Posts Tagged ‘animals’

Cliffside murals

Posted: June 30, 2017 in graffiti and street art, public art
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Cliffside is an area around Kingston Road in the west  side of the city and the ‘cliff’ in the name refers to the Scarborough Bluffs.    The murals in this post are all on Kingston Road just west of Midland Ave.    They are the result of work of Mural Routes, an organization “dedicated to the creation, development and promotion of public wall art” since 1990.

below: ‘Spooners Garage’ by Phillip Woolf, 1992.   Art Spooner’s garage in Cliffside was built in 1926 (and rebuilt in 1947).   The mural has two parts, each showing a different time period.  They face each other.

mural of gas station, Spooners Garage, from the 1920s or 1930s

mural of gas station, Spooners Garage, from the 1920s or 1930s

below:  … and the later version

part of a mural showing a gas station from the 1940s or 1950s

part of a mural showing a gas station from the 1940s or 1950s

below: ‘H.M. Schooner, Onondaga c. 1793’ by Jeff Jackson 1992.  The Onondaga was built near Kingston in 1790 and it served with the Provincial Marine until 1797.  It was the ship in which John Graves Simcoe and his wife Elizabeth sailed across Lake Ontario to York (now Toronto) to establish the capital of Upper Canada.

painted mural of a schooner from the 1790s sailing on Lake Ontario

below: ‘Let’s Take a Walk on the Wildside’ by B.C. Johnson, 2016.   Canadian plants and animals cover all four sides of Ikki Sushi – herons, bears, moose, beaver, and fox among the pine trees. Creeks, swamp, and waterfalls can also be seen.  More of Johnson’s work can be seen at Sandown Lane Cliffside blog post

Ikki Sushi restaurant covered with a mural with scenes of Canadian flora and fauna,

back of restaurant with open door. Ikki Sushi restaurant covered with a mural with scenes of Canadian flora and fauna, inside of door is painted too

below: ‘Cliffside Golf Course’ by Dan Sawatzky, 1991.   Founded by George McCordick in 1931, the Cliffside Golfcourse was south of Kingston Road and overlooked Lake Ontario.    It closed in 1950.  The mural is faded and partially obscured by two trees.

two trees obscure a faded mural

below: The words on the mural tell the story of the golf course.

mural of two men golfing. One is swinging a golf club and the other has a golf bag slung over his shoulderh

red vintage car in a mural

mural, woman from the 1930's standing behind a vintage car and holding a set of golf clubs

The last two murals have appeared in a previous blog post that I wrote once upon a time when I didn’t know how many Scarborough murals there were.  Even now I’ve hardly scratched the surface.

below:  ‘The Half Way House’ by John Hood, 1990.  The mural is at the corner of Midland Avenue & Kingston Road which is where the inn and stage coach stop was located.   The  building was moved to Black Creek Pioneer Village in 1965.

mural depicting the Half Way House, an old inn that used to be at the corner of Kingston Road and Midland. Two men are sitting on the stairs in front of the mural

below: ‘The Bluffs as Viewed by Elizabeth Simcoe c. 1793’ by Risto Turunen, 1992.   The story is that Elizabeth Simcoe was so impressed by the view of the cliffs she persuaded her husband, John Graves Simcoe, to name the area after Scarborough England where there are similar cliffs.

Three cars are parked in front of a large mural of the Scarborough Bluffs, there is a small row boat on Lake Ontario in front of the cliffs.

There are more murals on old Kingston Road both to the east and west of these, but that will be a story for another day.

also see: Heritage Trail Mural 8 – Old Kingston Road 

almost clandestine Clandestinos

Posted: June 21, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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an orange, or salmon, coloured wall with a window. in the window is a reflection of a pair of eyes from a large street art mural. under the window are two ladders lying horizontal.

On Dundas West, just west of Dufferin, there are two lanes with large murals by clandestinos.

One is the alley to the west of the Lulu Lounge where both sides are covered with fantastic paintings by fiya, shalak, and bruno smoky as well as a few others.  I blogged about it just over two years ago and here is the link to the original post, “life as the shadow of vida“.   Earlier this week I took another look at it – it’s still looking great and there have been no changes so I didn’t take any photos.

