Posts Tagged ‘graffiti’

a flock of birdos

Posted: May 17, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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This blog post is about a flock of birdos, meaning that I found a lot of alley garages decorated with paintings by street artist birdo.  Or maybe ‘a menagerie of birdos’ would be a more accurate description as most of the pictures were of different animals such as elephant, cat, dog, coyote, and mouse along with a number of different birds.

These photographs were are all taken in alleys behind the south part of Dovercourt Road (between Queen and Sudbury streets).  The majority of the paintings that I saw were result of birdo’s work but there were examples of  and I have included them in this post too.

 below: Two birdo birds with eggs, with a slice of mushroom and pepperoni pizza by Shalak.

Three garages in an alley, with trees growing between them. The first two have garage doors with birdo murals on them and the third has a pizza street art painting by Shalak

street art mural on a garage door in an alley by birdo - a large bird with blue head and orange beak sitting in a nest looking down at a large white egg

street art mural on a garage door in an alley by birdo - a parrot holding a large blue egg

An old wood garage in an alley that is painted by Shalak, a slice of pizza with pepperoni pieces flying off it (or onto it!)

a person is sitting on a kerb in an alley, beside a wall with a large mural by birdo of an elephant and a mouse

street art mural on a wall in an alley by birdo - an elephant with a green head

below: Howling at the moon, with a cactus and a scorpion too.

street art mural on a garage door in an alley by birdo - a coyote howling at the moon in the desert with a large cactus in the picture as well as a scorpion. words: birdo homes spud

below: Blue dog, pink lava lamp

street art mural on a garage door in an alley by birdo - a blue dog beside a pink lava lamp on a table. words: birdo dmc, phil pans tense

street art mural on a garage door in an alley by birdo - a four legged animal looks to be growling at something

street art mural on a garage door in an alley by birdo - a large multicoloured cat. words: tense phil pans

below:  A rooted turtle and cool owl with sparkly shades

street art mural on a garage door in an alley by birdo - a lavendar turtle and an owl with blue eyes and orange beak

street art mural on a garage door in an alley by birdo - a creature with a green and purple body and head that looks like a parrot

street art mural on a wall in an alley, a girls face, two little brown pigtails, 2 hearts and a turtle head

an old mattress leans against an old brick wall that has two pieces of graffiti on it. One is a blue and yellow egg shape with a blue arm and hand sticking out of a crack in it. The words "It's alive" are written beside it. The other is a small blue creature like shape

On a gararge door in a laneway, painted like the Canadian flag except there is a pineapple in the middle instead of a maple leaf. On the right hand side red stripe are the words "have a nice day"

A mural by bruno smoky on the side of a white container. It is a purple faced creature with blue tag like shapes around it.

below: “Just a robot that doesn’t like technology”

a lovebot on a silver garage door with the words "Just a robot that doesn't like technology, I'd rather be free"- signed Tasha

number 66 in a lane, garage door, door and walls covered with circles and triangles in different colours.

A door covered with a very abstract face painting and another graffiti face beside the door.

from Riverside to Leslieville

Posted: April 22, 2016 in locations
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A walk along Queen Street East from Broadview to Greenwood.

A no smoking sign written on a piece of paper that is upside down, as viewed from the other side of the window. Looking out onto a patio.

below: Welcome to Riverside, mural at the corner of Queen and Grant streets featuring the sign on the Queen bridge as it crosses over the Don River.

People walking past the intersection where there a mural for Riverside area of Toronto, TTC streetcar in the mural. It is on the upper floor of a two storey brick building.

below: Farther east on Queen Street, at Curzon,  there is this ‘Greetings from Leslieville’ mural.

One of the Leslieville murals. Greetings from Leslieville with a postcard on it.

There are many interesting little stores on this stretch of Queen Street.
All the benches have been painted in cheerful colourful stripes.

Looking across the street at a man sitting on the edge of a concrete planter for a tree as well as a multicoloured striped bench with two women sitting on it. They are in front of two storey brick buildings with stores on the bottom level and apartments on the top. One of the stores is Bronze.

Rubiks cubes and large red and white dice in a store window, some real and some reflected in a a mirror on the wall.

looking into the window of a pharmacy, a toy troll is in a white mug. The mug has red lettering - Yours pharmacy. Also a mortar and pestle in the window along with a box with medicines for influenza

below: On the 21st of April (yesterday), Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 90th birthday.
A number of stores and restaurants had displays in her honour.

items in a store window. A Canadian flag, a mountie figurine that waves, two mugs featuring Queen Elizabeth and a container of tea.

A picture of Queen Elizabeth hangs on a wall in a cafe, seen through the window with reflections of the sky. There are red chairs in the cafe

Queen Street East was developed as long ago as the mid 1800’s and remnants of various decades can be found as one explores the area.
below: … details such as this fading Canada Dry sign.  The formula for Canada Dry ginger ale was developed in the early 1900’s by John J. McLaughlin, of the same McLaughlin family whose early automobile factory led to the start of General Motors.  This ginger ale was patented in Toronto in 1907.  Usually the words ‘Canada Dry’ are written in red, not yellow.   Is there a time when Canada Dry used yellow lettering?

An older Canada Dry advertisement sign hangs over the entrance to Eddies Convenience Store on Queen St East.

below:  At the corner of Queen and Coady there is also a ghost sign for Coady Sweets as well as an advertisement for Coca-Cola.

On a corner, Edjan Convenience Store with people walking past it. On the side of the upper floor of the two storey brick building is a ghost sign advertising coca cola and Coady Sweets. At the corner of Coady and Queen St. East in Leslieville Toronto
  below: Call it luck – even a vintage car drove past while I was there.

A black vintage car drives by on Queen St East

below: An old KitKat advertisement on the side of Boston Discount Store.  If you look closely, there is also an original Boston Ave street sign at the top right of the KitKat ad.

Side of a convenience store with an ad for KitKat, have a break, is painted on the side. Boston Discount Store on the corner of Queen St. East and Boston Ave

below: Even older are the buildings in the mural of Queen St. East circa 1926.  I am not sure if this an accurate depiction of a particular stretch of Queen Street.  It might be interesting to do some research to find out if the picture can be retaken, 90 years later.  So far I have been unable to find out anything about a Jackson Brothers store on Queen East.

Black and white mural of historical picture of Queen St East

below:  A sign of the new, some of the new TTC streetcars are now running along Queen Street.

The side of a new TTC streetcar behind a striped bench on a sidewalk

below: A mural depicting Frank Zappa along with the words
“Stupidity has a certain charm.  Ignorance does not.”

A mural of Frank Zappa on the upper floor of a two storey building. Also includes the words Stupidity has a certain charm, ignorance does not.

below: Like so many places and streets in Toronto, there are condos going up here too.

reflections in the shiny black hoardings around a condo construction site. buildings, car, people

A young man walks past the Value Village Donation Center that has a large window with 3 mannequins in it. A bike is parked in front.

below: The railway tracks pass over Queen Street.  A number of years ago the underpass was decorated with paintings of different animals and those paintings remain in good shape.

A small section of the railway bridge over Queen St. East near De Grassi. The far wall is painted light blue and there are picture of animals on it.

below: Once upon a time trains served this area.  There was a railway station here but it is long gone.

historical plaque describing the history of Riverdale train station at Queen St. East and De Grassi St in Toronto

transcription:

“In 1896, the Grand Trunk Railway opened its Queen East Station to serve Toronto’s growing east end.  Renamed Riverdale Station in 1907, the building stood here on De Grassi Street at Queen Street East.  Its dramatic turret, bay window, and a deep overhanging roof were defining features typical of small railway stations of the period.

In 1904, a streetcar collided with a freight train at the level crossing on Queen Street East, killing three people and injuring 18.  This and subsequent accidents led to the elevation of the new Union Station railway corridor above city streets and sidewalks.  The station was moved in 1927 to accommodate the new embankment for the underpass, the first of nine to be completed.  Dwindling passenger numbers during the Great Depression led to the closure of Riverdale Station in 1932 and its demolition in 1974.”

below: Looking west from under the railway bridge.

