Writing and Photography

Beauty and Art at Every Step, No Matter Where You Go on This Amazing Place Called Earth

Globetrotters August Monthly Challenge — Street Art

What exactly is street art? When my fellow editor, and simply amazing human being, Anne Bonfert, first introduced the topic of street art here at Globetrotters, I thought I had a pretty solid idea of what street art was.

However, after reading her excellent guidelines and checking out this opening story from editor, and awe-inspiring human being, Jillian Amatt, my mind was really blown. My previous thoughts on what street art was, was pleasantly shattered, and my mind was wonderfully expanded:

Murals? Plants? Sculptures? Interesting looking buildings? Mosaics? Brightly colored cars? Doors and doorknockers? Miscellaneous accessories? Wow! I’d never thought about street art in this way before and I soooo loved it!

Thanks, Anne and Jill, for providing us all with a healthy dose of inspiration for this month’s challenge!

And inspired we were. Thereafter, we’ve had a whopping 35 fantastic stories submitted to the pub so far. Holy street art, batman. I think that’s a record for us!

And I’m so happy about that…. learning and exploring through reading is one of my very favorite activities and I’ve enjoyed reading these stories.

Here are a few of my own humble street art offerings though.

The Colorful Woman in the Wind?

One of my personal favorite pieces of street art from my time here on this third rock from the sun is depicted in the photo featured above.

Orlando, Florida has a variety of street art to offer, to be sure. However, this one is indeed my favorite. I spotted it one day in Winter Park, a quaint suburb town of Orlando, while I was driving around looking for interesting stuff to photograph.

And I’ve often wondered about this woman.

Was she a real person, or just a creation of the artist’s mind?

And what’s with all the wonderfully colorful swirling stuff around her head. Is it her hair? Does it depict one of the many hurricanes to batter Florida?

To me though, it always represented a woman who was fighting to stay strong in a tumultuous world. Is this not all of us, really? We fight every day to overcome our own personal problems, struggles and tragedies while dealing with the world at large.

And notice the curious look she has upon her face. So much expression there! Don’t you think? Defiance. A bit of fatigue perhaps.

However, she still has on her bright reddish lipstick. Love it! To me, this signifies strength in the face of amazingly difficult odds. I admire that.

I don’t generally wear much makeup myself these days, but I always keep a modest amount of lipstick on when going out — something I picked up from my wise and beloved grandma. She always made a point to put on her lipstick, up until the day she physically was unable to anymore. 😰😰

Wearing lipstick might not be the thing to do for some women, but it’s the thing to do for me. Makes me feel alive, strong and powerful.

Oh yes, I do love this amazing woman depicted in suburban Florida street art, and I’m so immensely thankful to whoever created her.

Here are a few other offerings.

Let’s Hear It for Amazing Daughters, Colorful Cars and Free Ice Cream!

This is another of my favorite photos of my daughter from a festival we once attended in Hoboken, New Jersey. This is also the same visit where we got free ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s, as they were having a free ice cream day. Whaaa….? What a great surprise that was. Yum!

I do love New Jersey and NYC, and miss it so much as I haven’t been in quite some time.

More Orlando Area Finds

Allow me to hop, skip and jump here… back to Orlando.

Loved this kindness rock garden outside of the Oviedo (pronounced Oveedo) Library, another suburban town in the Orlando metro area.

Thought this was so cute and inventive and I loved the message.

Oviedo Kindness Rock Garden:

“Kindness is free and begins with you and me. So take one, share one, or give one to the garden.”

Here are a couple of more photos from downtown Orlando.

The first one is located near Lake Eola, an oasis in the middle of the city. At first, I thought this steel sculpture was kinda weird, but then I noticed how it was able to capture the light and an array of interesting colors, especially the deep blue. Kinda magnificent.

The second is located on Orange Ave, the main drag running north to south through downtown. Makes me think of the powerful emotions of love and romance we feel when we watch a talented couple dance.

Can’t Forget My Current Expat Home, Can I?

In Trinidad and Tobago, where I’ve been living as an expat off and on for about two years now, there are plenty of interesting things to be found here and there as well.

While I’ve encountered plenty of amazing street art in the capital city of Port of Spain, I haven’t yet had the chance to stop and take photos. Was hoping to get there sometime this month and it just didn’t happen.

Instead, here are a couple of photos from a display of local Trinbagonian artists at Piarco Airport when I was there earlier this year.

It was quite interesting to check these artists and their works out.

One of my favorite photos though of street art in Trinidad is this one of the runaway slave.

I took this photo last year while traveling to the north side of the island.

I wrote about that previously here:

Was always a bit disappointed that this story didn’t get as many reads as I would have liked. Perhaps the photo was too macabre for some folks. To me though, the story behind it was truly amazing.

Plenty of Plants and Flowers!

Plants and flowers as street art? Really never considered it before but it’s such a lovely thought. I got tons of those!

Here are some I’ve snapped during my walks with hubby around the neighborhood.

Thank you to all of our awesome writers who have submitted stories to our street art challenge thus far. While you’re at it, please check out these two:

Tim Ward, Mature Flâneur writes about street art in Dunedin, New Zealand and shares much intriguing info and photos:

Also, loved this too-cool-for-school story from CosmicDancer:

Read more challenge stories and don’t forget to follow us here at Globetrotters.