The other alley is nearby but on the north side of Dundas Street.  Actually, it’s hardly an alley, more like a driveway which made taking pictures of the whole mural difficult.   Also, if you are traveling eastbound on Dundas, you’d miss it.  Here are the pictures that I managed to take:

part of a large colourful mural by clandestinos smoky and shalak - close up of a large gorilla face

part of a large colourful mural by clandestinos smoky and shalak - a crocodile or alligator coming out of the water

part of a large colourful mural by clandestinos smoky and shalak - a small bird sitting on a rock by a creek

part of a large colourful mural by clandestinos smoky and shalak - bird, turtle and croodile in a nature scene

part of a large colourful mural by clandestinos smoky and shalak - a small bird on the base of a tree trunk

part of a large colourful mural by clandestinos smoky and shalak - a large bird with its wings out stretched getting ready to take off

part of a large colourful mural by clandestinos smoky and shalak - a turtle on a rock

part of a large colourful mural by clandestinos smoky and shalak - lareg greenleaves with their signature

colourful cuteness

Posted: June 9, 2017 in graffiti and street art, locations
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a cyclist, a black man in a white t-shirt, rides past a mural of a large orange cat and a smaller blue cat.

Hey!  Stop and take a look.

  There’s a new mural in town that covers most of the south wall of the Toronto Humane Society on Queen Street East (at River Street ).   What could be more appropriate for this wall than cats and dogs and other animals?

a long mural on the south wall of the Toronto Humane Society, brightly coloured cats, dogs, turtles and rabbit, painted by uber5000, larger than life sized animals.

I first saw the mural late in May when just the outlines of the animals had been drawn on the wall.  The artist, Uber5000, been working on it since then….  it’s not quite finished but it’s looking great!  Bright and cheerful; colourful and fun.

below:  The mural has turtles and rabbits – Yes, the Toronto Humane Society has bunnies and turtles too (but I don’t think they have such cool red glasses)!

3 small trees in front of a colourful mural by Uber5000 of animals, a green turtle by a blue creek, a white rabbit with red sunglasses and an orange tigerstriped kitten on the side of the THS building

below: The dog portion at the east end of the mural just needs some finishing touches.

two dogs painted on a mural that isn't quite finished, on the side of a building,

below: Of course there are cats and kittens…  and cute and playful ones at that.

a cat and two kittens painted on a mural, one with a bell around its neck and two with little balls between their paws Uber5000 mural

UPDATED (August 2017):  The mural is now finished.

mural on the side of the Toronto Humane Society by Uber 5000 of bright, large, and colourful cats and dogs. On the corner, both sides of the corner are in the mural, a bus shelter in front of the mural, a woman is sitting in the shelter.

A great addition to Queen Street East!

intersections – Queen and Sherbourne

Posted: December 1, 2016 in intersections, landmarks, locations
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Queen and Sherbourne – It’s a grubby corner.

below: Built in 1897 on the southwest corner and a major part of the intersection since then, is the Kormann House Hotel named for its hotel keeper in 1898, Franz J. Kormann.  The Torontoist described the building in 2008 as “Though vacant for the past few years, this old watering hole will open its doors once again as part of an upcoming condo development.”  That was 8 1/2 years ago.  It is still vacant.   The projected renovations and mid-rise condo development never got off the ground.

old brick 3 storey building on the corner of an intersection. Top part is white, bottom part is grey. Boarded up and vacant.

below: Diagonally opposite is now the Moss Park Discount Store.

building on the corner of an intersection, Moss Park Discount Store on the corner of Queen East and Sherbourne. People on the sidewalk outside the building. 3 storey brick,

below: The same corner as above but from a slightly different angle as it looked about a hundred years ago.  Note the cobbled streets, streetcar tracks on both Queen and Sherbourne, and the lack of traffic lights.   Photo found on Lost Toronto blog

old black and white photo of the northeast corner of Queen East and Sherbourne

Adding a bit of colour to the intersection is the new mural on Sherbourne Street, on the side of building that houses the Moss Park Discount Store.   It features a young man in a baseball cap adorned with the Brazilian flag.  Three parrots are also in the mural.

mural on the side of a red brick building, a young man in a baseball cap and three parrots. on the exterior wall of the Moss Park Discount Store.