Photo taken from under a bridge, looking west along Queen St. East, cars on the street, a restaurant on the corner, and some women on the sidewalk.

below: A train themed mural in an alley just off Queen Street.

Street art painting of a brown train boxcar, with a yellow and orange tag on it, on the side of a building in an alley.

board outside Fuzz salon.

graffiti, white stick drawing of a man with a beard pointing his finger, or giving someone the finger, hard to tell

Two brick stores on Queen St East, two storey. One is the OKOK diner with a mural on the side of it that features an older version TTC streetcar.
reflections in the window of a cafe. Red benches are outside the window. People, TTC streetcar

Looking into a store window. A small model of the Statue of Liberty, a fire extinguisher, a pump and some PVC pipe parts. Reflections of sky, buildings from across the street and a yellow set of lights above a cross walk.

The painted sign on the door of Dangerous Dan's restaurant that says, No bathrooms, no change, no outside food, no kidding.

the latest word on the street

Posted: April 10, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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Anyone with a marker and a bit of gumption can leave their mark almost anywhere but most of us don’t.  What makes some people write?  The stupid and/or juvenile scrawls I can do without but I like encountering words that make me smile or make me think.  Below is a small collection that I have seen in the past week.  Some are stupid and some are witty, but all are the result of someone’s thoughts and actions.

below: Keep it civil; keep it underground.

an orange diamond shaped construction ahead sign

below: “MyFace  – I vote for a date with you!  Currently searching for my 2017 Valentine.”
Brought to you (maybe) by someone called James and seen around Ryerson University.

a poster taped to a pole on a street with the heading "MyFace", a picture of a young man pointing at the camera. Words on the bottom say:

below: What is more tempting than a blank wall?  If a sign requests you not to paint on the wall and you draw on it with marker, have you disobeyed the request?

An off white coloured wall on which someone has printed the words "Please do not paint wall". In answer someone else has drawn a picture (very faint so it's hard to see)

below: These posters on the wood hoardings have been up for many months now.  Someone has written “communist garbage” on one of the posters.  I’m not sure of the ideology, but if you believe in the freedom of movement are you really a communist?  The Soviet government certainly didn’t allow it.

posters that have been on wood hoardings for quite a while and they are starting to fray at the edges.

below: Let’s call this photo ‘Garage Heavy Metal in the Bike Lane’.
I’m not sure if this is a list of good things?  or bad things?  Or maybe some sort of poetry?
What does Elizabeth May have in common with Lucy DeCoutere?  Or the TD CEO with Desmond Cole?

a list of things and people written in capital letters, in different colours on a light blue garage door

below: “Do not place any materials here”…..  just a lot of words instead.
A few words about someone called Sarah.

A yellow sign in an alley that says "So not place any materials here" on which someone has written in black sharpie

below: “Drink coca-cola get fat”.  Probably not what Coke intended!?

A large poster coca-cola ad. In the red circle with the coke logo, has been written in black, drink and get fat, such that the sign now says, drink coca-cola, get fat.

below: “I use stickers because I’m too afraid of getting caught to spray”, wabishabby

A very small hand printed sticker that has been stuck to a sign on a wall, top part of sticker is picture of a cat, bottom half of sticker are the words: "

April flurries

Posted: April 5, 2016 in graffiti and street art, nature
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April showers bring May flowers, or so they say.

painted on a garage door, bright green background with black roses with red leaves and white daisies, also with black leaves, a red butterfly and a blue butterfly

BUT, wait just a minute!  You know it always snows in Toronto in April.  Always.

young man's face painted in pink with white features (stylized, not realistic) with orange hair and orange shirt. beside him is the word no written in large pink letters with an exclamation point after it.

