Posts Tagged ‘spray paint’

Changes at Broadview and Eastern

Posted: May 27, 2023 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

This row of old two storey row houses has been vacant for years. Recently the developer that owns the properties provided a couple of Toronto artists the opportunity paint the exterior.  This is the result.

large street art painting by nick sweetman and luvs aka moises on a row of empty houses at Broadview and Eastern

If you look carefully, you can see that Nick Sweetman and Luvs (aka Moises) have painted the word CHANGE across the front of the buildings.   As a theme for a mural on a redevelopment site in a city bursting at the seams with such sites, change seems very appropriate.

below: I’ve played with the colours a bit to highlight some of the letters.  You should be able to see C, H, and A across this image.

part of a street art mural with the word change written in gold and yellow on a multi coloured background, on old houses with boarded up windows

But the mural is more than colour and letters.  There are three animals featured here – pigeon, raccoon, and coyote  – all of which have adapted to changes and now thrive in urban environments.

below: A blue pigeon

street art mural of a large blue pigeon on the side of an empty old house

below: A pinkish marroonish reddish raccoon

a large street art raccoon on an old house, part of a mural by nick sweetman and luvs moises

below: A coyote with a dead leaf and new buds.

large mural with a coyote face, a large dead orange leaf,

Funding provided by Streetcar Developments

a row of old brick houses with boarded up windows has been covered with a large mural

upper window of an old vacant house now covered in many colours, mural

below: The houses to the north….

row of houses on the east side of Broadview near Eastern, two story, peaked roof,

poster on a boarded up window that says so far so good

Photos taken 25 May 2023

Annex alleys

Posted: October 26, 2022 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

This past Saturday’s walk started on a familiar corner, Bloor and Bathurst, but at a new place, Mallo Coffee.  I don’t always mention my coffee starts and stops but not all of them have wonderfully eccentric washrooms!  The wiggly strands of light were blue which gave the room an eerie blue glow.

part of washroom wall at Mallo Coffee shop, black and white paper with drawings, images, and words, with a blue neon (led?) light that curves around giving the room an eerie blue glow

Pre-COVID there was a proliferation of small independent coffee shops in the city.  It’s nice to see that many have survived and many new ones are opening up.  It’s not so nice to see the remains of those that didn’t make it.

covered windows of closed coffee shop, plywood in one pane, picture of pink and whtie coffee cup and chocolate chip muffin in another pane

From Bloor and Bathurst I walked generally east with a little south thrown in.  Is this The Annex? or Harbord Village?  Technically the quadrant to the southeast of Bloor and Bathurst is Harbord Village but I kept seeing street art referencing The Annex.

When you’ve been taking pictures in a city for more than 10 years, you end up walking the same streets and alleys.  Sometimes you find yourself with identical pictures.   Other times things have changed and there’s a new story to present.  For this blog post there is a bit of both.  Some of the murals that I saw in the lanes behind Bloor were new to me but there were many that I have blogged before.  Rather than show all of the previous murals, I have linked to older posts.

below: Part of “Meet me at the Magnolias” by Leslie Phelan

large mural on the side of store featuring magnolia flowers painted by Leslie Phelan

below: The back part of a larger Elicser Elliott mural on the side of Dirty Bird Chicken and Waffle restaurant on Bloor Street.  The full mural is featured in the blog post “feeling hungry?” from early in 2017.

part of an elicser elliott mural on dirty bird chicken and waffle, man in brown eating a very large sandwich on a plate, a smaller man with a drink in his hands

Bagpipe Lane runs behind the south side of Bloor for less than a block

below: A few simple designs

elicser elliott mural in background, 2 abstract minimalistic designs on a wall with air conditioners and other containers, one is red on pink and the other ooks like a green eye and eye lashes on orange paper

below:  Boris Badenov from the “Rocky and Bullwinkle Show” – who is he trying to blow up now?!

graffiti, black and white wheatpaste of Boris Badenov, cartoon character from Rocky and Bullwinkle show, about the throw a round black bomb, evil look on his face

