Stroll Through The Hood

Strolls through my hood get me out of my studio, they help me get unstuck and often I get inspired by what I see and get new ideas to create something. It is part of my philosophy about Artful Adventures in Mixed Media – which is the subject of my book. Here are some photos that I gathered in the last couple weeks.

This is a gorgeous statue on the waterfront of Jersey City.

For the first time in a long time the train station on Liberty State Park was open again . This is where the immigrants that came through Ellis Island would set out to their new homes all over the U.S. Unfortunately this historic landmark has been hit hard by Sandy – but I still love all the lines and shadows when I walk through.

Low tide and a wonderful view of Jersey City to the left, Manhattan and Brooklyn and the Statue of Liberty – it was a wonderful early morning bike ride with my hubs.

Lady Liberty and some really big Hibiscus flowers – gosh red and green – speaking of natures color scream :)

I still love love love this gorgeous sign of this old store front in Jersey City’s little India – I put this building on my list of “paint some day”

Fabulous mural!

Got a new mirror for the entrance which also leads to my studio. Love the cool shape. I think it is time to repaint our old radiators. The things you notice when you take pictures LOL- Old houses – never a dull moment.

Mural down town – it is one of the things I love most about street art and murals – how they are a reflections of the time we live.

This guy showed up recently on relay boxes.

Big storm knocked out a lot of trees and branches in New Jersey – we also lost power for about 6 hours which is nothing in comparison to some other areas of New Jersey. Of course my nifty husband took the opportunity to get some fire wood – LOL- we just bought a little fire pit for the garden and I cannot wait to sit in front of it in the fall.

I looooovee this brick cornice- usually the cornices around in my neighborhood are made of wood and it is the first time I noticed on those houses that they are made with brick- and how beautiful it looks.

you might remember from a former stroll this really cool building that I also painted – now it is right next to a Black Lives Matter Street Mural. I have to go back now that the artists are finished with it .

Definitely tomato season – I am loving it. Lots of roasted tomatoes, tomato sandwiches, tomato salads …well …they call Jersey City the Garden State and we do have for sure amazing tomatoes.

Love our city coming a little bit back to live. One section of this street has been closed off to traffic on Saturday afternoons and there is a jam session with a lot of amazing jazz musicians. Mary, who is in the red t-shirt singing, is a Jersey City institution and boy it was so wonderful listening to music an seeing them all.

This last shot is a weird one- it is an old power plant and we drove by on a bike tour – I had never really noticed this place- took a picture and two days later I – along with thousands of other Jersey City peeps woke up at 5.30 am because of a huge implosion of the place. A little warning for us would have been nice. Anyway- it is gone now – not really a loss- although the structure was interesting.

I hope you enjoyed this little stroll through the hood. Until next month :)

Nat