I spotted this mural a couple weeks ago in West Oakland, at 26th and Magnolia…. not far from my home, but amazingly I had somehow never seen it before. I thought it might be new, but the inscription says it was painted by M. S. Hove (aka Scott Hove) in 2003. It’s amazing what you can find if you abandon your regular routines and explore a bit…

This is actually only half of the mural but I wanted to focus on the lovely blue skies during these dreary days of rain and drizzle, so I’ll have to show you the fiery side another day (or you can always check it out on his website if you don’t want to wait).

This one, at least the trees side, has a little bit of that Van Gogh Starry Night quality, don’t you think? He just did a new piece on Telegraph near Berkeley that feels a bit more Miró to me… I’ll feature that another day too.

Hove is another Bay Area native who attended the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC, now renamed CCA – sans crafts), though he considers himself primarily a self-taught artist. He works in a variety of mediums, his work typically “reflect[ing] on the relationship between the natural world and mechanical civilization, and the drama that occurs during this interaction.”

One of the unusual mediums he works in is light. He actually draws with light, with the help of photographer Bruce Lynn. He has a whole series on his website, and I think this one is one of my favorites. Pretty cool, eh?