Carmel Valley muralist will give away 10 free paintings this month

Celebrating 20 years in business, Carmel Valley artist and muralist Hanna Daly is giving away 20 of her original paintings this year. The last 10 pieces of artwork will be placed in surprise locations all around San Diego from Dec. 5 through Dec. 14, with clues posted on her Instagram account @HannasMurals. All of the hiding places will highlight local small businesses.

Daly launched the giveaway over the summer, handing out 10 paintings so far.

“It has been really nice to level the playing field because everyone deserves great art in their lives,” Daly said. “I just really wanted to do something fun and spread some joy.”

A professional muralist, Daly has painted murals all across San Diego at a variety of businesses, schools, hospitals, homes and inside children’s bedrooms. Locally, she refreshed the flowering mural over the entrance of En Fuego in the Del Mar Village and painted the dragon mural on the outdoor stage at Carmel Del Mar School. She recently did a skateboarder on the side of Lou’s Records in Encinitas.

Last year, “for funsies,” she transformed the utility boxes and equipment in front of her Carmel Valley home into minions and Gru from “Despicable Me”, changing with the seasons. This year they changed over to Lilo and Stitch and recently at the request of the little neighbor girls, KPop Demon Hunters.

The art pieces she is giving away are works done during her free studio time, off commissioned assignments and just painting what she wants. Many of them are brightly colored animals like wild neon flamingos, fish and dogs.

A day before the giveaway she will post a story about what part of town the painting is in and then the exact location will be revealed at noon each day. To get the painting will be as simple as going in and giving a high-five or saying hello to the owner.

“I’m a very positive person and I really enjoy this whole process,” said Daly. “I could’ve sold these but I’m trying not to monetize it…I get more joy from just giving stuff away.”

The giveaway echoes the theme of this past year for Daly in which she did “No Buy 2025”: as much as possible, she tried not to buy any unnecessary tangible items.

“When I did need things, I tried to thrift them or fix old things,” Daly said. “It’s been difficult at times, like when our TV broke. I just tried to not buy stuff that I didn’t need and really tried whenever I could to buy thrifted or used things on Facebook Marketplace or eBay.”

She found used ski gear online and discovered the value in re-using things you might otherwise throw away, turning trash into treasure and getting creative with bedazzling. She used donated or up-cycled paint, partnering with a company called Tomorrow’s Artist on recycled paint, putting her expert color-mixing skills to work and using the “Oops” returned paints from Home Depot.

This coming year she plans to do “Only Thrift 2026”: The whole point is there’s enough stuff in the world, my main goal is to not create more things that end up in landfills,” she said.

To Daly, art is both a necessity and a gift. She believes a little paint, a little color can make all the difference.

Visit www.hannasmurals.com for more information.