Going a bit off topic today for a quick street art fix.  No better place for an urban hike than the Mission hood…and the murals on Clarion Alley never lets us down.

Exactly where’s Clarion Alley?  This particular nugget is found between Mission Street and Valencia a couple step south from the 16th St BART station.  It’s not the most pleasant part of the Mission, but if you head a block or two in any direction, it only gets better.

Oh, back to the murals.   There’s a community of artist that put paint to walls all over the Mission neighborhood.  Clarion Alley is pretty active, that is new artwork replaces some older work.

Themes vary from current events, to local folklore, to blissful feats of skills. It’s easy to stroll through the alley in a couple of minutes, but I suggest picking out a piece and get lost in it for a spell.

I was drawn to this mural by Jef Martinez’s, Lo llevas por dentro, Mission ’04. It has to be the succulents and foliage that caught my attention. The detail below is a sagittate leave…maybe its some sort of Alocasia…don’t you think?

I bit of history on the The Clarion Alley Mural Project (aka CAMP).  It seems to have been established around 1992 by six local residents and inspired by the older Balmy Alley murals.

This one is probably my favorite of the bunch during this trip… Daniel Doherty’s Lonestar Swan Feeding the Pigeons.  Want some more Clarion action…pop over to Found SF.

– Far Out Flora