Close ups of parts of the mural:

part of a larger mural, a green hand is reaching out and the forefinger is rubbing the top of a parrot's head.

part of a larger mural of a parrot like bird upright, wearing a sleeveless T-shirt with the number 16 on it.

part of a large mural, a parrot head, and the signatures of the street artists who created the mural - Smoky, Cens and Vemo

Just north of Queen, there is a small dead end alley that runs east off Sherbourne.  At the end of the alley is a mural by Vorteks….  she’s come to save someone (the world?) from an orange creature.

two murals in an alley. At the end, on a fence is a mural by vorteks, text with his signature using an eyeball for the letter O. An orange creature with an eye, most of which is behind the text, as well as a scantily clad woman who looks like a superhero.

This birdo is still looking good.  It’s just east of Sherbourne.

mural by birdo, bright green background with abstract colourful animals painted on it, tall large animals

below: On the north side of Queen Street East, looking towards Sherbourne Street from Kim’s Convenience (with the birdo mural on the wall).  I was going to write something about it ha ha having the same name as the CBC TV series “Kim’s Convenience”.  Luckily I looked it up before writing because lo and behold it is the same store!  The store was up until recently called Mimi Variety.  The new name and new signs are leftovers from filming the TV shows.   Most of the buildings in this block are heritage listed sites, especially those towards Sherbourne Street.

blog_kims_convenience_queen_east

A few more little details to end the post with:

below: A triptych with the center panel missing or a diptych with a mystery middle.

a painting in three panels of a vase of pink and red flowers, on a wooded fence outside, but the middle panel is missing.

below: On a pole, a grominator lovebot hybrid with its long red tongue.  The other little guy’s tongue just can’t compare.

two stickers on a pole. The top one is a lovebot grominator joint venture hybrid character with a very long red tongue. The other is a little round faced guy with his tongue sticking out.

below: A dying breed, three Saabs in a row.  It’s not just old buildings that catch my eye.
Perhaps the one on the right has been cannibalized?

three saabs parked side by side. The one on the right is missing a large portion of its front bumper, headlights and other front end pieces.

below: And last, hearts seen on a Queen St. East building.

pink hearts on a cyan coloured window beside a heart on a brick wall graffiti

 

 

go east, way east…..

Posted: November 11, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art
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I had heard about a mural at Lawrence and Orton Park so this morning I thought I’d check it out.   I ventured out Lawrence Avenue to just east of Markham Road.  As I drove I was reminded of how big this city really is.

below: This is the community mural that started my adventure this morning.  It was painted in nine sections and then assembled on the wall.   It is the work of Ted Hamer, Rowell Soller and Skratch Wonder.

a mural on the side of a building that has the words Lawrence Orton in blue and orange. There is also a blue jay in flught, a fox and a squirrel and a robin standing in the grass.

below: As I left Orton Park, I saw this mural from a distance.  Of course I had to stop and take a picture.  I got some strange looks.  Tourists are probably not too common in this part of the city.

vertical mural on a multirise building (about 15 storeys tall perhaps).

below:  While I was looking for the best angle from which to take the above photo, I noticed some markings beside the road.

red painting on concrete wall barrier beside sidewalk on bridge over Highland Creek, in red, a girl's head and the words, What I love about the city is there are all kinds of cultures and faith groups. There is a lot of trees and sunshine.

below: As it turns out, these are from the summer of 2011.  Lawrence Avenue is 6 lanes wide and at this point it crosses Highland Creek and Morningside Park – a long bridge, a rather barren stretch of concrete and pavement.

red picture of a boy on a concrete barrier beside a sidewalk as it passes over a bridge. The word welcome is written beside him.

below:  Bridges were meant for going under, right?   Luckily there was an entrance to Morningside Park right there, and luckily I left my toboggan at home  🙂   Morningside Park is part of a network of parks that follow the Highland Creek.  It starts near Markham Road and the 401 and runs south to Kingston Road near Guildwood station.    A search for an answer to the question, “How many ravine parks does Toronto have?” has yielded no results yet.  I’ll keep looking.

paved path leading down a hill to a ravine park, apartment buildings in the distance. Sign beside path says no skiing or sleigh riding on the slope.

below:  The answer to another question, “Is there graffiti under the bridge?” was more easily found.

in a park under a bridge, grassy area, some trees on either side, 2 concrete support pillars with street art on the bottom of each.

below: The bottom of the pillars were painted back in 2010 and 2011.

street art on a concrete support pillar of a bridge, a man upside down, large head with top of head on the ground, feet up in the air. moustache, smiling mouth,

below: Hope takes flight over the city.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to see but the word hope is written on the city at the bottom of this small mural but it is behind the weeds.

small mural on the bottom of a concrete pillar, a bird takes flight over a city at sunrise. The word hope is written on the mural

below:   Personified Hope, from the picture above, wraps around to another side of the pillar as he/she moves upward.  Also seen here is one of the feet from the upside down man.

side of a concrete pillar with light blue line drawing of person looking upwards, abstracted.

below:   Another pillar has a painting by elicser.

street art by elicser in blue of a family. Man with red hat, woman and kids huddled together, fall park scenery in the background.

street art on the bottom of a concrete pillar, two black men. One is Mohammad Ali.

park with grass and autumn foilage trees, apartment building in the background, a large bridge passes over with four or five concrete pillars. SUnny blue sky day

street art painting on a pillar under a bridge of a young man in a blue hoodie and brown baseball cap

street art painting on a pillar under a bridge, wispy picture of a woman with long hair, hair swirls upwards to a satelite dish and a flying bird

bridge over a park and creek

geometric shapes abstract many colours street art

below: There were also a couple of paintings on the other side of the creek. There was water in the creek. Too much to cross safely.
Or at least, too much for me to cross safely!

graffiti on a pillar in the park with weeds and small shrubs growing around it.

It was a very quiet place to be this morning.  I saw a couple of people on the path, including Batman, but they were silent.

line drawing in black of Batman's head and shoulders, drawn on a paved path in a park

large chalk drawing of a man's face in black, white and pale purple, on a paved path in a park

One last photo, taken as I was driving home across Lawrence.  I guess it’s somewhat appropriate for the time.  Not sure why one would be sporting such a sticker in Ontario though.   C’est la vie.  To each their own.

red car with a sticker on the back that says Donald Trump 2016 Make America Great Again.

I saw many people at bus stops waiting for the 34 Lawrence bus and I wondered how long it took them to get to the subway.  Lawrence is 6 lanes wide and I tried to picture it with an LRT running down the center.   (but that’s a whole other blog post, perhaps another day).

Coxwell tiles

Posted: November 11, 2016 in locations, public art
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mosaic artwork in greens and yellows

Coxwell subway station is still in the midst of its renovations and upgrades.  As part of the project, the wall on the west and south sides of the station have been painted a bright yellow.   This yellow was then the canvas for a large number of mosaic creations.

some of the mosaic medallions on the Coxwell mosaic mural

below: The new mosaic mural covers the wall alongside the pathway that leads from Coxwell station to the Danforth.  The murals painted on the side of the Sunset Grill restaurant, on the opposite wall of the path, were there previously.

yellow Coxwell pathway mosiac mural with the murals from the restaurants beside the pathway

below: A beaver made from bits and pieces – with round eye and two large teeth.

a beaver made with mosaic tiles and pieces of glass

below: At the corners of the mural are seed pods that have released their seeds to the wind.

mosaic representation of a large seed pod that hs released its seeds.

below: The south side of the subway station is adjacent to a Green P parking lot on Danforth.  Along this wall, a quote by Agnes MacPhail has been added below the mural.  “We meet all life’s greatest tests alone”.  Agnes MacPhail (1890-1954) was the first woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons where she served from 1921 to 1940.  After her time in federal politics, she represented the provincial riding of York East in the Ontario Legislature.  In 1951 she was responsible for Ontario’s first equal pay legislation.

