Made You Smile (9 Photos)

September 17, 2026

By Vidar

A plant becomes a ladder. A shadow becomes a roller coaster.

A fairy waters a real flower, and a chalk mouse climbs a stem drawn on the pavement. These nine artworks bring small surprises to plants, shadows, street fixtures and even furniture.

🌱 Nadine and the Vertical Commute — By David Zinn in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA 🇺🇸

A chalk stem extends a real plant down into an opening filled with blue sky. Nadine climbs toward the living leaves, while the pavement cracks become the edge of the drop.

💡 Nerd Fact: Nadine is one of Zinn’s recurring characters, alongside Sluggo and Philomena. His temporary street drawings are improvised on location using chalk, charcoal and found objects.

🔗 Follow David Zinn on Instagram

🧚 Fairy with a Watering Can

A purple fairy tips a watering can toward a real white flower growing at the foot of the wall. Painted stars and dots spill from the spout instead of water.

🚶 Vern and the New Arrivals — By Judson Beaumont

Vern, the tall chest of drawers, joins three smaller cabinet characters on a concrete ledge. Curved sides and dangling limbs make Judson Beaumont’s wooden family look ready to climb down and wander off together.

💡 Nerd Fact: Vern and the smaller cabinets were part of Beaumont’s line-up for IDS West 2013 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Another member of the furniture family, Vinny, was given tattoos.

More: Furniture by Judson Beaumont

🔗 Follow Straight Line Designs on Instagram

💜 Sideshow Bob — By Pappas Pärlor in Motala, Sweden 🇸🇪

Johan Karlgren, known as Pappas Pärlor, tucks a fuse-bead Sideshow Bob into a lilac bush in Motala. Real purple blossoms supply the character’s enormous hair.

💡 Nerd Fact: Karlgren returned to making art by creating bead designs with his children. Some of his smallest pieces use no more than 90 beads and take about two minutes to finish.

More: Bead characters by Pappas Pärlor

🔗 Follow Pappas Pärlor on Instagram

🗑️ The Friendliest Trash Can — By Vanyu Krastev in Bulgaria 🇧🇬

The bent metal lid already looks like a broad grin. Vanyu Krastev adds two googly eyes to finish the face.

💡 Nerd Fact: The practice is called eyebombing. Kim Nielsen and Peter Dam coined the term in 2011 for adding googly eyes to everyday objects in public spaces.

More: Eyebombing by Vanyu Krastev

🔗 Follow Vanyu Krastev on Instagram

🎢 Roller Coaster Shadow — By Tom Bob in Long Beach, California, USA 🇺🇸

A fence’s wavy shadow becomes a roller coaster track for a row of painted passengers. In Tom Bob’s Long Beach piece, the illusion lines up when the sun reaches the right angle.

💡 Nerd Fact: For his Long Beach projects in 2019, Tom Bob secured permission from property owners and city officials before painting street fixtures. His works ranged from downtown to Bixby Knolls.

More: Street art by Tom Bob

🔗 Follow Tom Bob on Instagram

🧞 A Whole New World — By Oakoak

Jasmine appears behind a real balcony railing, while Aladdin sits on the boarded doorway below. In A Whole New World, the building supplies the setting for their meeting.

💡 Nerd Fact: Oakoak’s street work includes drawings that he pastes onto existing surfaces. He comes from Saint-Étienne and has been making street interventions since 2007.

More: Six street artworks by Oakoak

🔗 Follow Oakoak on Instagram

🐦 Birds on a Pipe — By Ernest Zacharevic

An adult bird holds a caterpillar above two hungry chicks. The painted family gathers around a real wall pipe, with the barbed wire wrapped around it becoming their nest.

💡 Nerd Fact: Zacharevic’s breakthrough came with his murals for the 2012 George Town Festival in Penang, Malaysia.

🔗 Visit Ernest Zacharevic’s website

➕ Simple Maths — By TRUST. iCON

Winnie-the-Pooh stands beside “1 + 1 =” in TRUST. iCON’s Simple Maths. Instead of a number, the answer is a heart.

💡 Nerd Fact: Winnie-the-Pooh takes his name from a real female black bear at London Zoo. Her owner, Harry Colebourn, called her Winnie after Winnipeg; Christopher Robin later gave the name to his teddy bear.

🔗 Visit TRUST. iCON’s website