Barbara Barrett Lane is the eastern continuation of Bagpipe Lane.   This is what you see when you first enter the lane from Borden Ave.

side of a two storey brick house with lower half covered in a mural with stylize street scene, houses, street, cars, green grass,

barbara barrett lane street scene mural

barbara barrett lane street scene mural

below: Nine years ago this was part of a mural that covered the back of buildings on Bloor Street.  You can see it, and other murals that were in Barbara Barrett Lane at the time, in a blog post from 2013.

part of an od mural, faded, headless man with brown vest, blue diamond motifs

There is a large mural by Elicser Elliott on Barbara Barrett Lane.  I have already posted quite a few pictures of it so rather than show more of the same, here is the link to the “elicser paints people” post.

 

mural that says you are here Annex

David French Lane runs south from Barbara Barrett Lane.

below: Near the north end of David French Lane is this black and white garage.  It is now partially covered with ivy and vines but it too also been around since 2013.  At that time many of the garages were already covered with street art but they have all been re-painted (see 2013 blog post, ‘graffiti on garages’)

ivy and vines with leaves in green, yellow, and red, hangs over a garage with a door that is black with white line drawings all over it

below: This mural on David French is very similar to the “street scene” mural on Barbara Barrett shown above.  I wish there was a signature of some sort on them!

street scene mural on david french lane

In 2017 there was a laneway paint project, “You Are Here” on David French Lane.  Once again, you can see images of most of the garages in a previous blog post.

below: Dudeman’s skulls and old TTC bus were part of that project.  Route 77B was a combination of the 77 Spadina bus and the 510 Spadina streetcar; it runs from Spadina station (on Bloor) south to Queens Quay before looping and returning north.

mural by Dudeman covering the front of a garage in an alley, lots of differenc=t coloured skulls, a TTC bus, signs for Spadina

below: A dog with a spiked collar by Christina Mazzulla.

street art on garage door, large dogs with spiked collars, big teeth, open mouth, pink tongues, painted by C mazzulla

alley view, mural on a garage door, back of three storey house, back yard

below: A blue eyed, black haired person with a tiger and a bluebird, all at 263.

painted garages in David French Lane, the one in the middle has a person with long black hair and blue eyes beside a tiger head in profile and a blue bird taking flight

below: Emily May Rose’s now iconic raccoons.  They hang out all over the city!

emily may rose raccoon mural an a garage in David French Lane

a mural on the outside of a wood garage, red x in the middle with other tag, text elements

below: “Fat bottomed girls … You make the rocking world go ’round”  Name that tune!

alley view, garages with street art and graffiti including a pink bum, with backs of houses and trees seen above the garages

in the foreground, black and white faded and peeled painting, with mural across the lane in the background which has a marine theme, large whale and other aquatic animals

Farther east there is another lane but with no name (Toronto is full of nameless lanes!).

black graffiti on a white garage door, black stencil of man upper body, some blobs and the words they live

alley view, line of garages with utility poles

below: Glorious old textures

an old wood garage door in an alley with old tags, faded paint, moss on roof, newer wood gate beside,

painting on a garage of a topless man holding up something very heavy across his back and shoulders, sort of like greek god atlas.

below: This may or not be something called Tomo

on a wood fence, painted white, with black line drawing of a large plump cat like figure with two ears that stand up, small eyes, whiskers, and 3 hearts on his tummy, a small rabbit sits on its head. red word tomo with question mark beside it

… and back to Mallo.  Until next time!

interior of Mallo Coffee shop, woman behind bar, bar with orange, turquoise and blue tiles, a young woman witting at a table, red model airplane hanging from ceiling,

Water is Life

Posted: October 7, 2021 in alleys, graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

Women Paint Riverside
“Currents of Change”

the word life painted on a fence white letters on blue background

the word life painted on a fence white letters on blue background with small flowers painted all over it.

below: The faucet is on and water pours into a glass.  Interesting lively water, full of colours and patterns in this mural by Kirsten McCrea

lift truck beside wall with new mural of a glass of water in many colours and patterns,

below: A large mural by Mo Thunder.  Follow the link to her website for more information about the mural – a mother and child lying side by side forming the land as water swirls around them.