A wall with a chainlink fence above it, a large green construction crane is behind the wire fence. The wall has been covered with a mural, yellow background and mosaic pictures on it. A quote runs along the bottom at ground level, white letters on black background, quote by Agnes MacPhail

A wall with a chainlink fence above it, a large green construction crane is behind the wire fence. The wall has been covered with a mural, yellow background and mosaic pictures on it. A quote runs along the bottom at ground level, white letters on black background,

below: West side of the wall, looking towards Strathmore Blvd.

west side of the mural, yellow wall, Coxwell station, mosaic pictures

below: A mosiac bee amongst the flowers…

a circular mosaic picture of a bee amongst white and orange flowers on a blue background, all on a yellow wall. Part of a larger mural

below: … and a real bee sitting beside a mosaic red rose.

mosaic picture of a red rose with green foilage, with a real wasp sitting on it.

below: Two mosaic pieces, a circle with the names of the artists and a semi-circle rainbow with the names of those who contributed to the creation of the mural.  The transcription of the words is given below.

on a yellow wall, some circles made of mosaics. One is the list of people who made the whole mosaic mural and the other is a semi-circle, rainbow colours, of people of contributed to the mural

Lead Artist: Cristina Delago,
With Boloebi Charles Okah, Bronwen Parker, Holly-Jo Horner, Jing Tian, Karen Roberts, Melanie Billark, Robin Hesse, Sarvenaz Rayati, Shae Stamp, Shashann Miguel-Tash, Skyy Marriot, Somayeh Nasiri, Victor Fraser, Will Spratley.

Special Thanks: Woodgreen Community Services, Dulux Painter, Tomasz Majcherczyn, Cathy & Barry Joslin, Cercan Tile, Jacqui Strachan, City Councillor Janet Davis, Jeff Billiard, John & Ed at Danforth Brewery, Mark Wrogemann, Clara Lou, Eleanor Ryan, James & Cooper, John Kenneth & Cherie Daly, Lowe’s, Maisie Fuss, Melanie Morris, Michelle Yeung, S. Dimitrakpoulos,  The Vogls, The Zeelie-Varga Family, Wyatt & Teagan, as well as Laurie, Chantal and Gavin

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Croft Street facelift

Posted: September 8, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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It’s after Labour Day but it’s still hot enough to be July.  I tried to walk for a while today but I didn’t last.  Air conditioning is my best friend this afternoon.  But all was not lost.  Even though I was only out for a short time, I walked along Croft Street and discovered that the south end (south of Vankoughnet) has been cleaned up and repainted.  If you don’t know Croft Street, it’s a street in name only.   It’s more like an alley in that it’s narrow with a lot of garages on it….but it’s also a lane that now has a number of residences on it.  I guess you could call it a hybrid, a little bit alley and a little bit street.

part of a garage door with a narrow wood door beside it, all covered with bright street art, abstract, mostly in red

What I really like about the street art here is that there is a cohesiveness to it.  It’s not all the same but it all works together.  Do I dare call it designer street art?

a row of garage doors in a narrow street, that have all been painted with street art.

below: A couple of murals that existed previously were left untouched.  On the left an oldie and on the right a new coat of paint.

two adjacent garage doors, one with a bright abstract design and the other with a garden scene

below: As well as a bright and cheerful coat of paint (and the occasional white wall!), the lane has been decorated with planters made of cement blocks and old plastic barrels.

a brick wall painted white with two vertical windows with metal grille in small square shapes, also painted white. between the windows on the sidewalk is an arrangement of cement blocks that have been made into planters with greenery and flowers growing in them.

an old blue plastic barrel that has been turned into a planter, with pink flowers and greenery, in front of a garage door that has been painted in abstract street art in bright colours.

close up details of two adjoining buildings, detail of where they meet, one is old rusty metal and the other is wood that has been spray painted pink, yellow and white.

street art on garages, ivy on walls, alley

abstract multicoloured street art on a wall and door, part of wall is also covered with ivy. old wooden barrel sits by wall

a rusty door on the upper level of an old garage in a lane, the lower level has been spray painted with street art and some of the paint is on the upper level too

an old beige plastic barrel that has been turned into a planter, with pink tall grasses and greenery, in front of a garage door that has been painted in abstract street art in bright colours.

