Leaving my magnetic artwork in Kaunas – ART TRAVELS ep.01

This is Art Travels — where we explore cities through street art, architecture, food… and leave my own work behind in the streets. Today we’re walking through Kaunas old town, looking for stickers, murals, and anything interesting we might stumble upon along the way.

Arriving in Kaunas

We made our way toward the old town of Kaunas, Lithuania with the kind of excitement that only comes with a family trip and no fixed expectations. Sometimes that is the best way to arrive somewhere. You do not need a perfect plan. You just need open eyes, a bit of time, curiosity, and the willingness to notice what other people walk past.

Almost right away, the city started revealing itself. Under a bridge, on walls, on pipes, on facades, in overlooked corners, there were traces of people leaving something behind. Stickers, tags, brush-painted pieces, and marker drawings.

“In these art travels, my mission is not only to leave my art behind, but to look at the heart of others.”

That is really what this kind of trip is about. Not just placing your own work somewhere in the world, but paying attention to what is already there. Looking closely enough to see effort, humor, roughness, personality, and the marks people leave behind when they want to be seen.

Looking for Street Art and Murals in Kaunas

A lot of people come to Kaunas looking for street art and murals, and it makes sense. The city has that layered feeling where art does not sit apart from daily life. It appears in the middle of old streets, on unexpected surfaces, and in places you would miss if you were moving too fast.

What stood out most was that the visual interest was not limited to large murals alone. Yes, there were painted walls and stronger street art pieces worth photographing, but there were also smaller details everywhere. Stickers stacked on signs, strange hand-painted marks, improvised drawings, traces of older works beneath newer ones. It felt like the city was having a quiet visual conversation with itself.

That is one of the reasons places like Kaunas are so satisfying to explore. You are not only hunting for the big, obvious mural. You are also finding the overlooked things that give the streets texture and personality.

A City That Rewards Looking Closely

Kaunas felt full of contrast. Outside the old town, things seemed quieter, cleaner, even a little plain. But once inside the older streets, the visual texture changed completely. Narrow lanes opened into a running conversation of stickers, graffiti, accidental design, and unexpected details.

Not everything was beautiful in the polished sense. Some things were awkward. Some were rough. Some looked improvised. But that was part of the charm.

A concrete entrance made to look ornamental. A battered electric box beside a spotless wall. Drawings that looked like they were made with crayons, brushes, or paper glued straight onto the building.

It was the kind of place that kept asking you to look again.

Traveling as a Family Changes Everything

Traveling alone is one thing. Traveling with family changes the rhythm completely.

You are observing, photographing, filming, walking, talking, carrying things, stopping for food, checking where everyone is, and trying to enjoy the moment before it disappears into the next one. It is never just one experience. There are many things happening at once.

“And this is what it’s all about, to travel with your family, to witness something amazing and to share this experience together.”

That feeling sat underneath the whole day. Yes, I wanted to find murals and street art in Kaunas. Yes, I wanted to leave a few of my own pieces behind. But I also wanted to be present with the people I was traveling with. That tension is real. You want to document everything, but you also want to actually live it.

“There is so much to photograph and so much to admire. I just don’t have five hands to do it all because I want to take photos, I want to record a video, I want to spend time with my family.”

That is probably the most honest version of travel with children and creative work mixed together. It is not neat. It is not efficient. But it is full.

The Treasure Hunt of Ordinary Things

One of the best parts of the day had nothing to do with major landmarks. It was the random stuff. The objects you find when you move slowly enough to notice them.

Even a vintage store could have some hidden retro gems… We even thought to open a new instagram account for our thrift finds in the wild. For example our latest findings. An old TIM HORTONS coffee cup with great graphic design.

A strange game-like Yatze mechanical jackpot game, not even Google Lens could identify.

And this beer coaster from 1969 Cafe Joma in Jurmala, Latvia – that’s a really rare find with great graphic design and aesthetics

“That’s what we like, finding these random objects that look nice, that have some graphic design. It’s just fun. It’s like a treasure hunt for adults.”

Creativity is not always about making, it’s ability to spot great stuff amongst the trash, it’s a good way to slow down, to clear your head and just enjoy the thrill of the hunt!.

