Shalak Attack and Bruno Smoky have painted another large colourful mural. This one features two women, a baltimore oriole, and many fruits and flowers.
below: Close up of the bird, a baltimore oriole
below: Adorned with leaves, flowers, and fruit – blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Lots of cherry blossoms and another bird too.
“Sing me a rainbow, paint me a dream.
Show me a world that I’ve never seen.”
The first Monday after the “fall back” time change is always one of my favorite days of the year. That’s when I feel like I got an extra hour of sleep. So I woke up feeling great but of course it’s November so there were some grey clouds. Still, the phrase “I can sing a rainbow” was stuck in my head. But I don’t sing, so I did the next best thing and took a rainbow of photos as I walked today. Beat the blahs away by capturing the brightest moments.
below: And what goes best with rainbows? Why not a unicorn?! It looks like the work of #whatsvictorupto
If you know the children’s song, “I Can Sing a Rainbow”, you will know that the colours in the lyrics aren’t in the correct ROYGBV order (or IV at the end if you include indigo). It’s a cute little song so I will forgive the author.
And in case your childhood didn’t include this song, here are the words:
Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue,
I can sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow too.
Listen with your eyes,
Listen with you ears,
And sing everything you see.
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow too.
Toronto’s first “street” art – a mural on the pavement, painted on the street itself. It’s located on Baldwin Street in the Kensington market area.
below: The mural was painted on Pedestrian Sunday (28 Aug) when the streets were closed anyhow.
Murals on the street aren’t legal in this city. In 2015 City council voted against making them legit. Instead, they allowed this one to go ahead as part of the StART Road Mural Pilot Project. Plans are afoot for a few more to be painted in the next couple of months. The city has imposed some restrictions as to where they can be painted, rules such as the murals need to be away from intersections and be on streets with a low volume of traffic. It is rumoured that future road murals will be on Condor Avenue (west of Greenwood subway yard), Lauder Avenue (near Dufferin and St. Clair), Hiawatha Road (Little India), and lastly, somewhere in North York
below: The next two pictures were taken from the upper level of the adjacent parking structure (where I had a chat with a security guard, private property and all that).
The pilot murals are all the result of work by community groups – people within a community working together to produce something representative of that community.
below: Painting a raspberry. The shapes were drawn by artist Victor Fraser and then painted by a number of artists and volunteers. It is an acrylic based paint that will wear off in 6 to 9 months.
below: From street level – peas in a pod, a clove of garlic, a bunch of spring onions, an artichoke, a banana, and in the distance a lot more!
This project was organized by Stas Ukhanov and supported by the Kensington Market BIA.
Frank Kovac Lane is a short alley just south of Christie subway station. Some of the garage doors were painted with murals in past years and, as usual, there were plenty of tags. Recently, the lane was the scene of a community mural painting session thanks to the 4th Toronto Rangers (Girl Guides), StreetARToronto, artist Nick Sweetman, and some local residents. Now some of the tags are gone and more importantly, some more garage doors are home to bright and cheerful murals. A few of them are included here.
below: At the north end of the lane is this large, colourful mural by Nick Sweetman.
Two large blue bears have found a plethora of honey. Will the bees share?
below: The new murals continue the animal theme, “Urban Wildlife”, starting with this fox.
below: A common Toronto animal, a raccoon, beside a red fire hydrant.
below: A blue jay eyes some blueberries.
below: Several monster faces have lived in this alley for a while and they still remain.
This one looks like he needs a hair cut.
below: This graffiti is actually on Harbord Street but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of it
– a camera and an “oh snap”
as I walk Toronto 