The south end of Croft Street is at College Street.  There once was a mural on a wall at the corner of Croft and College that commemorated the fire of 1904.  Almost three years ago I blogged about it.   (3 years!)  John Croft died in that fire and it was for him that the street was named.  Anyhow, that mural is still there although it’s been hidden behind someone’s ugly tagging for more than a year.  Today it is also behind scaffolding.

below: Part of the John Croft mural that no longer exists.

blog_croft1

And now, because life (or, my life) is rarely linear, I’m going to jump around and look at the other end of Croft Street.   North of Vankoughnet there seemed to be an animal theme in street art that I saw.

below: birdo bunny with his ears at attention.

birdo street art of a rabbit head on a bright green garage door, grey head, pink inside of the long ears, purple and turquoise striped neck.

below: The memorial to Monty the cat is still there, again for at least 3 years, but now it’s someone’s little patio.  In case you are unfamiliar with this wall I have added a transcription of the poem written in Monty’s honour.

mural on a wall with lots of birds and fish and a poem as a memorial to a cat, with two chairs in front of it as well as a yellow planter with flowers in it. Did you know our Monty the cat?
King of Croft and all that
(Ask your dog. Ask your cat)
Did you give him a pet
Once you had met?
Or tickle his soft silken tum tum?
Did he tell you his tale in articulate meow
And share his affection with a rub of his brow?
His loss here has left us really quite blue
But remembering all of those of YOU
Who knew how to share a sweet kindness true
Who would pause on the way,
In midst of each day,
To offer wee beastie
affectionate feastie
In Memory of Monty
Thank you!

 

below: Unicorns vs Monsters.   And the winner is?

a garage door painted black with white creatures, 6 on one side of the red words Unicorns vs monsters and 6 white ones on the other side

below: Three cows standing in a field…. on a wall.

painting of three brown cows in a green field, painted on a garage door

below: No animal here…. but it must have been here recently and left its paw prints behind.

street art on a brown wood garage door, with a painting of white paw prints on blues and greens mounted near the top of the wall

below: An angular fox, or rather a triangular fox

a street art picture of a fox made of triangles in orange black and white

below: More animals but I’m not sure if it’s art, or if someone has a lot of watering cans they’re trying to keep organized.  The bottom yellow one is probably not a pokemon, right? Of course I could be missing something – it wouldn’t be the first time!

watering cans hanging along the side of a garage in an alley, many of them are in the shape of yellow rubber duckies and one is a light blue fish shape. A few are little silver coloured metal buckets.

below: Leaving the animal theme behind, mind over matter.

against an ivy covered wall a brown piece of wood sits. on it someone has written mind matter . The word mind is written on top of the word matter and there is a horizontal line between the two words.

below: 74B likes grids.  The metal stripping on the brown door has been there for at leasat three years but the coloured stripes on the garage are more recent.

a garage door painted in yellow, red and blue vertical stripes as well as two wide horizontal stripes, the walls are green shingle and the entry door is black with a grid of metal stripping on it.

below:  All stories and all blog posts need an ending so I’ll stop here.  The end.

a red stop sign to which someone has stuck a sticker that says driving so now the sign says stop driving

between Pape and Donlands

Posted: August 8, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I decided to head to Pape and Danforth on Friday, on a very hot & humid afternoon.   The Danforth was just beginning to get ready for the Taste of the Danforth weekend festival.  I stopped for a bottle of water and tried to find a bit of shade while I figured out where to walk.  The street was still quiet.  The day was hot and humid and no one was moving quickly.   Not many photos to be had there.   Instead, I decided to walk a few of the alleys north of the Danforth between Pape and Donlands.

trucks parked on the street, a small ferris wheel being set up pon a street, stores, barricades

below: No famous graffiti artist has left their mark in your neighbourhood? No problem, make your own!
A collection of icons with even the bricks painted into the picture.

copies of famous street art painted on a garage door. Brick background has been painted on too. Mona Lisa, Campbell soup cans, the woman lifting the corner of the wall to sweep things under it. Einstein holding a placard that says love is the answer. A little dog by Albert Einstein's feet.

below: Three garage doors with street art including one by spud.

three garages in an alley, each with street art painted on their doors.

below: Cruz1art (aka Angel Carillo) and a girl power pink skull by dudeman

a low concrete building in an alley with street art by Cruz 1 art, one says girl power. Large pink skull, basketball hoop in the foreground.

below: “Turn the lights off and look to the sky”

street art in an alley of a woman with long hair, wearing sunglasses, a tag beside it.