Leaving Something Behind

I had brought my stickers and small magnetic artworks with me, hoping to find the right places for them around Kaunas. Not every wall deserved one. Not every surface felt right. But every now and then, a big enough drain pipe seemed to ask for a small addition.

There is something satisfying about that process. You walk, you look, you hesitate, you decide. It is small-scale, but it feels personal. You are entering a visual conversation with a place, not trying to dominate it, just adding a quiet line of your own. Hello!

It also makes you notice a city differently. You stop seeing it as background and start seeing it as surfaces, textures, histories, and possibilities.

Food, Rest, and the Shape of the Day

Like most travel days, ours moved between discovery and simple practical things. Hunger interrupted the walking, so we stopped for food in the old town.

It was not a life-changing meal, but that almost did not matter. Sometimes travel food becomes part of the memory not because it is perfect, but because of the timing, the setting, and the conversation around the table. I had some kind of BUREK type pastry with meat, which was great. Alice had a onion gravy (way too saltry) with fries and Indra had some kind of deep fried cheese balls…

The old town itself felt like it was waiting for the season to fully begin. Cafes were open, chairs were outside, but the streets were still sparse. It was warm, bright, and a little empty. The kind of in-between moment that can make a place feel more personal before the crowds arrive.

The Strange Beauty Beyond the Tourist Center

One thing that stood out was the contrast between the old town and the area just beyond it. Only a short walk away, the streets changed. Houses looked worn down. Some seemed abandoned. Cracks ran through the walls. Utility poles still carried wires overhead. Small homes sat beside newer buildings in a way that felt unresolved.

It was striking, especially so close to the historic center. In many cities, the land nearest the old town becomes the most restored, the most polished, the most expensive. Here, it felt different. Rougher. Less touched-up. More uncertain.

That contrast became part of the trip too. Travel is not only about what is pretty. It is also about what confuses you, what feels inconsistent, and what makes you ask questions about how a place changes.

The Creative Work Continues Back at the Apartment

By the time we got back, the day was not really over. The walking was done, but the creative part still had another chapter.

I uploaded clips, sorted photos, worked on Instagram stories, and then went back to making new pieces for the next stop. That part mattered just as much as the walking. The trip was not only about finding art in Kaunas. It was also about keeping the creative process going while moving through the world.

Each small face I was drawing became a variation of the last one. Different eyebrows, different lines, different expressions, different little maze-like details. None of them were copies. Each one felt alive in its own small way.

“I don’t know how long it will be for me to stay curious and creative with these guys because it feels like there are infinite versions.”

That is probably the best feeling any creative person can have. Not the feeling of finishing, but the feeling that there is still more to explore.

Why Street Art Feels So Personal

The deeper truth underneath all of this is that street art is not only a visual interest. It is tied to a way of thinking and a way of being present.

Creating small works and placing them out in the world brings a kind of focus that everyday life does not always allow. The repetition, the detail, the improvisation, the physical act of making something by hand and letting it leave your desk and enter real space, all of it creates a kind of mental clarity.

“When I’m doing these, I’m completely in the moment.”

So much of my modern ADHD life scatters attention. Travel can scatter it too. But making something with your hands, especially something small and strange and entirely yours, can pull everything back into one point. For a moment, the noise drops away.

And maybe that is why art, travel, and family fit together so well, even when the day feels chaotic. They all ask for presence. They all make memories in different ways. They all remind you that the world is bigger, more textured, and more interesting when you stay curious, creative and inspired.

Final Thoughts

Kaunas turned out to be more than a stop on a trip. It became a reminder that creativity is not separate from daily life. It lives in how you walk through a city, what you notice on a wall, what you laugh at near a public toilet, what you photograph, what you make later in the apartment kitchen, and what you remember because your family was there to experience it with you.

For anyone interested in street art in Kaunas or hoping to find murals in Lithuania, the real joy is not only in the headline pieces. It is in the smaller details too. The layers, the odd corners, the surfaces that still carry marks of other people’s ideas.

Travel like this is never just about seeing a place. It is about building a temporary way of living inside it. Looking harder. Feeling more. Carrying your own creative habits into new streets and letting those streets answer back.

Watch the ART TRAVELS first episode: