Posts Tagged ‘snow’

the painting of a mural

Posted: July 15, 2015 in graffiti and street art, public art
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Piliriqatigiingniq

This mural is on the south wall of Hosteling International on Church St.,
and in a parking lot on Court St.,
just north of King St. East and across from St. James Cathedral.

Painted July 2015

The beginnings of the mural on Court St. in Toronto. The picture is drawn in blue on the wall, and the bottom part is painted. Scaffolding is in place but no one is there at that moment.

This project was a collaboration between Mural Routes and the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association.  Artists were youth from Cape Dorset as well as graduates from Toronto’s Oasis Skateboard Factory: Latch Akesuk, Audi Qinnuayuaq, Cie Taqiasuq, Parr Etidloie, Julieta Arias and Moises Frank.

Two people sitting on scaffolding while they paint a mural

A man wearing a hard hat who is sitting on scaffolding and painting a mural on the side of a building.

Completed mural of stylized and symbolic bird and snimal shapes in many bright colours. It is at least two storeys high.
Close up picture of the mural's bottom center part showing a man in winter clothing with a snowmobile strapped to his back. He is hunched over as he walks. On the snowmobile of a very large bird shaped crature with faces covering its body.

 

winter trees

Posted: March 10, 2015 in general Toronto, nature
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Bare branches, snow, and sometimes blue sky –
things that usually only come together in winter.

Views that are hidden behind summer leaves are revealed in winter’s barrenness.

A very large tree in winter in front of three semi detached two stroey houses on the beach.

A street scene - row houses, some red brick and some painted in green, with two very tall trees in front of them.

Trees take on a different character when they have no leaves

An interesting shaped tree with many large branches in a snow covered alley with garages along both sides of the alley.

and they cast a different shadow.

The lower part of a tree, mostly the tree trunk, beside a pale grey fence, in the snow. The shadow on the fence shows a lot of the upper tree branches as well.

Toronto is a city of trees.  They are everywhere, and a surprising number of them are large, mature trees. 

A large tree with bare branches in front of row houses from the 19602 or 1970s. red brick with contrasting white siding, black mansard roofs. Don Mills.

An alley with a wood fence on the right and a brick building on the left. A car is parked at the end and just beyond the car is a large tree. Winter time. snow.

A view from a snow covered park. Two large trees, the one farther away is a birch tree. A black metal fence is between the park and the sidewalk. Single family houses are across the street from the park but there are large apartment buildings in the distance.

Regent park housing slated for demolition, in the snow with trees,

A tree in front of an old brick house.

When we think of trees we usually think of shade on a hot day, or maybe the joy that spring buds bring, or maybe the rustle of fallen leaves in the autumn.   The winter tree is often overlooked but they too add to the character of this city. 

A large gold sparkly treble clef hangs from a tree branch. A decoration in winter.

Broadcast Lane

Posted: March 8, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti in a Cabbagetown lane.

Graffiti street art, smiley man's face in pink with orange hair and orange moustache. Also abtracts in blues.

Graffiti on a garage door obscured by a large pile of snow. Open metal gate between two garages, graffiti can be just seen down the wall on one of the garages, beyond the gate.

graffiti painting of a musician, trumpet player in yellow on blue background, above a garage door in a lane

backs of buildings, cars parked behind the buildings, piles of snow on the side of the alley, graffiti on the walls and garage doors.

A tree with it's branches painted in rainbow colours, from left to right: red, orange, yellow, green, blue. A man is sitting at the base of the tree, back to the viewer, in a yoga position. Unfortunately, part of the mural has been tagged over in sea foam green DWEL. Wintertime, snow on the ground. .

large stylized man's face graffiti in orange hues on a light grey door.

A large painted man's face on a brick wall. Close to it is a line drawing (black on white) of a woman's face but she's much smaller.

Two graffiti faces on a wall, one woman and one man. Metal bars surrounding a small parking spot behind the building partially obscure the wall.

Behind 509 Dance, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre on Parliament Street.

Mural over the back entrance to 509 Dance, ghetto blaster in one corner, a guy break dancing, and upside down almost, in the picture. He's wearing a yellow hat.

Close up of part of the mural where a guy is break dancing.

Hendon palms

Posted: March 6, 2015 in locations, public art
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The other day I was driving near Yonge and Finch when I made a wrong turn.  I found myself driving on some streets that I don’t think I’ve ever been on before.  Getting lost can have its rewards….
I discovered pink and blue palm trees in Hendon Park!