below: I’m used to seeing ‘No Trespassing’ or ‘Keep Out’ signs but not so many ‘Keep Off’.

an old rusted sign that says 'keep off' attached tot he top of a chainlink fence, in between two garages in an alley

below: A happy Uber5000 birdie knitting away, a close knit street art painting.

an uber 5000 art piece on a garage door, yellow uber birdie is knitting something with blue wool. the words say "close knit"

below: Another creature by Cruz1

blue animal creature painted on a garage door, green shrub growing in front of part of it, art by cruz 1 in an alley

below: Two more painted garage doors, very linear, very stylized and abstracted.

two single car garages in an alley, both with street art paintings on them, also the back of the houses behind them in the lane.

below: A play on the word ‘cool’.  Snowy words and a penguin with sunglasses.  Unfortunately it didn’t make me feel cooler but only slightly nostalgic for winter.  Only slightly!

street art mural on a garage door in a lane, a penguin standing upright wearing sunglasses. The words, written in large blue letters with snow on them, What's cooler than sum glasses on?

below: On the left is “destroy and rebuild” and on the right is “We are 1, [illegible] mi gente siempre”.  The last bit is Spanish and translates to “My people forever”

two garages in an alley with art on their doors, on the left is an abstract in blue and orange with the words destroy and rebuild. On the right is a woman's face. She's slightly blue. Words written beside her are: we are 1, mi gente siempre

below: I think there was a point to this picture, but I’m not sure what it is.

the top of two pieces of wood in a picket fence type gate, pointed tops, wood,

below:  Since this stretch of the Danforth has been “Greektown” for as long as I can remember, it makes sense to find street art in Greek.  In this case, Greek love.

garage door painted bright blue, with the Greek word for love written on it in large letters

below: A slight chuckle, the next garage door is the translation.

garage door painted with a large cursive lettering word love in pinks on blue

below:  Insert a little rant about horrid TTC concrete fences here.  At least someone has found a way to brighten one of them up.   This one is right beside the entrance to Donlands subway station.

concrete fence with paint drip art on it

A few more pictures….

garage door in a laneway covered with streetart painting

geometric street art on a garage door, pink, grey and black

below: A survivor. A lone white rose amongst dead roses.  May you all survive the heat of summer!

one white rose growing against a fence in an alley , with lots of dead roses around it.

 

 

 

at the mouth of the Don

Posted: July 13, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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street art painting of a blue fish on light blue background, stylized

Today I walked the southern part of the Lower Don River trail.  It’s not the most relaxing place to walk even though the path follows the river.  I have a habit of absentmindedly meandering and I didn’t want to meander right into a cyclist on the narrow shared path.   There was constant background noise from the cars and trucks on the nearby Don Valley Parkway but it was the GO trains that made the most noise as they rumbled right beside me.  Yes, you are correct, it’s not my favorite place to walk.  But I also knew that there was a reward near the end of the trail.

Near the ‘mouth of the Don River’ (in reality, where the Don River turns into the Keating Channel), there are some new murals on the bents supporting the ramps between the DVP and the Gardiner Expressway.  They are part of the Love Letter to the Great Lakes project.   A previous blog post, love letters in paint, concerned the murals from this project that were painted near Ossington and Queen West.

below: If you approach the area from the north, this is the first bent that you see.  All sides of it have been painted by Kirsten McCrea.  If you are driving south on the Don Valley Parkway and you exit to the Gardiner westbound, you drive right over this, and the next few, bents.  In case you haven’t guessed, a bent is that concrete support thingy holding up the road.

a bent supporting an offramp has been covered in a bright mural, grass and weeds grow in front, the river is behind, a small tree also in the picture

below: The other side of the McCrea mural is in the background, behind the bent that has been painted by PA System (Patrick Thompson and Alexa Hatanaka).  Amongst the swirly watery  shapes there is a face near the top.  Extra bit: The guy on the bike stopped to take a photo too.

A swirl of colours makes a mural of faces and hands and watery things, on a bent under the Don Valley Parkway

below: The other side of the PA System bent. A large fish fits perfectly in the upper portion while a hand reaches up from the vertical part.