And this year is no exception.

drawing of two eyes and a mouth on a grey wall. There is fear in the eyes and the mouth seems to be screaming. Beside the drawing is a window with green metal bars and a small leafless tree growing in front of the window. Snow on the ground.

It’s cold enough that even the poles are wearing scarves.

an old scruffy yellow metal pole in an alley has a black knitted scarf tied around it. There is a bit of snow on the scarf.

But why should that stop us?  There’s always a silver lining and there’s always lemonade to be made.
In this case, it is the opportunity for one last look at the city in winter (we hope!)

backyard, entrance off alley, little red car parked on snow covered parking lot. blue sky, backs of two storey houses

looking through a backless garage where the garage door is open. The garage is empty. you can see the backyard, covered in snow as well as snow covered steps leading up the second storey

looking down a narrow lane to a large two stroey red brick house across the street, a woman is riding past on a bicycle.. winter scene

eyes open, watching for spring

Posted: April 3, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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Faces in the alley, Graffiti Alley

As March turns into April and winter sort of turns into spring.

blog_girl_window_streetart_painting

blog_old_man_head_graffiti

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below: Looks like someone has already started his spring cleaning.

blog_graffiti_man_spring_cleaning

below: He says, “See you in hell”.
She thinks, “I’m already there. You should try living beside this smelly thing.”

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below: Jarus has painted a young man

blog_jarus_man_streetart_painting

below: It seems that even Lovebot needs to eat…  Not sure about the purple hamburger bun though!

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P.K., a newcomer to the alley?

Posted: April 2, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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I took a short walk through the graffiti alleys behind Queen St. West yesterday.  I found four new face/skull paintings by artist P.K. (which is short for?) all close together on Rush Lane, and all near 530 Richmond St. West.

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - intricate black line drawing of skull and facial features on teal background

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - black outlines of top of skull, eyes, nose holes, and sort of teeth, on red background

below: A turtlecaps paste-up from last year is still on the wall.

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - black spray paint outlines of features on multicoloured background - on a brick wall between two windows, small turtlecaps paste up also in the picture

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - red and yellow drippy blobs on a black background

under bridge, under school

Posted: December 25, 2015 in graffiti and street art, landmarks
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Playing hookey, spray paint cans in hand, under the bridge.

 

steps behind a school

long wooden staircase going downhill in autumn with lots of dead leaves on the ground

On the Bayview Extension, a black car drives under the Bloor Viaduct, past concrete supports with graffiti on them.

graffiti on concrete bridge supports, block letters

graffiti on concrete bridge supports - creature in yellow and orange with the words: One love to [heart] and for my best friend Gracie

graffiti on concrete bridge supports - creature with black face and covered in green leaves, with a few purple petals on top of the head. words, RIP Julian Waxhead, as well as a pink and black geometric street art painting

graffiti on concrete bridge supports - creature with black face and covered in green leaves, with a few purple petals on top of the head. words, RIP Julian Waxhead

graffiti on concrete bridge supports

graffiti on concrete bridge supports

graffiti on concrete bridge supports - with words totally busted oren

stencils on concrete, in red, words that say: Police Chiefs are Freemasons

stencil, on concrete, in red, words that sat: Don't steal it's the gov't's job

graffiti under a bridge, light blue character

graffiti under a bridge, black deveilish face with horns, beard and teeth, black face, white details, red around it

line drawing of a skinny man wearing a top hat beside head of a caricature of Queen Elizewbth in green and yellow. The words, Crack Kills

graffiti in the corner of a bridge support, concrete,

 

hand written sign duct taped to a chain link fence that reads: Apologies to the graffiti art people. It's that time of year again that city makes us clean up. But... clean slate 101. Peace.
below: On two sides, back and front, of the same post.

Two sides of the same pole. One side has a stencil in red that says Objects in Space. The other side has the same stencil, but in reverse.

graffiti under a raised parking lot

looking up at the metal cross bar supports for the wire fence along the Bloor Viaduct

Toronto Historical commission sign about the history of the Prince Edward Viaduct, a bronze plaque posted on the brick wall, interior, of Castle Frank subway station.

 

transcription of the plaque:

The Prince Edward Viaduct
Designed by Edmund Burke architect, and Thomas Taylor, construction engineer, the Price Edward Viaduct was opened on 18 October 1918. The Viaduct joined Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue from Sherbourne Street to Broadview Avenue, to provide easy access to the rapidly expanding suburbs east of the Do River. The Bloor section, carried on an earthen embankment, stretched eastward from Sherbourne to Parliament Streets. The Don section supported by a bridge 494 metres long, extends westward from Broadview Avenue. The Rosedale section, with a bridge span of 177 metres, forms a connecting link between them. On the recommendation of Jacob and Davies, consulting engineers, provision for a lower second deck was incorporated into the viaduct to carry subway trains. This foresight proved to be of inestimable value in building the Bloor-Danforth subway line 50 years later.
Toronto Historical Board, Toronto Transit Commission, 1981

Sorauren Park

Posted: December 19, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti and street art on walls and garage doors in the alleys surrounding Sorauren Park.

below: If you are walking eastward along Dundas West, this is the first mural that you see.

Uber5000 mural on the side of Tommys Gift and Variety store on Dundas WEst. Uber birdie with a white coffee cup, cat listening to a giant CD player

below:  A friendly fuzzy blackburn animal playing in the park

mural by blackburn of a raccoon, or similar creature, playing with a yellow toy truck, painted on the side of a building in a park

below: Dog (wolf?) by Aaron Li-Hill

very realistic painting of a wolf (or a dog) on a garage door in a lane.

below: The guy in the blue shorts is saying: “You don’t need a mirror to look good, you’re beautiful on the inside, like you’re brain and stuff.”

garage door in an alley painted with a mural, light blue backgrouns and some cartoon-like characters, a little green guy with a square head, a yellow dog-like creature on two legs, and a blue guy

garage door painted with a large red and white danger due to sign as street art. A hand is writing in black marker on the sign, rondor

CBS mediah geometric spray paint pience on a garage door.

creative monsters mural on the side of a white building beside Sorauren Park

close up of creative monsters mural on the side of a white building beside Sorauren Park

garage door with street art on it, half of a large man plus green and blue tag around the letter E

man-like shaped rocket on a wall, red wings outstretched, cat skull motif on the front

A blue motorcycle is parked in front of a street art painting of three spacemen creatures

line of garages in an alley. The garage door in the foreground has a bent tulip painted on it.

below: Spudbomb mural

spudbomb mural on a garage door.

D loe tag graffiti on a wood garage door, green letters on orange background

below: by elicser, I was on cloud nine for a long time.

part of an elicser piece on a garage door but a car and a truck are parked in front of the rest. A man in a brown hat is blowing against a door, streams of wind coming from his mouth and clouds are around him, words say I was on cloud nine for a long time.

black line drawing on a white garage door in an alley. Round moon shape witha face in the moon.

Garage door covered with a mural by traziv. Rabbit like creature standing on a grass mound eating a carrot. buildings around hime, blue sky and a fluffy cloud too.

Two sides of a small building, each side with a mural on it. One side is a TTC subway with Kipling as its destination, the other is of two kids, one boy is flying on an open book and a girl is on a scooter and wearing a helmet. The words between the two kids say Ready Let's Rock

old garage door painted light grey with triangles in blue, yellow and red
side of a small building covered with a mural of a green bird-like character, playground and houses in the background

street art on garage doors in a lane
street art painting on a laneway garage door, pink and grey swirls and blobs, plant-like shapes.

graffiti on a corrugated metal garage.

below: by elicser, It’s almost dark.  One more wave, then we go in.

woman in a red bikini sitting on a long board in the water, painted on a garage door, car parked in front partially obscuring it.

old friends

Posted: December 15, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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In the world of graffiti and street art, change is usually inevitable and sometimes interesting.  One exception seems to be the alley that you can see from subway between Keele and Dundas West stations.  The building on the corner of Bloor West and Indian Road is new, but otherwise little is changed.  Even though most of the street art is the same as before, I don’t think that I have posted it in the past.  Here is documentation of most of it.

