Ribbon Graffiti Flower.
Taken May 2010.
3rd @20th Street in San Francisco, CA.
Looks like Josh and Mimi’s Mundane Journey
Mundane Journeys
With the thought of something sweet in mind, you are strolling through Chinatown. All the tourists are gawking at the bustle of the foreign vibes of Grant Street. You know off of Ross alley there is the most darling Fortune Cookie “Factory”, the Golden Gate Fortune Cookies Co.. Unsure of it’s exact location, you stick your head up every cross street of Grant Street. It is hard to avoid noticing all of the bright colors of the city within a city. On Washington Street you notice a pagoda shaped bank, dressed to the nines in crisp red and green paint with white accents. The colors are perfectly balanced, the green tiled roof creating deep eaves, and the red distinguishing the building underneath. As you look at it, you recognize that you can’t imagine it any other way. Is it the complimentary contrast that makes it so perfect, or the balance of the contrast of extension? If the building had a blue tile roof and the building were painted orange, it just wouldn’t seem to balance because the roof seems to be half of the surface area of the structure.
Mundane Journeys
Green seems to be a sanctuary in this heat. Even the cool blue of the sky seems to be a hot color on a day like today. Green is standing out, it just seems so fresh and cool. Walking along De Haro Street you come across 15th street. There is it, almost like a mirage, a darling garden behind a wall. Seems to be the first green at eye level in a long while. Peering through the wall, you stop looking at the background and notice the foreground, the wall you are looking through. Beautifully glazed, lattice type tiles, allow you to peer inside while keeping all things unwanted out. The glaze is all one color, but when the tile was being glazed, it collected and became more saturated in the deeper parts of the design, while the protruding elements have a very thin coat of the glaze. All the same hue, but different saturations of it. The contrast in the saturation emphasizes a feeling of depth.
Mundane Journeys
M
On the way to the grocery store from Brannan, you come to the street corner of 7th and Townsend. Standing in front of Walgreen’s Pharmacy, the light allows you to cross 7th first. As a minor detour you continue to walk up 7th. Peeking your head into all of the entryways, you see a lime green wall. It definitely catches your eye. You are in the entryway of HD Buttercup. The green wall has glossy lettering on it in Candy apple red. Actually, the wall itself is Granny smith apple green also. Obviously the grocery store is the final destination. The gloss of the red lettering makes it more distinguishable against the matte green, a rather tasty contrast.
Mundane Journey to go along with this, coming soon. (i already wrote it, it’s just on a different computer)
Mundane Journey #4: Walking toward 601 Brannan you pass Harriet Street. A dismal day, so everything seems very gray. A new building is on the corner, they look like apartments, painted an array of grays, and decorated with glass and metal. at about eye leve, an indented pale gray line wraps the buildings contrasting the different shades of gray. Butted up against each other you can see the light dark contrast of the nearly white stripe, the pale gray and the charcoal gray.
Mundane Journey #3: SoMa district of San Francisco. The weather, wet, grey, and rather dismal. This neutral colored backdrop for the city makes the colors seem to pop. Taking a break from busy work at 601 Brannan, I decide to walk to Trader Joes fro a breath of fresh, misty air, and a sweet little pick me up. On the way back I notice one of the most extreme hue contrasts. Primary red and primary blue. Sitting up on a silver pedestal right at chest level while I wait for the light to change at the corner of 8th and Brannan St.. And for just a little more hue contrast, bright green doors in the background, and the black asphalt on the street with clean white lines.
My Mundane Jouney #2: Walking along Bryant St, you pass Harriet St. Next block, 6th, you turn right. You notice a building painted an unusual array of colors. These colors were not all painted the same day, let alone same year. Shades of what once might have been red show pink, with red touch-ups, grays, and a teal-ish color. From the other side of the street, it seems not to have much color. From the same side of the street, on the gray cloudy day, the warm shade of yellow contrasts with the cool grey cinderblock it is built into. The warm cool contrast is a delightful one. A summery combination for such a winter’s day.