A very large fish is painted across the top of a bent, and a hand is on the vertical part, with finger tips pointed upwards.

below: The work of MC Baldassari who is currently from Montreal.

concrete support, or bent, under a ramp has been painted with a mural based on a large dark blue triangle

below:  The other side of the above bent.  It looks like the woman has come through the pillar.

concrete support, or bent, under a ramp has been painted with a mural based on a woman's head coming through a large dark blue triangle

below: A woman with a mouse in her hand and a flower in her hair kneels beside the foxes,
a mural painted by EGR (Erica Balon).   In the background you can see a much taller bent that has been painted blue.   This bent is on a different ramp, the ramp that you would find yourself on if you were driving east on the Gardiner and then exiting to the DVP.  It has been painted by Jason Botkin and it includes the word Wonscotanach.  Apparently that was the First Nations name for the river before John Graves Simcoe came along in 1790 and decided to call it the Don River.

A mural on a bent in an underpass, a young woman is kneeling. She is holding a mouse in one hand. Two foxes stand beside her.

below: There are more animals on the other sides, along with a city lit up in the night in the background of the mural.   Raccoon, rabbit and a pink butterfly fluttering past.

2 bents covered with murals. In the foreground, the mural is dark blue, with a pink butterfly, a rabbit, a mouse and a raccoon.

woman holding a mouse in a mural on a bent in the foreground, with another bent in the background, a mural of water and topless red women walking or standing in the water

below: Rajni Perera‘s mural features red and yellow women walking or standing in the water.

part of a mural of water and topless red women either walking or standing in the water

below: Looking back

a cyclist rides past 4 bents under the Don Valley Parkway that have been painted with murals as part of the Love Letter to the Great Lakes project.

below: A collaborative effort by Jarus and Kwest beside the Don Valley trail, just north of the other murals.

large sea creature painted on a mural on a concrete wall.

below:  And one last photo before leaving the area… a quick note sprayed on a concrete support.

rough spray painted words 'Hi Love' on a concrete support on a railing by a river.

pieces reconstructed

Posted: June 22, 2016 in general Toronto, graffiti and street art, people
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The best walks are those where you discover things that you weren’t expecting.

Slices of pool cues and wood, toy figures and animals, as well as small bits and pieces have been put together with patience and imagination.  The methodical, artistic work of Albino Carreira covers his garage in a lane.  It looks like a work in progress.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - one side of the garage is painted red and covered with decorations

below: Rising above the garage is a sculpture that resembles a spinal column with its stacked vertebrae.  Albino Carreira was a construction worker who came to Toronto from Portugal in 1972 as a young man.  In 1993 he fell from scaffolding on a job site,  cracked his skull and broke his spine.   Albino survived the fall and doctors were able to fix his skull with metal plates and reconstruct his backbone with pieces of bone from his leg.

a tall sculpture resembling a spinal column rises above a garage in a lane. constructed of bits of wood and found objects.

below: As you can see, one side of the garage is painted bright red, blood red perhaps.
But it is also a vibrant red, full of life.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - one side is painted red and designs in sun shapes are found, with toy scorpion, snakes and insects

below: The north side of the garage (the side you can’t see in the first picture) is covered with slabs of polished stone with marbles in the grouting between the stones.  All parts of the pool cues were used, including the rubber bumper ends in the pattern seen here.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - an edge, pool cues pieces on one side, tips from pool cues down the center and flat slabs of polished stone with marbles on the other side

below: The wasps have found it and they must like it too.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - a corner section where wasps have built a nest

below: Some examples of the eclectic assortment of objects that have been used…. skulls, Santa Claus, beetles, butterflies, gold golfers, figurines, and champagne corks.  I spent quite a bit of time looking at the details, but then again that’s the sort of thing that I like to do.  I find it rewarding to discover little things that other people might pass over.

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - glow in the dark skull

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - detail of one section, a gold figurine of a golfer, a fat man holding a blue birdhouse

garage in a laneway decorated by Albino Carreira using slices of wood, pool cues, toy figures, and small found objects - a small Santa Claus, beetle, butterly and champagne cork

As I wrote this blog post, I kept thinking that I should go back to see if there was anything that I missed… and then I learned that his house is also decorated in a similar manner so now going back is definitely in my future!

 

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