the word life painted on a fence white letters on blue background

part of a mural by Mo Thunder on Broadview Ave of a mother and child lying in water, child has plants in her hand, mother earth theme, water theme

artist, Mo Thuner, on a ladder painting details on a mural with a small paint brush

murals in an alley

below: White flowers on a watery blue background by Julia Prajza

large white flower painted in a mural, on a blue watery background, ladder sitting in front of it, step stool with a can of spray paint

below: Invasive species such as phragmites in the Don Valley, by Merryn

metal stair cases, exterior of a variety store, laneway, bike, garbage bins, artist on a ladder painting a mural

below: Rabbit and deer having to contend with out of control greenery, possibly dog-strangling vine. Phragmites are reeds, those tall perennial grasses that grow very tall.

part of a mural by Merryn about invasive species in the Don Valley, a pink rabbit and a pink deer having to contend with out of control greenery

below: Raccoons frolic in the water and raccoons sit by the shore.  Even one raccoon spray painting a rock, naughty raccoon!  Mural by Emily May Rose.

below: by Haenahhh.  Arms around each other

part of a mural, a couple standing by a lake with arms around each other, seen from the back

below: Hands reaching out in a mural by Claire Browne,

murals behind Queen Street East, Riverside, Toronto, behind stores, water theme, blue, Women Paint Riverside,

black hand, large painted, mural, at bottom of metal exterior stairs and under a window with metal bars, part of a mural with water and plants

tall green plants in a mural by Claire Browne

below: Victoria Day‘s mural – what looks a bit like a blue water serpent but is actually a dragon flying high above us in the sky.

two murals in a Toronto alley, on the left, all in blue tones, a water serpent, very big and rising out of the water. on the right, a long horizontal lake scene with a pink border

below: In the pink is written, “A persistent drop of water will wear away the hardest stone.”

on a wood fence in an alley, a lake scene mural with pink border

below: by Scarbrite Collective (brightening the streets of Scarborough), aka Frannie Potts and Sylvie with help from Memengwaa Kwe Originals aka Caterina.

a woman backlit by large round white moon is holding an infant in the air, woman has long dark hair, sky is pink

laneway mural by Scarbrite Collective and Memengwaa Originals, a mother lifts her baby up backlit by full moon on a pink sky

part of a mural in an alley covers fence and a door in the fence, wood, painting of a landscape scene with water, green shrubs, a tree, and night sky with stars

below: Love not hate.  A blue raccoon stealthily walks across a roof above a mural that was painted by participants in this year’s Girls Mural Camp (a three week program in the summer for teenage girls).

murals in a lane in Riverside near Queen and Broadview, Toronto. raccoon on upper story approaching a window, night scene on lower floor with bird silhoutted by full moon

below: The other part of the Girls Mural Camp project.

on a garage door in an alley, a mural of a blue faced women with swirly white and blue hair, flowers in her hair

murals in an alley

below: by Moonlight Murals Collective

three water women mural on a wall

part of a mural with theme of water, blue woman dancing with eyes clsed

part of mural, pale blue legs and bare feet walking in swirling water

below: Three heads that seem wrapped by a fish, mural by Cedar Eve

below: Eyes closed

long haired creature with just eyes showing, long pink and red hair on a blue fence

below: The Girls Mural Camp 2020 mural is in the same alley.

girls camp mural in an alley near Hamilton Street in Toronto, poster like pictures connected with white lines like a schmetic drawing

blue raccoon painted on wall above a garbage can

NOTE: There is also an installation by monicaonthemoon on the back of the Broadview Hotel that is part of this project but I have given it a separate blog post – Hands, Florests, and Minds.

