Honey… I Shrunk the Kids mural by SMUG, Mitchell Street, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Honey… I Shrunk the Kids
SMUG (Sam Bates) · “Honey… I Shrunk the Kids”, photorealistic mural, by July 2012 · gable end on Mitchell Street, off Argyle Street, Glasgow
Photo as published on Street Art Utopia in July 2012; photographer not named
A girl four storeys tall peers through a magnifying glass at the lane below, finger and thumb ready to pick something up. SMUG, the Glasgow-based Australian painter Sam Bates, put her on a gable end on Mitchell Street; a Geograph photographer found her “Recently appeared” on 1 July 2012. She is now part of Glasgow’s City Centre Mural Trail, and the newest dated photo we found, from 15 September 2025, shows her unchanged.
5 things to know
- On the city’s mural trailThe City Centre Mural Trail: “A huge piece of photo-realistic street art decorates the gable end of a building on Mitchell Street just off Argyle Street.” City Centre Mural Trail · Visit Glasgow
- There since 2012A Geograph photo taken on 1 July 2012 is captioned “Recently appeared on a gable end at Mitchell Street.” In 2023 another Geograph contributor wrote: “Geograph searches show that it has been up for at least 11 years.” Geograph 2012 · Geograph 2023
- Stand in the right spotVisit Glasgow: “Stand at the right spot, and it looks like she’s picking people off the street!” Visit Glasgow
- Signed on the necklaceInspiring City: she is wearing a golden necklace, and “Look carefully and you will see that it features the name of the artist, SMUG.” Inspiring City
- Four storeys highThe Culture Map: “Stretching up four storeys, you can’t miss it.” Chasing the Long Road calls it “gigantic four-storey hyper-realistic street art”. The Culture Map · Chasing the Long Road
Check-in guide
- 📍
- On the gable end of a building on Mitchell Street, just off Argyle Street, a short walk from Glasgow Central Station (City Centre Mural Trail, Visit Glasgow).
- 🧭
- The Maps button opens the subject location of the 2012 Geograph photo (55.85900, -4.25623, given to 100 m).
- 🚕
- “The World’s Most Economical Taxi” by Rogue One and “Wind Power” are on the same street (Chasing the Long Road).
Sightings
- 20121 Jul
Geograph: “Recently appeared”
- 201820 Apr
Flickr photo
- 201911 Jun
Geograph photo
- 20237 Jul
Geograph photo
- 202425 Jun
Geograph photo
- 202515 Sep
Geograph photo
- 202624 Jun
In a mural trail guide
Every stamp links to the dated source. Green stamps are photos taken at the wall with a recorded date: five on Geograph (“Date Taken”) and one on Flickr (“Taken on”). The 2012 and 2025 photos show the same girl, magnifying glass, black top and purple leggings. The amber stamp is a travel guide published in June 2026 that still lists the mural. The photo at the top of this page was published on Street Art Utopia in July 2012.
On the record
Honey…I Shrunk The Kids
“A huge piece of photo-realistic street art decorates the gable end of a building on Mitchell Street just off Argyle Street.”
The trail’s own page, which names the artist as “Smug (Sam Bates)” and describes a girl with a magnifying glass who appears to be picking up an object off the street.
Mitchell Street mural
“Geograph searches show that it has been up for at least 11 years.”
Photo and note by Ian Dodds, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.
Street Art in Glasgow: The Hyper-Realistic Wall Murals by Smug
“Stretching up four storeys, you can’t miss it. What’s more, catch it at the right angle and it looks as if she’s plucking people off the street!”
The facts
- Artist
- SMUG (Sam Bates) (City Centre Mural Trail, Visit Glasgow, Inspiring City) Checked
- Title
- “Honey… I Shrunk the Kids”; punctuation varies between sources (“Honey…I Shrunk The Kids”, “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”) (City Centre Mural Trail, Visit Glasgow, Inspiring City) Checked
- Made
- By 1 July 2012, when it was photographed as having “Recently appeared” (Geograph) Checked. Exact date of painting: no source found Unconfirmed
- Size
- Four storeys high, on a gable end (The Culture Map, Chasing the Long Road, City Centre Mural Trail) Checked
- Signature
- The name SMUG is worked into the girl’s necklace, according to Inspiring City (Inspiring City) Reported
- Place
- Mitchell Street, just off Argyle Street, Glasgow city centre (City Centre Mural Trail, Visit Glasgow, Geograph) Checked
- Mural trail
- Listed on Glasgow’s City Centre Mural Trail (City Centre Mural Trail, Visit Glasgow) Checked
- The artist
- Inspiring City (2023) calls SMUG an Australian artist who has lived in Glasgow for 18 years (Inspiring City) Reported
- Our photo
- Shows the same mural as the dated Geograph photos of 2012 and 2025; published on Street Art Utopia in July 2012, photographer not named (Geograph 2012, Geograph 2025) Checked
Related
- On Street Art Utopia: British Street Art (12 Photos) (9 October 2026), where the photo above appears as work no. 11, and Street Art by SMUG.
- The full City Centre Mural Trail, with SMUG’s St Mungo, Fellow Glasgow Residents and The Swimmer. Visit Glasgow
- Glasgow’s SMUG murals in one walk. Inspiring City
All sources (11)
This work
- City Centre Mural Trail: “Honey…I Shrunk The Kids”, undated. Mitchell Street gable end, artist Smug (Sam Bates).
- Visit Glasgow: “City centre mural trail”, undated. Title, artist, Mitchell Street, near Central Station.
- Inspiring City: “Must See Murals and Street Art to Visit in Glasgow City Centre”, 20 October 2023, updated 1 October 2025. Necklace signature; SMUG as Sam Bates.
- The Culture Map: “Street Art in Glasgow: The Hyper-Realistic Wall Murals by Smug”, 31 August 2020. Four storeys.
- Chasing the Long Road: “Glasgow Mural Trail Guide”, 24 June 2026. Four-storey mural on Mitchell Street, neighbouring murals.
Dated photos
- Geograph 3022163: “Smug mural”, Thomas Nugent, taken 1 July 2012. “Recently appeared”; subject location used for the Maps button.
- Flickr: “Honey I shrunk the kids”, taken 20 April 2018.
- Geograph 6181371: “Mural, Mitchell Street”, Richard Sutcliffe, taken 11 June 2019.
- Geograph 7536075: “Mitchell Street mural”, Ian Dodds, taken 7 July 2023.
- Geograph 7807780: “Mural on Mitchell Street by SMUG”, Neil Theasby, taken 25 June 2024.
- Geograph 8163856: “Girl with Magnifying Glass Mural, Glasgow”, Brian Deegan, taken 15 September 2025.
Artwork File · Last checked 9 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files