Posts Tagged ‘nature’

Ontario Place 2.0

Posted: July 10, 2017 in landmarks, locations, waterfront
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buildings with lots of glass, on stilts, built over the water at Ontario Place

After parts were shuttered 40 years ago, Ontario Place has re-opened to the public.  The spherical Cinesphere and the buildings that are over the water are not open but the grounds are.

below: Canadian and Ontario flags fly along the docks of the Ontario Place Marina.

flags line the walkway leading from the dome shaped cinesphere at Ontario Place,

below: Double trouble.   Hot x 2

close up photo of a small part of the side of the cinesphere building, showing the metal bars that form the exoskeleton structure of the spherical building

below: Those are some very big boats!

four or five very large yachts are moored in the harbour along Toronto's waterfront, highrises in the background

There is also a new park, Trillium Park, that has been built on the eastern end of Ontario Place.  It is 7.5 acres of green space with a 1.3 km trail (the William G. Davis trail) winding through it.

below: Trillium Park provides new angles from which to view the CN Tower and the Toronto skyline.


couple, man and woman, sitting together, on a grassy hill. The CN Tower is behind them.

below: It is also a spot from which to watch airplanes as they take off from Billy Bishop Airport.

a man in a red baseball cap sits on a rock, his bike parked beside, while watching a pOrter airlines plane take off from Billy Bishop Airport

below: Sunbathers

two people lying on a blanket on a grassy area in a park, trees in the background

below: Rock climbing

a boy stands on top of a pile of rocks, his father is beginning to climb up the rocks to reach him

purple cone head flowers

a woman sits on a rock wall, looking out over Lake ontario, there are boats on the water and a sea gull flying past

below: Water levels in Brigantine Cove, like all of Lake Ontario, are higher than usual.

an electrical plug in station stands in the water by a flooded dock at Brigantine Cove, Ontario Place, with sailboats in the background.

below: There are still some traces of the amusement park rides that were once there. There is no water in the boat ride, but the bilingual warning signs are still on the rocks. “Keep hands, arms and head inside boat. Stay seated.”

a woman standing between two rocks pretends to be riding in a boat as she points to a sign that says

below: Tbonez (urban ninja squadron) must have been to Ontario Place recently

a urban ninja squadron sticker on the side of a metal staircase that was painted brown but the paint is peeling off

below: Crochet street art, marine life, discovered clinging to the underside of a small wooden bridge.
This picture is upside down.

crocheted sea creatures clinging to the underside of a wood bridge

below: A painting of a man painting and of his shadow painting.

painting on a cylindrical building, of a man on a ladder, painting, also his shadow

below: And last, music events are held at Echo Beach, a section of Ontario Place.  The day that I was there a steady background noise from the electronic (techno?  I’m out of date on newer music genres) music permeated the park.  You couldn’t escape it.   This isn’t the best picture but I didn’t get very close – my poor head!  I was interested in the palm trees but I couldn’t get the right angle.   There are other music events happening this summer so maybe you can time your visit to coincide with music that you like!

 

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

butterfly ways

Posted: June 20, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art, locations
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street art on a low retaining wall that says butterflyways in bright pink letters

Garrison Creek park is a small strip of green between the railway tracks an alley of garages. Many of the garage doors were painted last weekend with murals all on the theme of butterflies.  There are about 30 paintings and they are the work of a number of different street artists.   The project was curated by Nick Sweetman and it is part of the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway project; StreetARToronto was also involved.

If you don’t like pictures of butterfly murals, I suggest that you skip this post because I’m sharing photos of a lot of the garage doors!  In no particular order here they are:

 

mural of an orange and blue snake loosely tied in a knot around a purple tree, blue butterfly hovers in front of snake's face, mural by Cruz 1

Artist: Cruz1

 

Three black line drawings of a butterfly, with details and shadowing, very realistic looking, on a fence

Artist: unknown (by me)

 

Artist: blackburn

 

many whimsical butterflies and caterpillars

Artist: J. McKie

 

pink water lily painted on a black background

Artist: C Mazzulla

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - a possum and a butterfly by wales

Artist: wales

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - a person's face in profile, with a butterfly spread over the back part of the head

Artist: 2US & XYZ (not positive about that)

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterfly ways project - very stylized abstract picture of a butterfly and a flower

Artist: XYZ & MAC

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - two adjacent garage doors, the left one is by mska and is a brown butterfly and mushrooms. on the right is an hibiscus flower by horus taffytats

Artist: (left) mska, (right) horus, tuffytats

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - two adjacent garage doors, the left one is a monarch butterfly landing on pink flowers, on the right is a riot of blues and greens

Artist: (left) braes, (right) C. Perez

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - a pink and purple butterfly that looks like a face, with daisies

Artist: @anyamielniczek

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - a black butterfly with orange and blue highlights, on a green leaf

Artist: P.S

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - two adjacent garage doors, the left one is painted on a light green fence and is a flower in pale oranges and beiges. On the right is a purple butterfly

Artists: unknown (by me)

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - a red butterfly with a bright light in the center of it.