With support from:

Eastend Arts

Women Paint

Native Women in the Arts (NWIA)

Riverside BIA

StreetARToronto

Luttrell Loop Lane murals

Posted: August 27, 2020 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

Almost two years ago, inthe fall of 2018, a group of artists brightened up Luttrell Loop Lane with some murals.  Luttrell Loop Lane is on Danforth, just west of Victoria Park.

below: A marvelous blue portrait by luvsomone

in blue tones, on a garage door, a portrait by luvsomone of a face with closed eyes

below: A partially hidden face in a mural by Anya Mielniczek

partially hidden by bushes and plants, a face street art mural by anya mielniczek

below: Unveiled

revealed, when branches moved away, partially hidden by bushes and plants, a face street art mural by anya mielniczek

a mural on a garage door by anya mielniczek of a face

below: The imagination of Al Runt and the characters that it produces is on display in this mural.

part of an Al Runt mural on a fence, orange background with lots of his typical characters in bright colours

mural of a large white bird, swan?, heron?, stork?, with wings in position as if about to fly, large yellow flowers

below: The garage at the corner gets four murals.  On the garage door is a moon over a little house by Jieun June Kim.  Beside it, Bomi has painted a mural using linear shapes (for lack of a better word to describe it).

at the intersection of a street and an alley, a garage with street art on all sides facing road, with four different murals on it

below: The whimsical and funny raccoons of Emily May Rose help with the gardening.

a raccoon mural, raccoon with watering can, gardening and looking after plants

teal raccoon in a mural looking at a plant growing in a white planter

mural on a garage door of purplish figures, looks very first nations-like

below: A skateboarder on her way to somewhere important, by Kim Therese Dolan

mural on a yellow fence of a person on a skateboard with a bag in one hand, by kim therese dolan

sign on a yellow wood fence that says beware of dog, a black squirrel is sitting on top of the fence

This project was supported by The Laneway Project

the Yorkville-ification of street art

Posted: September 13, 2019 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Over the span of just a few years I have watched as street art went from questionable legality to mainstream; now it’s jumped to very trendy.  From vilified to Yorkvillified?

man working at a table, with reflections of a mural in the window, looking through the window

below: This large mural was created by Kazakhstan born, Montreal-based, Ola Volo.

mural of a woman with long hair, stylized, in red, yellow and black and white

two murals on two different walls of a building

below: Close up of part of the mural by Whatisadam

close up of a mural, a man and a woman are leaning together for a kiss. Woman has bright red lipstick.

below: Mathieu Bories, also known as Mateo, works on the woman’s blue and yellow head scarf.

a man is on a ladder as he paints a mural of a woman with henna coloured stencils all over her face, and a blue and yellow head scarf,

a man, street artist Mateo, spray paints a mural as he stands on a ladder. He's wearing a respirator, painting with blue paint

shoes on a ladder with the eye of a mural looking at them

below: This OK is coming unstuck, peeling off the wall.  This mural was painted by Ben Johnston whose work often features text that looks 3D

on the side of outdoor steps, a blue mural with the word OK in black and white such that it looks like the letters are curling up at the ends, 3 D effect

below: This staircase, with artwork by Getso, is going to turn into a instagram hotspot.   Her shoes may be famous already!  Actually, I took a quick look through a few possible hastags while writing this post but so far there haven’t been too many images of people posing here.

a young woman sits on the railing of an outdoor staircase that has been painted with street art. A man is taking a pictrure with his phone of her feet against the artwork

below: Across the back wall, above the upper level, is a long mural by Mr. Brainwash that is supposed to look like a wall of graffiti

part of a mural made to look like a wall of graffiti including a mona lisa, a man with a camera in triplicate,

mural made to look like a wall of graffiti including a pink marily munroe, a woman in brown and white dress and bonnet, the word i love you written in red,

below: Up on the scaffolding working on Mickey Mouse and his orange ears, is Xray aka Brian Lanier.

a man in an orange vest is up on scaffolding as he paints a mural, two other men are looking at finished murals

a man sits on scaffolding as he paints a mural, LED spotlights are in the foreground

below: I think that it says love, a mural by Peru143

small mural by street artist peru that says love in very stylized and abstract letters

below: The streaks and splotches of colour are part of the wall that was painted by Risk.  It is also the space surrounding the entrance to the Taglialatella Gallery.  It was this gallery, along with INK Entertainment, that brought together the artists to paint the murals and many of them have pieces for sale in the gallery.   I appreciate that the gallery is supporting street art and that artists can make money from their work but there is a heavy presence of commercialism around this enclave of murals that makes me uncomfortable.

