So you may have noticed I didn’t have a whole lot to say last week. In fact, not one small peep. I was actually on vacation and set up the week long set of posts before leaving town. I meant to give a little intro but ran out of time, so I’ll do so now…

The last six posts highlighted a slew of stickers and wheatpastes found on the small retail stretch of Lakeshore Avenue near Lake Merritt. I was amazed at how many I spotted in just a few short minutes, and also the incredible variety of styles.

My favorite was the first one posted “Country First” which was a comic-book styled political satire piece hand-drawn on a USPS sticker. Other original works included a couple classic Koleo’s, and some hand painted and/or stenciled pieces. There were also a few reproduction stickers, and lastly, a funny little piece seemingly produced by a label-making machine, stating only “Spare Me.”

Since I was out of town through the weekend, I missed the big events of Outside Lands and Oakland’s Art & Soul Festival.  I’d be curious to hear details if folks went to these, especially the Oaktownfest.

It’ll probably take me a bit to get back into the swing of things so next few posts may be a bit sporadic, but in the meantime here’s a lovely mural spotted while on vacation.  Trying to hold on to that island vibe for just a bit longer…

This mural was spotted near the town of Kapa’a on the island of Kaua’i. It was produced by the artist Wyland in 1991 as part of his environmental mission to paint 100 Whaling Walls throughout the world. His goal is to educate and inform the world about the plight of marine life, and all the images he produces are life size and accurate to the last detail of the marine habitat.

Pictured in this mural is a humpback whale and its calf along Kauai’s Na Pali Coast. The whales migrate from their Alaskan summer residences to Hawai’i each fall to birth their calves in the warm Pacific Waters before returning north in the spring.

We didn’t see any whales on this trip as it’s not the right season, but we did see (and swim with!) the beautiful and gentle green sea turtles, also pictured.