Artist: NEDO

 

a mural by smugugly on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - a red, black and bluish butterfly

Artist: @smugugly

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - two adjacent garage doors, the left one is a stylized (cubist) butterfly in blues and purples. On the right is a Nick Sweetman yellow butterfly with black details as well as a white Scottie dog that looks like Tintin's dog Snowy

Artist: (left) FIP or FYP? , (right) Sweetman

 

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - two adjacent garage doors, the left one is painted by braes and is a portrait of David Suzuki. On the right is a blue mural by C. Perez

Artist: (left) braes & wales, (right) C. Perez

a mural on a garage door in an alley, part of butterflyways project - two adjacent garage doors, the left one is width=

street art mural of a Japanese girl upper body and head, hair in two buns kept together with chopsticks, looking aghast at something behind her

hanging around Wilson station

Posted: October 18, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Wilson subway station is nestled between the northbound and southbound lanes of the Allen Expressway.  It’s functional, but not pretty.  All that concrete!

below: Wilson subway station from the parking lot on the SW corner of Wilson and the Allen.
view od Wilson station from the south side of Wilson, directly opposite the bus loop.

If you look closely at the above picture, you might be able to see that one of the pillars holding up the Allen has been painted purple.  That’s part of the latest mural painting project by Shalak Attack, with help from Bruno Smoky.  What you can’t see is that the mural covers all of the underpass supports on both sides of Wilson Ave.

below: The mural on the south side of Wilson Ave has been painted on all sides.  Here, a face is between two hands gripping the poles.

painting on bents on an underpass, a face in the middle and a hand on either side, holding onto the concrete pillars, entrance to subway TTC station in the background,
close up of an eye from a face on a mural by Shalak Attack

below: More pillars on the south side.

a woman's face in a mural, eyes closed, by Shalak Attack, other pillars painted with green, red and orange petals.

below: A large spider on a web is in the center of the mural.

part of a mural, a large blue and red spider with orange legs, on a verylarge spider web

a Shalak Attack face painted on a concrete bent under the Allen Expressway on Wilson Ave., other bents have geometric patterns and a large spider web on green.
view along the sidewalk leading from the Wilson subway station to Wilson Ave., grass covered embankment on either side of the sidewalk, Expressway higher up on either side of sidewalk as well as straight ahead.

below: The back side of the supports have also been painted.  Just be careful not to bump your head on the road above if you want to get a closer look!

bright and bold pink flowers and green leaves and vines are part of a mural on concrete supports of an underpass.

geometric designs in a mural on concrete pillars on an underpass, by a TTC subway station

below: The north side of the underpass is being painted at the moment. Stay tuned for updates!

a ladder, people working on a mural of a blue face,

part of a mural, two purple fingers on yellow background.

Beltline murals at Eglinton

Posted: October 11, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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A beautiful Thanksgiving day, sunshine and autumn temperatures – what better time to get outside and enjoy a walk with friends?  Today’s walk included the Beltline from Mt Pleasant cemetery to the Allan Expressway.  Along the way we saw a couple of murals so I stopped to take a few pictures. These murals were under the bridge over the Beltline at Eglinton West.   Both were part of the StART (StreetARToronto) program and were painted in 2013 by artists Viviana Astudillo and Logan Miller.

below: On one side of the underpass are scenes from the days when a railway ran along the Beltline.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, in brown tones of the hhistory of the railroad in the area (scenes from), an older man in a brown cap

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, in brown tones of the hhistory of the railroad in the area (scenes from), a large locomotive with a man standing by the front of it.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, in brown tones of the hhistory of the railroad in the area (scenes from), kids in different coloured caps playing beside a train

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, in brown tones of the hhistory of the railroad in the area (scenes from) a young man in a brown cap

below: The mural on the other side of the underpass depicts scenes of the modern day path including hawks, people, joggers, cyclists, walkers and dogs.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, two hawks on the ground.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, people walking on a path through the woods including a jogger, a woman walking a dog, and a cyclist.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, of nature scenes, a large dog is sitting beside a tree

below: Someone has left there mark here too.

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return to Scarfo Lane

Posted: June 9, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti and street art, sometimes it stays around a while and other times it disappears, hidden by someone else’s work.   Tags and words also appear where they often shouldn’t.  When I walk an alley that I’ve seen before, I never know what to expect but there is always something to discover to make it worth a repeat visit.   So it was this morning when I found myself back at Scarfo Lane.  Back in Nov 2014 (a year and a half ago!  … time flies by!) I posted about some of the street art and murals that I saw there.   Most of it is still there.