window of gallery with the exterior walls painted in pastel colours

a woman in an art gallery, is standing by two pieces that use neon lights. One is large red heart as part of a painting with an image of Charlie Chaplin meant to look like a wall of graffiti, with a yellow neon light in a heart shape

two pictures on a gallery wall, in red, black and white, on wallpaper that is red and beige intricate floral pattern

mural with a pink marilyn munroe, the words i love you in red, mural, Cumberland private wealth

aging in the Milky Way

Posted: August 12, 2019 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Yesterday was not the first time that I walked the Milky Way; I have blogged about it a few times, mostly recently two years ago in July 2017.  What surprised me most this time was just how little has changed.  A lot of murals and paintings were done in 2013 and they are still there.

below: The two horses at the west end of the alley

mural street art painting of a horses's head and neck in Milky Way alley

mural street art painting of a horses's head and neck in Milky Way alley

below: A one eyed monster, melting ice cream cone figure with big black boots.

large gate (or garage door) in an alley painted pink with a painting of a one eyed monster on it

paint peeling off wood fence, street art painting only partilly still there

below: A star that has lost its shine.

faded street art, wood grain of wood fence showing through. pink star with black sides to look 3 D, outlined in yellow

below: Unused and overgrown

a door covered with graffiti that is closed, greenery is starting to grow upo and around the door, painted murals on both sides of the door that are difficult to see

below: Someone’s not pleased.

woman's face as part of a mural in Milky Way alley, text mural around her

below: Kaos in the alley.

black door and wall in Milky Way lane, with graffit on the door, painting of two spray paint cans on the right side of the door, kaos brand. text graffiti on the left side in orange and white

below: Dinosaur riding.

old mural on a wall in Milky Way alley, a young girl is riding on the back a dinosaur, with words that say was last night they were here

below: Rafiki from ‘The Lion King’ still guards the door but his words may be lost to time.

painting of character from Disneys Lion King on door in alley, with paintings of little aliens across the top of the building, ivy growing on the walls

below: This mural was ‘defaced’ (although the faces weren’t touched LOL) shortly after it was painted.  The black letters on the middle woman have been there since at least 2017.

part of a mural of 3 nude pink and purple women, tall and skinny by palm trees, orange background, in an alley, the women have been painted over in white to cover breasts

below: This was the only street art piece painted in 2019 that I saw.

text graffiti mural in oranges and reds on blue background, in an alley, painted in 2019

text graffiti mural in pinks and reds on blue background, in an alley,

old dark door with entrance sign over the top, with lots of graffiti on the door, mural painted on walls beside the door

below: Not the best seat in the house.

pale blue door with graffiti on it, a blue rubbish bin and chair in front of the door

Butterfly Laneway number 3

Posted: June 30, 2019 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Recently, Art Eggleton Lane, south off Harbord Street, was the site of the third annual butterfly laneway painting project organized by Nick Sweetman with help from StreetARToronto and the David Suzuki Foundation.

below: Putting the finishing touches on a mural that was a collaboration between Nick Sweetman and Christina Mazzulla

Nick Sweetman on a ladder adding the finishing touches, with spray paint, to a large mural of butterflies on the side of a garage in a lane. Another ladder leans against the same wall, boxes and can of spray paint on the ground. On the same garage, there is a colourful mural on the garage door

three butterfly murals on three garage doors in an alley

below: Bird on a branch with butterflies in the background by luvsumone, muisca, and Javid Jah.  This mural is on the same garage as theone with the three butterflies on the left in the photo above.

painted mural in a lane, butterflies behind a large bird

spray painted mural in a lane, purple butterfly,on bright green, covering two doors

below: Black line butterflies on a wood fence by Oriah Scott

spray painted mural in a lane, butterfly and circle, on wood fence, by Oriah Scott,

below: This mural gives the impression that the butterfly is as vast as the universe, flying with the stars.

