There are two large murals by Nick Sweetman that cover both sides of Bathurst street as it passes under the 401 highway. The murals are a collection of animals – birds, frogs, cows, cats, foxes, bats, tigers, and more. This blogpost is a selection of images from those two walls.
There is a new mural (2022) in Toronto by Nick Sweetman featuring animals and plant life commonly found along Ontario’s rivers, especially the Don River that flows nearby. It adorns a wall/fence that runs the length of a new park, Riverside Square, which is southeast of Queen and the Don Valley Parkway.
below: The east end of the mural
below: A blue-fronted dancer damselfly (A very long name for a very small creature!)
below: Mink, toad, and a water insect called a water strider.
below: Catfish
below: A raccoon eyes the fish swimming past
below: A happy dog among friends, a raccoon and a cotton tail rabbit. If you look closely, there is a bridge in the background by the fox – Torontonians might recognize this bridge as one of the many that cross the Don River.
below: Red fox, coyote
below: In the middle
below: Egret diving for fish
below: White-tailed Deer
below: North American beaver
below: Painted turtle
below: Northern Leopard Frog
Tensoe2 and Moises (Luvs) also contributed to ‘Along the Riverbank’
This post also appears in Eyes on the Streets
below: “Protect your energy”
below:A raccoon in pinks and purples, by Jeff Blackburn
below: by Nick Sweetman – two ebony jewelwings, a male and female along with a partially submerged frog with its tongue ready for action. Jewelwings are a species of damselfly.
below: GETSO (or Getsofacto)
below: A larger than life grinning Cheshire Cat by Christina Mazzulla.
below: Some people by Elicser Elliott hanging out in a doorway.
below: Love in the alley
Photos taken January 2023
Just over a year ago, I found two murals in a lane near Yonge and Sheppard, one by Rowell Soller and the other the work of @rowdyradrat aka Ian Gabriel.
below: “Make me smile” is still written here. Street art by rowdyradrat
below: Rowell Soller’s painting of a man’s profile is now joined by Spooky Boo, a striped ghost-like figure by Jieun June Kim.
below: Two animal stickers, a cat and a tiger (or is it two tigers?), both by Jieun June Kim.
Since then, other street art has appeared in the same alley.
below: another piece by Jieun June Kim
below: A little blue bird by KJ Bit (who helped organize the painting of many of the murals back in June of this year).
below: Straight lines on blue, geometric and abstract, painted by Erica James aka Nixo
below: Construction in the background
below: A tricolour jaguar, in yellows, blues, and reds, by Nick Sweetman
below: A little sparrow with a rusty coloured cap, by luvs
below: Another luvs painting – the woman on the left – beside a snail and a blue dog with a very long pink tongue by cruz
below: A snake among the plants in purples and oranges, by Planta Muisca
below: On the right, colourful blobs and splashes in motion painted by Andre Kan
below: frog and snail
below: …. and last, another frog. This one was painted by Eugene Lee
Something new or something different.
And for sure, something’s changed.
below: Too cool for school. Dundas Square.
below: The north east corner of Victoria and Lombard (looking north on Victoria).
below: This building is on the north west corner of Victoria and Richmond. It is the Confederation Life building, constructed in 1892. According to Wikipedia, afire gutted the top floor of the building and destroyed the roof in June 1981 but the rest of the structure remained intact.
below: A 1912 picture of the Confederation Life Building. Photo source
below: Fran’s restaurant at the corner of Victoria and Shuter – a Toronto institution.
below: And just a bit farther north on Victoria is the Senator which is even older than Fran’s. That’s a lot of food!
below: Signs on Victoria Street including a marvelous old Green P Parking sign.
below: Protest poster with a message for Prime Minister Trudeau. Will you compensate us for the mercury crisis?
below: Breaking my habit of not photographing people sleeping on the streets – it was the large green frog pillow that made me chuckle and reach for my camera.
below: And speaking of frogs, a group of them have appeared at College Park. A group of frogs is called an army… but if these are actually toads then a group of toads is a knot. Hmm…. frogs prefer water while toads live on land. There are also differences in their eggs, tongues and teeth but the most noticeable difference is in their eyes. Frogs have round eyes that bulge out. Toads eyes are more oval and don’t bulge. Conclusion – these are frogs searching for water.
below: Looking north on Yonge street towards Alexander. The very tall building is at Yonge & Bloor.
below: More Yonge Street. Another juxtaposition of old and new; the opportunities for this kind of image are becoming commonplace. Also, I could probably take pictures on Yonge every day and still miss some of the changes.
below: Plaid, paw prints, and pink
below: One is happier than the others.
below: Dundas Street, just west of University Ave., looking towards Simcoe and St. Patrick streets.
below: North side of Dundas street, just west of Bay.
below: Who doesn’t like bacon? I prefer mine a bit crispier.
“Days go running and hiding
The weeks are going slippy and sliding
Years leave quicker every time they come”
from “When We Were Young” by Passenger
Uber5000 is almost finished a new mural in Graffiti Alley!
below: Large hockey playing yellow birdies. One male and one female by the looks of it.
below: The mural is loosely based on Nathan Phillips Square in the winter time. See that Toronto sign? It has been painted with glow in the dark paint. Apparently, UV lights are going to be installed to illuminate the sign at night. Something to check out in the near future!
below: That’s one cool tree!
With thanks to Joanne (of My Life Lived Full blog ) for walking with me today! You were a great excuse to walk Graffiti Alley again…. and yes, there is always something new to discover!
Quickly, before the leaves grow back and obscure the mural!
The Garrison Creek mural is on King St. West at Sudbury Ave.,
close to the railway overpass.
On the north side of King St. West
Cecil Harbourfront Community Centre,
a Graffiti Transformation Project,
painted in 2004
New faces in the alley, or at least they are new to me. Seen yesterday.
and a froggie face too.
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as I walk Toronto 