below: King Midas still looks over the TTC parking lot at Keele station.  Well, I’ve always assumed that it was King Midas although he was the guy whose touch turned everything to gold, not grey.

mural of older man in grey tones, with open book on his lap, beside him is the Midas logo (auto repair).

below: And this monkey is still asking what the noise is all about.

mural on an exterior wall, a monkey in old fashioned aviator's helmet and pink scarf is shouting "What's all the noise about"

below: ‘Sink or Swim’ by elicser

graffiti street art in an alley - a mural by elicser called sink or swim. A large man with a red toque and a red plaid shirt.

below: A lovebot shares wall space with an Uber5000 birdie….

graffiti street art in an alley - a lovebot wheatpaste on a wll beside a Uber5000 yellow bird holding a Canadian flag

below: … because Everybody’s a Winner

graffiti street art in an alley - a mural by Uber5000 titled Everyone's a WInner. Yellow birdies sitting around a table. There is also a lovebot wheatpaste on the wall.

below: Laser, not loser.   Now with laser vision.

graffiti street art in an alley - a Uber5000 mural of a man with reg glasses and red flashes coming from his eyes. A little birdie is sitting on top of a ghetto blaster

graffiti street art in an alley - a large salt shaker with the words Salt o' the Earth written below it. A garbage bin is beside it.

  below:  Ghostbusters in a hard to reach place

A ghostbuster logo painted on the side of a building in an alley

below:  Zooks is still on her wall.

street art on a wall in a laneway. Blue background, naked woman with long brown hair, standing between two tags

below: This turtle has seen better days

A green turtle character painted on a wall in a lane. Wearing glasses, standing up. The paint in the lower part of the piece is peeling badly.

grey and light blue tag street art on a multi coloured background, two butterflies as well, one pink butterfly and one blue butterfly

mural on the side of building in an alley, TTC streetcar, buildings, people, subway, with another building in the foreground
mural on the side of building in an alley, TTC streetcar, buildings, people, subway,

below:  Guard dog at the bottom of the stairs

painting of a large black dog on a door at the bottom of an exterior stair case. Graffiti dog, street art dog. It looks like he is sitting in front of the door looking at people as they walk towards the door.

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below: She seems to turn when the door opens, a mural by EGR art

 

a large mural of a woman with wings that takes up the entire back of a two storey building in a laneway. There is also a metal staircase with a small porch. The door at the top is open so part of the woman in the mural opens up too. The mural is by EGR art.

large mural of a young man's face in grey tones. Small moustache, head only,

below:  He (she?) still keeps goal on the back porch.

painting of a hockey goalie in full pads and helmet painted on a blue door by a small porch in a laneway.

looking down a laneway towards a large brick apartment building. The side of a truck has some graffiti on it - the truck is backed into a parking spot in the lane. The buildings in the lane have graffiti on them.

part of a mural with a lot of heads, a man, a green character, amongst others, high on a wall

rabid raccoon in blues, street art

street art in an alley, a white skull with a black baseball cap. Cap says Big Dirt on it. Words above the skull are Mary Recka Pantilo (could be Mozy not Mary)

below:  This mural also has a painting of Marilyn Monroe in it along with Bruce Lee and Alfred Hitchcock.  There were too many cars parked in front of it when I walked past the other day.

part of a larger mural, Alfred Hitchcock holding a sign for the filming of Psycho, Bruce Lee is also in the picture, a car is parked in front of the wall, in an alley

below: King Kong dominates this wall.

Grey toned mural of King Kong holding a woman over a tall building as he walks through a large city, and towers over it.

street art painting of a grimacing big fat yellow male face with eyes closed and big white teeth showing

below: We Rise Up

large mural of upreached open hands releasing a red butterfly
below: War and Peace

mural of police in riot gear confronting a person with both hands giving a peace sign

A green four eyed blov with a peace sign shaped nostrils, and a necklace with a gold H on it.