 

A park in winter with some large trees including a willow tree. Some picnic benches are covered in snow, there are apartment buildings in the background. There are also 5 fake palm trees with tall skinny magenta trucks and bright blue, almost turquoise, palms. Art in the park.

A park in winter with some large trees including a willow tree. Some picnic benches are covered in snow, there are apartment buildings in the background. There are also 5 fake palm trees with tall skinny magenta trucks and bright blue, almost turquoise, palms. Art in the park. Close up photo of the group of palm trees.

Icefest

Posted: February 23, 2015 in events, locations
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Bloor Yorkville Icefest, Frozen in Time
Cumberland Ave., February 21 & 22

 Ice sculpture beside a sidewalk. The top part has the words Bloor Yorkville icefest and the bottom part has the words Frozen in time, icefest 15. The middle section looks like a large face made of Egyptian motifs.

The 10th annual Icefest featured the carving of blocks of ice into Ancient Egypt themed sculptures.

Four ice sculptures with Ancient Egyptian themes - King Tut, and a pyramid amongst them. Also a wall of hieroglypics with two guards beside it.

Both Saturday and Sunday were snowy days but the weather didn’t deter the crowds, or their picture taking.  I’m sure that there are thousands of photographs of the sculptures!
Here are a few of mine.

A man in a white parka is standing beside a sculpture with his elbow resting on it. A woman in white coat and hat is taking his picture.

A woman is facing a sculpture of a dinosaur. Both of them have their mouths wide open.

A boy is standing beside a sculpture

A mother with two little kids is posing with an ice sculpture.

A little girl in a pink snow suit it peaking throw a whole in an ice sculpture

A father is taking a photograph of his son beside an ice sculpture

A group of four people are standing around an ice sculpture. They all have puzzled looks on their faces as though they can't figure out what the sculpture is supposed to be.

An ice sculpture of a bear with it's front paws raised, looms over the interesection of Yonge and Bloor.

This bear loomed over the NE corner of Yonge and Bloor.

Most of the sculptures along Cumberland Ave (west of Bellair) are still there and will remain as long as the temperatures remain low and no one vandalizes them.

warming up to art

Posted: February 20, 2015 in public art, waterfront
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5 lifeguard posts
5 art installations
5 places to sit and/or get out of the wind

All in one place – along the waterfront at Kew & Balmy Beaches
until 20 March 2015

1. Snowcone by Lily Jeon and Diana Koncan

Art installation that looks like a giant white pinecone on the beach in winter. The inside of the parts of the cone are bright translucent coloured plexiglass

Looking from inside a dome shaped structure that is made of geometric shapes of coloured plastic, looking to the bright blue sky, with snow on some of the pieces of plastic. Lots of bright colours.

From the inside of the Snowcone, looking up through the center.

 metal frame of a lifeguard stand surrounded by brightly coloured shapes of translucent plastic
2. Driftwood Throne by Daniel Madeiros

Beach in winter, snow, snow fence and lots of blue sky. There is a wooden art installation that is also seating for those who want to sit and look out over the cold lake.

Lifeguard station that has been partially enclosed by a wooden structure. Two people are sitting on the lifeguard chair with their backs to the camera

3. Sling Swing by Ed Butler, Daniel Wiltshire and Frances McGeown

The art installation, Sling Swing, in the breeze on a frozen snow covered beach. It consists of large pieces of orange fabric slings hanging from a metal frame. One can use the slings as swings.

Two women sitting on the orange sling swings on a cold winter day at the beach

orange lovebot sticker inside an orange life ring on a lifeguard chair. Pieces of orange fabric are draped around the chair.

4.  Wing Back by Tim Olson

Wooden structure on a winter beach between a snow fence and the lake

wooden structure on the beach in winter. Part in painted red. It is supposed to be a large chair, semi-circle, can seat a number of people.

5. Hot Box by Michaela MacLeod and Nicholas Croft

A large black box on a winter beach. The box is large enough to fit several people inside it.

This one feels creepy inside. No windows. Interior walls form narrow passageways.

eyes on fingernails

Posted: February 11, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti on a wall on Queen St. West
at the west side of Trinity Bellwoods park.