Today’s contributions follow – at least one is new and the others I’m not sure about, I might have omitted them last time.  The whims of the day and of the photographer.

below: Blue cool nature meets red hot city, friends, joined together & working together. Mural by ‘Insect Cabaret’ which is the name that artists Aisha Ali and Andalah Ali have given to themselves and their work.

a mural on a garage door, a blue figure on the left and an orange figure on the right. Blue represents nature and red represents the urban city

below: Swimming in the lane.

marine scene street art on a garage door in a lane, a red octopus, a green turtle swimming and a ship in the distance

The next two are from the same garage door.

colourful mural on a laneway garage door

colourful mural on a laneway garage door

And in case you’re curious  –

below: The blue bird and bird houses are still as bright as they were before…

blue faced animal wearing clothes and walking upright, with pole over shoulder, 3 bird houses hanging from the pole. A bluebird is sitting on the front of the pole, mural on a garage door in a lane

below: … and the little red birds are still floating along on their logs

part of a mural on a garage door in a laneway, a purple headed animal creature wearing a blue top and holding onto strings attached to floating logs with little red birds on them.

 

good morning Cherry Beach!

Posted: April 8, 2016 in nature, waterfront
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It was a nippy morning at Cherry Beach today. The ice has been off Lake Ontario for a while now and the snow that fell this past week has melted. There was only a small clue that winter is still clinging on.

icicles hang from a stick that is embedded in the sand beside a lake. pebbles, water.

The morning started off grey but it wasn’t long before the sun came out.

below: Cherry Beach lifesaving station in the distance.

Cherry Beach lifesaving station in the distance, shoreline of Lake Ontario

(Except for a few airplanes and the shouts of a lacrosse tournament in the distance) the only sounds on the beach were the chirps and tweets of birds and the squawking of seagulls.
The noises increased when food arrived!

a woman wearing a bright red hat is feeding the seagulls, ducks and other birds at Cherry Beach. sand, water, Lake Ontario. There are lots of seagulls.

There was even a lovebot hanging out at the beach, standing tall at the lifeguard chair.

an empty red metal frame lifeguard chair on the beach in early spring, no leaves on the trees. Cherry Beach, Lake Ontario. There is a large lovebot wheatpaste on the lifeguard chair.

an abandoned red plastic shopping cart with a Value Village label on a beach, long shadows, a few trees, Cherry Beach, Lake Ontario. There are some empty cans in the cart

A spindly leafless tree with knotted gnarly roots above the ground, on the beach beside Lake Ontario. small waves catching the sunlight, morning sun, small rocks and pebbles on the beach

three yellow tires attached to lumber have washed up on the shore and gotten caught in the roots of a shoreline tree, Cherry Beach, Lake Ontario.

driftwood log, rocks, trees and sand on a beach

shoreline of Lake Ontario, driftwood, sand, trees, shrubs, in spring, no leaves

autumn lingers on

Posted: November 4, 2015 in history, nature, public art
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The first three days of November have been wonderful – three beautiful warm sunny days, perfect fall weather.

 below: Taking advantage of the warm afternoon in front of Osgoode Hall.

A woman sits on a bench in front of Osgoode Hall, a stone building. Her back is to the camera. A tree with a few yellow leaves frames the picture.

below: On St. George Street in front of Sir Daniel Wilson residence, University College

college on St. George Street, front of the building with black wrought iron fence in front of it along with a few mature trees with some yellow and rust coloured leaves still on them. The clock tower is visible through the tree branches. There are people on the sidewalk in front of the building.

below: Looking across Kings College Circle towards University College

One small tree in the middle of the grass at Kings College circle in front of University College

below: Maple leaves still on the tree.

maple leaves in autumn colours, rust and orange leaves in the foreground, yellow leaves in the background.

below: Mary Pickford looks over University Avenue.

a bust of Mary Pickford, she is resting her head in one of her hands. In the background is a building along with some bushes and a tree with yellow and orange leaves.

There is an historical plaque beside this statue and it reads: “Born in 1893 in a house which stood near this site, Gladys Marie Smith appeared on stage in Toronto at the age of five. Her theatrical career took her to Broadway in 1907 where she adopted the name Mary Pickford. The actress’s earliest film, “Her First Biscuits”, was released by the Biograph Company in 1909 and she soon established herself as the international cinema’s first great star. Her golden curls and children’s roles endeared her to millions as “America’s Sweetheart”. She was instrumental in founding and directing a major film production company and starred in over fifty feature length films including “Hearts Adrift”, “Pollyanna” and “Coquette”. For the last named film, she received the 1929 Academy Award as the year’s best actress. “

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below: Two women outside Emmanuel College, Queens Park Circle

A blueish bronze statue of two overweight women standing facing each other beside a stone building on the University of Toronto campus. It is autumn and there are leaves on the ground. A group of girls is walking in the background.

below: Northrop Frye sits on a bench on the campus of Victoria College (U of T).

A statue of a man, Northrop Frye, sits on a bench with his legs crossed and an open book on his lap. Another book sits beside him on the bench.

This life sized statue was created by Darren Byers and Fred Harrison and was unveiled in October 2012.

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small purple aster flowers in a garden that is close to being covered with autumn leaves that have fallen off the nearby trees

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