by kids

Posted: December 7, 2014 in locations
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On a fence at Adam Beck Junior Public school in Scarborough is a wonderful “mural” composed of pictures painted by some of the students.  Kudos to all involved in the project!

a large number of colourful paintings by students at a junior public school. Some are scenes of Toronto, others are of animals or plants or buildings.

A “Danger due to construction” sign, the CN Tower and a Toronto police car.
Ladybugs, flowers and trees.
On the very right is a picture that looks like a sunset or sunrise.  What you probably can’t read are the words written on the blue stripe.  They say, “the story of my life”.

Close up of the fence at a school. About twenty paintings done by the students.

 Buses, soccer balls and a hat left on the fence.
Another CN Tower, an arena, and ice cream.
Stop bullying too.

close up of the left part of the fence with paintings by students at the school.

A Canadian flag and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

more of the collection of paintings by elementary school students that are hanging on a fence around the school.

lovebot invasion

Posted: December 4, 2014 in graffiti and street art
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Lovebot, the robot, can be spotted all over the city!

These are just a few of the places that I have seen him.

A very large lovebot on a brick wall. He looks like he is walking away from a restaurant patio with its black round tables and bright orange chairs.

Walking away from the table, on Queen St. West.

 

Lovebot on a red brick wall with his arms out stretched as he releases a box into the air. The box is being lifted upwards by balloons.

Releasing love with balloons, between Brigden Place and Queen St. East.

 

lovebot playing card on a wall. In front of it are some orange and black traffic cones along with an orange construction sign on its side.

Seemingly stuck behind construction on Church St.

 

Lovebot now looks like he's been made into the king of hearts on a playingcard. On a brick wall.

A more evolved king of hearts lovebot. This one is near Bathurst subway station.  There is an identical card on Mill St., just west of Trinity.

 

small concrete lovebot standing in a small patch of garden behind a low black wood fence.

3D lovebot behind a fence on Church St.  Seen just before Hallowe’en, hence the chains and “spider webs”.

 

Lovebot in the shape of an old gameboy, up on a brick wall, with tags below him.

Gameboy lovebot.

 

Wheatpaste lovebot up high on a concrete wall. There are some black and white tags below him.

On a wall seen from Queen St. East, south side, between Ontario and Sherbourne streets.

 

A lovebot on a red brick wall. A small white oval shaped figure is with him.

Near Harbord and Bathurst.  This lovebot looks like he’s ready to take on a construction crew.

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A small concrete lovebot stands in the doorway of a childrens book store called Mabels Fables.

A lovebot lives outside of Mabels Fables on Mt. Pleasant.

for more information – Lovebot website

December rolls around again

Posted: December 2, 2014 in locations
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Happy December!

Stay warm!

skating rink with brightly lit Chrsistmas tree behind it

It’s a chilly evening but skaters take to the ice at Nathan Phillips square. Christmas stars overhead and a brightly lit tree in the background for it’s December again.

finding green in the alleys

Posted: November 30, 2014 in abstract, general Toronto
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The other day I walked a number of lanes and alleys, Max Hartstone Lane, Ken Lai Lane,   and Oscar Ryan Lane, to name a few.

I’m not sure if it was the greyness of the day or the preponderance of ugly tags but I was feeling rather uninspired as I walked.  An interesting green wall caught my eye so I started searching more out green things.  This is the result of that search.
Close up of a green wall and door, showing the hinge which is also painted green

streaks of greenish discoloration as well as rust on the side of a corrugated metal wall

An old boarded up window on a wood wall, all painted green

A greenish coloured figure of a girl with the word Cloth written beside her

A green garage in need of paint. A window frame is sitting on the ground beneath the window. Dead leaves on the ground.

A brick wall painted in two shades of shiney green paint. There is a large crack running diagonally across the wall.

Scarfo Lane

Posted: November 29, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Yesterday I came across some interesting colourful garage doors on Scarfo Lane that I have not seen before.   I didn’t see any signature on them so I don’t know who painted them.

Walking south from Herrick Street…..

a blue animal like creature is carrying a stick over his shoulder. three wood bir houses are at the back of the stick. A blue bird is sitting in front on the stick, and looking at the creature.

street art mural on an alley garage door. A red deer is seated in what looks like a computer lab, or factory.

street art mural on a double garage. yellow background. three floating logs with birds sitting on them are being pulled by a creature with a pink and purple head as well as a blue body.

street art on a garage door - paisley shapes in blues and purples
 

and then walking north from Herrick St…..

an alley with garages on both sides, also tall trees that have lost their leaves, small piles of dead leaves along the sides of the alley.

Looking north from Herrick St.

graffiti of a black and white dog's face on a metal garage

at Warden station

Posted: November 28, 2014 in graffiti and street art, history, locations
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Another new pair of murals painted under a bridge.
This time, they’re close to Warden subway station.

Beside a four lane road, a sign pointing to Warden station passenger drop off. In the background is a bridge over the road.

Warden subway station is on the southeast corner of Warden and St. Clair. Just east of that intersection the subway passes over St. Clair.

 

The north side of the underpass

The north side of the underpass is dedicated to the woman who worked filling fuses for the General Engineering Company (Canada) Ltd., a  WW2 munitions plant that was located nearby.   More about the history of GECO.

full length of a mural on the side of an underpass. Historical picture of women who worked in a munitions factory during the second world war. From the shoulders up. They are in white clothing and their heads are covered in white hats.

mural under subway bridge, showing woman munitions workers from the era of world war 2. They are wearing white tops and white hair coverings.