A graffiti face high on a grey wall, with a pine tree branch partially obscuring it

Close up of graffiti painted fingers in many bright colours. They are very large. Each fingernail has an eye.

Close up a piece of street art featuring brightly coloured fingers, with eyes on the fingernails. Partially hidden behind pine trees. Snow on the ground.

Close up a piece of street art featuring brightly coloured fingers, with eyes on the fingernails. Partially hidden behind pine trees. Snow on the ground.

Unfortunately, there is now an ugly black tag on the lower left corner.

Graffiti painting of a man high up on a grey wall, partially hidden behind two trees. Unfortunately someone has painted a black tag over the lower left corner of the painting

In the corner of a piece of graffiti with a blue background is a signature of the artists, in blovk letters, LEXR & EVOKE

around the corner

Posted: February 9, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I walked around the corner and down a small dead end lane and this is what I saw.

near St. Clair West

garages and gates in fences in a snow covered lane. Two of the doors have been painted in geometric designs.

On a brownish grey wall, some white paint has been applied to provide a backgound for some black line drawings of faces. There are four faces.

A mural on a wall of two polar bears - an adult and a young cub. It looks like they are walking on the snow.

Close up of the mural of two polar bears. in this picture, the whole cub is visible but only the nose of the adult bear is seen. The picture is signed J. Mora 2010

 

changes under St. Clair East

Posted: January 5, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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St. Clair Ave East passes over a ravine just east of Yonge St. 

a view of the bridge from a path in the ravine from a short distance away. It is winter so there is some snow and ice on the path and the trees have no leaves.

Looking south towards St. Clair

The Yellow Creek flows through this ravine.
To the north, the creek is underground until the south side of Mount Pleasant cemetery. 

A view under the bridge, looking from one side to the other across a creek. The curved metal supports under the bridge are visible. There is snow on the ground but the creek is not frozen.

The ground was slippery and the water in the creek was flowing quickly. 
  In other words, I didn’t cross over to the other side of the bridge.

At some point in the past year the graffiti that was under this bridge must have been “cleaned up”.  Since then, new tags have appeared.
Whether they are an improvement over what was there previously is a matter of opinion.

looking up towards the top of a bridge from a path along the ravine below. two concrete supports are visible as well as part of the road way across the top of the bridge. There is a graffiti tag on one of the supports.

southwest corner of the bridge

Two colourful tags on a concrete bridge support, each one is on a different side of the support

SORT and BEGIN

Graffiti tags under a bridge

Graffiti tags under a bridge

laid up and cradled

Posted: December 18, 2013 in locations
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Tarps, ropes and metal cradles. 

Lovingly and carefully stored boats, asleep for the winter awaiting spring and the start of a new sailing season.  Canada, where the sailing season is short.

National yacht club, sailboats in their cradles, snow on the ground. In the center of the picture is a blue and red boat with the name Gecko written on the side. There are a number of other boats, most of which are white.

Red and blue Gecko in hibernation.

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National yacht club, sailboats in their cradles, snow on the ground. In the center of the picture is a yellow and blue sailboat. On the right is a dark blue hull in which there are reflections of the boats around.

A chilly trio in white, blue and yellow.

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The bows of two white boats, one on top of the other. The sun is trying to break through the clouds in the background of the picture, making for interesting lighting conditions.

Whiteness on a winter afternoon when the sun is trying to shine through the clouds.

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close up of a red, dark green and off-white striped hull of a sailboat. A knotted white rope is in the photo too.

All tied up and radiating griminess.

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In the background the sun tries to shine through the clouds. There is enough light that rays of sunshine bounce off the yellow hull of a boat that is in the foreground.

Rays of sun try to brighten the day.

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b_boats_white_boats

Perched on shore and looking out over the lake, but stuck behind barbed wire.

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Although snow and ice are an integral part of a Canadian winter, it is always interesting to find them in different settings. For example, icicles forming along the seams in the hull of a boat that is up for the winter.

small icicles hanging from the side of a boat. A braided beige and green rope runs along the side of the boat where boat meets ice.

Braided Ice.

icicles hanging off the side of a blue and white boat. Close up shot.

More Icicles

bboats_dial

Looking southward from under a blanket of snow.

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bboats_knots

Serenity carefully tucked in and tied down to wait out the cold.

With many thanks to Stephen for giving me access to the yacht club for a few minutes this afternoon!

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