, the topic of Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week. These photos were taken on a trip to Texas, where we visited the San Antonio Museum of Art.
Dale’s silhouette in front of a neon Texas flag!Pink Electric Chair (2006)
I’m finally jumping in to Becky’s October square challenge: Squares of the Past! When I do an ongoing challenge, I create a folder especially for that challenge, and often the pictures I add never “make the cut.” So I’m going to begin with the Squares in those folders which I didn’t include originally.
These “bright squares” were all taken at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington in September of 2019.
We used to hike much more than we do now. Even so, when we are traveling and there is an opportunity to take a walking tour, we take advantage of it! Also, we go on day trips in the Chicago area, to a variety of places to find something artistic or unusual.
On our first day in Tanzania, we spent the morning on a genuine hike! This ficus tree captured my interest.
On that same hike, our guide stopped to pick up something off the ground – a giraffe turd! Holding it in his open palm, he told us it was the turd of a male giraffe, because of its somewhat football shape. Female giraffe turds are flat on each end! Several of our group of hikers crowded around to get a close-up of this unusual find! The guide patiently waited, while with his other hand he looked at something on his cellphone!
Where there is giraffe poop, you can be sure there are giraffes nearby! This one walked nonchalantly away from us – since it was also a male giraffe, I wonder if his was the deposit we had been examining!
Later during that trip, on the day we arrived at Serengeti National Park, another hike had been arranged! I love to walk because that is when I see the small things that would be missed on a bike or traveling in a vehicle! I took photos of these three small things on that hike.
giraffe footprint Scorpion flowerDung beetles roll dung into balls, then dig a depression in the earth and push the dung ball into it. The dung beetles lay their eggs in it.
Most of my walks are short treks either around campus or somewhere else in town. On campus one day, which happened to be my birthday, Dale and I were taking our usual walk around campus, when we came upon two other residents who were walking their dogs and had stopped to chat (while social distancing!). It’s common for residents to greet each other or chat on these walks, but before long, someone says, “Well, I need to keep walking” and they go their separate ways.
During the pandemic, we’ve taken day trips to far-flung suburbs and nature reserves.
Dale stops on a wooden bridge over a marsh at Cuba Marsh Forest Preserve.Reflections in a lagoon – Cuba Marsh
Some of my favorite walks are in sculpture parks! Our walk at Morton Arboretum, which happened to be on my birthday this year, was in search of a new installation of sculptures by a South African artist.
Dale approaches the first sculpture, called “Hallow,” at Morton ArboretumWe did not stop to rest on this bench, although the scene was inviting.The last sculpture, “Basilica,” of the installation that we visited. The artist of these beautiful sculptures is behind the left hand. It was cool to be able to meet and chat with him a little! I don’t know who the little girl was – she just happened to get in my picture!
I’m always amazed by the artists who can draw on sidewalks in such a way to create an optical illusion of a 3-D image. These drawings are usually made with chalk so they don’t last long! I photographed this one a couple of days ago in front of the Des Plaines Public Library.
Jude’s Travel Words blog’s topic for Life in Colour this month is the color blue. Jude challenges us to find “unusual” blues! OK, I’ll do my best…
Sky reflected in a car’s headlightsGlass art decoration at The MooringsSelfie after modification by SnapSeedSteps up to an Immersive Van Gogh presentationViolaSiberian bugloss
Dandelion after modification with SnapSeed
Aquarium at Brookfield ZooChagall Windows at Chicago Art InstituteSeveral shades of blue in this shot of a church in BudapestBlue door, blue bag in BudapestGraffiti in Germany
Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge this week has the topic close-up or macro.
Hazel doesn’t really like me getting this close for a photo. She seems to be sleeping, but one eye is slightly open!
Center of Queen Anne’s lace
Taken from our balcony on our river boat cruise on the Rhine: apparently this swan is used to getting up close to humans (probably wants an edible tidbit!)
At a Buddhist temple in Des Plaines, IL
Our niece got into the shot I was aiming for.
Sometimes you run into (almost literally!) an unexpected subject. This caterpillar was hanging from a single thread – probably weaving its cocoon.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what I’m taking a picture of! Take a guess!
I took this selfie when I was about to go outside for a prolonged period in February – rather frightening! With my glasses on, wearing a mask caused my glasses to fog up and I could barely see!
A piece of a multitude of faces, taken at Morton Arboretum’s display of sculpture by Daniel Popper. (See my blog post in PPAC #4 for more!)
I am happy to get in on this brand new challenge with co-hosts Cee Neuner and Marsha Ingrao! For this very first week, Marsha is the host. She says:
The #PPAC is deliberately open – photographer’s choice. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Seasonal Displays
Graffiti
Statues and Sculptures
Collections
Store Windows
Car Shows
Artistic Construction (benches, buildings, bridges)
Wall Art (not just murals)
Challenge Guidelines
Art has to be freely visible from a public street, freeway, or walkway.
Photographers have free access of use for their photos – no copyrights by the artists.
The challenge starts every Friday by 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
Write a post on your blog, publish it, and include a link back to the appropriate host’s post – not on Cee’s or Marsha’s #PPAC page. Also write us a comment and paste the link into the comment. Sometimes pingbacks are missed.
Visit at least two or three other participants in the community and leave them a comment.
Here are some public art pieces in downtown Denver, Colorado. From these photos, you can see why I fell in love with Denver and hope to visit again soon!
This was the first sculpture we saw, in the downtown business district.
Most of the public art we saw was on a pedestrian street, closed to traffic.
These decorated pianos were available for anyone to stop and play (we actually saw someone playing one of them), but I don’t know how well-tuned they were!
Other public art-based entertainments: chess/checker boards!
My husband wasn’t interested in playing chess or checkers – he was just tired and wanted to sit down for a minute!
More cows:
Cows weren’t the only public art bovines on display – there were bison also!
Another sculpture:
Cleverly designed restaurant signs can also be classified as public art!
Wanderlust & Wonderment 