Someone has scrawled Your life is a lie in black over a piece of street art. Someone else has changed lie to life by adding an f

graffiti street art in an alley - an angry bird bird with the words Rainy Days

graffiti street art in an alley - Two black and white hearts, one with a face drawn on it. The words cloud + glare = [heart]

I spy, we spy

Posted: December 7, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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There is so much to see in this city, big and small, mundane and interesting, bland and colourful, old and new; we’ve got it all.   It’s not uncommon to walk a route many times and still see something new each time.  The little details are easy to overlook.  Yesterday I walked parallel to Queen Street West from Roncesvalles eastward.  There are lots of little alleys in the area and the streets are interesting too.  I wasn’t alone.  Penny (from Walking Woman blog) provided a second set of eyes as we went looking for whatever there was to find.   Four eyes really can be better than two!  Although we saw many things (of course!) I’ve chosen to concentrate on the “little things” that we spied.

below: Happy. Faces at our feet. Happy to see you walk by.

A blue square shaped painted spot on the pavement. Two eyes and a smiling mouth have been drawn on top in darker blue

below: Faces above our heads. A one way sign as a canvas.

Two faces drawn on a one way sign

below: And faces at the end of the path.

garage door painted green with a white line drawing of an odd shaped face, as seen from looking down a path, fences on either side of the path

below: Yesterday’s lovebot sighting

black line drawing of a lovebot on a yellow section of a graffiti picture on a garage door in a laneway

below: It’s December, but this house is still ready for Halloween.

A small porch in front of a house that is still decorated for Halloween, a couple of fake arms and a fake tombstone with RIP on it.

below: A little leprechaun in a tree. Perhaps he’s been here since St. Patricks Day?  And how many leprechauns have crossed here?  We weren’t lucky enough to see any yesterday.

Up in a tree, a decoration with a leprechaun holding a broken sign that says leprechaun crossing.

below: One use for a bathtub!  Dirty, not clean.

An old fashioned white bathtub in a front yard. It's been filled with dirt and is now used as a planter.

below: A different approach to keeping the flowers blooming well into December… they’re looking a little faded, but they are still pink and growing in abundance.

a ring of pink plastic flowers around the base of an evergreen shrub in a front yard

below: But even a single flower adds to a picture.

An abstract painting with the words you need this written on it. below, tucked into the hinge of the door is a plastic red rose

below: Pictures on walls can delight, even ones as simple as this little pinwheel.

8 sided pinwheel in reds and blues fixed against the top corner of a shed or garage wall in a lane

below: Make art not war….

make art not war slogan painted on a garage door in a red line drawing face

below: … or make money.  The money shot.

graffiti with two dollar signs and three cent signs on a rust coloured brick wall

below: She was hiding in the back corner of a store.

head of an old mannequin with blond wig, one eye is missing, and the covering on her is wearing off.

below: Miniature eclairs for sale at The Tempered Room. We didn’t try them but they looked fabulous.

miniature eclairs for sale in a store

below: Dean’s pink ride was parked for the afternoon.

the back of a bright pink car with the license Neon Dean

below: A mystery message.  Google tells me that pav is a type of Indian bread but I don’t think that that’s what the writer was referring to here.  Belongins (belongings?) here probably means possessions but I like to play with words and so I wonder if it is the other meaning of belonging, i.e. as in “a sense of belonging”.   Or maybe, he be longing all his life to be under a palm tree?!

graffiti on a white door in an alley, the words All My life Belongins Pain with a small drawing of a palm tree

below: The sign for Cattlemens Meat Market is looking a little worn,
and not because it’s been here since 1538!

old sign on the back of a building that says Cattlemens meat market 1538

below: And last, three stencils that were close together in an alley, three animals, an old fashioned upright vacuum cleaner and an old video camera.

stencil of three small animals walking across the lower part of a grey garage door.

black stencil of an old fashioned upright vacuum cleaner

black stencil of an old fashioned video camera. Someone has written the word true under it.

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