The south side of the underpass

The south side portrays the establishment of Scarborough Junction in 1873.  This was when a second rail line and commercial hub was built in the area.

street art mural showing two large heads, a man and a woman, in black and white. Very realistic looking.

part of mural under subway bridge, large red cursive letters that say Scarborough Junction. A picture of an old Scarborough post office as well as a wood building that was a general store.

Scarborough post office and Everest & Sons’ General store. The latter was built in 1873 in Scarborough Junction.

a woman is walking past part of mural under subway bridge, large red cursive letters that say Scarborough Junction. A picture of an old Scarborough post office and two very much larger than life people (man and woman) looking east.

blog_warden_end

The murals were painted by Montreal-based street artist Omen.    They are also the result of a collaboration between the city-led art program StreetARToronto, not-for-profit arts organization Mural Routes,  local historians and city councillor Michelle Berardinetti.

under the tracks at Bathurst

Posted: November 28, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Murals painted by Elicser in 2014, under the railway bridge on Bathurst St., just north of Dupont.

It is difficult to do justice to the paintings with a camera because of the structure of the bridge.   The following images are ones that I took yesterday.  Yes, there are many!

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - taken from across the street, The picture is of 4 people who seem to be looking at the camera.

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a man on a red bike who is cycling towards a woman with outstretched arms

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a woman sitting cross legged on the ground beside a miniature city

mural under a bridge

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a man's hand reaching towards a miniature city. roads, houses, tall buildings and hydro wires

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a man with a football helmet on and green triangles in his hand

A man in a blue winter coat is walking under a bridge, beside a mural that is painted on the wall of the bridge.

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a pair of legs with sneakers on flying past a man's head.

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - a man with a red baseball cap on backwards

A man sitting on a bench who is looking down into a bag that is on the ground. A face in profile is beside him

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - Two large people in the mural. A woman is walking past on the sidewalk. The picture is taken from across the street so bridge supports are also in the picture.

part of a mural beside the walkway under a railway bridge - the triangular part of the wall of the bridge at the end, showing a woman in yellow coat and hat.

woman holding baby, man behind her making rabbit ears with his fingers

rusty metal railway bridge over a city street. There is a mural painted on the wall beside the walkway on the far side of the bridge.

mural street art painting of a man's face. He has a moustache. He is looking at the camera

 

Dupont and Spadina

Posted: November 27, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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A short walk around Dupont and Spadina.

At an intersection, looking across the street to a glass dome like structure that is a subway station entrance. Beside it is a building with a tag that says Uh Oh

The northwest corner of Dupont and Spadina and the weirdness that is the subway entrance.

 

Movember mural

looking across the street to a mural to commemorate Movember. Two large men's faces, both sporting moustaches beside the word Movember written in cursive.

On the northeast corner.  Mural by Elicser

 

The men’s faces up close.

close up of mural, showing man's face with furrowed brow and black moustache.

close up of mural, showing man's face including white eyes and a green moustache.

There are also a few brightly painted garages near the intersection.

A wood picnic table is in front of a street art mural on the side of a garage door

street art mural on the side of a garage door, multicoloured shapes and lines with the words 'escape reality' written in the top right corner

A van and car parked in front of a street art mural of a face in blue, yellow and red that is surrounded with stylized food, especially candy and popcorn. The neck is an iconic red and white striped popcorn container. The picture is reflected in the windows of the van.

literally, pizza face, by Tim Skynz

street art mural of a face in blue, yellow and red that is surrounded with stylized food, especially candy and popcorn. The neck is an iconic red and white striped popcorn container. viewed from the side on quite an angle

a multicoloured tiger's face painted on a garage door

(photo from 2012) This painting is still on a garage door on Dupont. I was going to re-take the photo today but there was a vehicle parked too close to it. Painted by Studio 32, Jose Gabriel.

it used to be Kromer Radio

Posted: November 27, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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 In February 2014, plans to build a large Walmart store on the site of Kromer Radio (420 Bathurst St., just south of College) were shelved.   Kromer Radio was an electronics store and they occupied the building between 1974 and June 2012.

The alley behind the building has been a graffiti site for a number of years.

looking north up an alley. On the right side is a large 3 storey building that has graffiti along the lower part of it. On the left are garages with graffiti on them.

There is graffiti on the building

words written in white paint - "Don't make this building a Walmart"

including this anti-Walmart statement.

 

graffiti on a wall

graffiti on a wall - a chaos of tags and colours on a brick wall

graffiti on a wall - a man with a red face and hat, painted under a metal staircase.

graffiti on a wall - painting of a 'boom box'' or ghetto blaster'

There is graffiti on the garages on the other side of the alley as well.

graffiti on a garage door - a blue tag plus some purple creatures with faces and little skinny black legs. There are also words painted on the garage that say no Walmart

Again, there is anti-Walmart graffiti including this one that says “Need no Walmart”.

graffiti face, white on black, on one half of a garage door. The number 251 is painted in oranges and yellows as well.

 

murals in the park

Posted: November 26, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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David Crombie Park runs along the south side of the Esplanade between Lower Jarvis and Berkeley Street.

At the east end is a basketball court and playground.   One of the back walls of the basketball court has been repainted with a mural by Shalak, Smoky and J. Periquet.

 

mural on the back wall of a basketball court
mural on the back wall of a basketball court

one end of the wall

mural on the back wall of a basketball court

the other side of the wall

the west side of the wall has been painted with a mural that looks like a train train going towards the sunset at the horizon. Three tall condos are in the distance

close up of the west side of the wall has been painted with a mural that looks like a train train going towards the sunset at the horizon

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