a very large butterfly on a mural on a grage door, wild colours in blues and red, It looks like the butterfly is superimposed on the whole universe

below: She becomes a butterfly in orange and pink, by Anya Mielniczek

spray painted mural in a lane, woman lying on her back, orange face with pink features,

below: In the foreground, a rainbow wasp moth by @drippin_soul aka Kalkidan Assefa

butterfly murals painted on garage doors in an alley

below: Butterflies in bubbles in a futuristic world by Sadar aka blazeworks

painted mural on a garage door in a lane, butterfly,

below: Butterflies and milkweed by Mique

painted mural in a lane, butterflies and milkweed plants

below: Chris Perez working on his mural

a man on a short ladder spray painting a mural on a garage door in an alley, Chris Perez

below: Sunset mural by @roshnisart aka Roshni Wijayasinha

sunset mural in pinks and blues by Roshnisart

below: Another face, with eyes closed as the butterflies flutter around, by @curtia aka Curtia Wright

mural on a garage door with large pink face, eyes closed, butterflies flying around

below: Triangles put together to form a butterfly, by CTR (aka Christian)

two butterfly murals in an alley

below: Another butterfly mural, this one is by Pascal Paquette

butterfly mural by Pascal Paquette

below: A multitude of butterflies around another pink face by MCK Studios aka Meaghan Claire Kehoe

spray painted mural in a lane, butterflies, lots of butterflies around a pin face by M C K studio

below: An abstracted butterfly (or more?) by Jacquie Comrie

painted mural in a lane, butterfly, very abstract, by Jacquie Comrie

below: Two monarch butterflies on a bright blue background, each with a flower of its own, by Leyland Adams

a mural with two monarch butterflys by a flower, bright blue background, garage door

below: A butterfly amongst small red flowers, by Phillip Saunders

small red flowers growing in bunches, in a mural, along with a butterfly, on a garge door

below: A stylized and very angular butterfly by Andre Kan

monarch butterfly, mural in alley

below: A gnarly yellow creature by Braes

braes butterfly mural on garage door

gigantic butterfly head and antenae

stylized butterfly with lots of colours and spots, on a garage door

below: An orange tiger lily flower with both a butterfly and a hummingbird interested in it, a mural by c_mack2.0 aka toner2

mural on a garage door in an alley, large purple and black butterfly, an orange tiger lily flower and a hummingbird

painted mural in a lane, butterfly in pale blue behind a man's head. Man in oranges and blues, wearing sunglasses

below: Large yellow butterfly

spray painted mural in a lane, large yellow butterfly,

The previous two butterfly laneway projects are
2018, Felstead Lane
2017, Butterflyways, by Garrison Creek Park

a mother and daughter walking down an alley

between Euclid and Palmerston

Posted: October 31, 2018 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Lightup the Laneway Project

below: The largest mural was a collaboration between three artists.  In the middle, Bacon works with blue.

Nick Sweetman painting a mural in a laneway, alley mural

below: Christina Mazzulla working on her ghost fish.

spray painting a mural of a fish swimming in the water

below: And the last artist working on this mural is Nick Sweetman whose narwhal is on the west end.

Nick Sweetman works on a mural of a narwhal

below: Toucan by @ghazaraza (aka Ghazaleh)

mural of a toucan on a garage door

below: Working on her mural, Anya Mielniczek

Anya painting a mural of a woman with wavy white and black hair, yellow face, yellow eyes, she's standing on a ladder

old building in an alley with murals being painted on two sides

below: Completed mural with stencils of elephants around the bottom as well as a note about the precarious state of elephants in Botswana

completed mural by anya mielniczek, woman with yellow skina dn eyes and black and white wavy hair,

below: Spraying on the orange hair in a mural by mck_studio (aka Meaghan Kehoe)

green and ornage mural on a garage door of a large face with frizzy hair, hand is holding a spray paint can and praying towards hair, orange paint orange hair.

below: Autumn painting leaves, a mural by Erin McCluskey

orange woman lying on the ground, holding a paint brush, mural on a garage door
a woman painting a mural on a garage door in an alley

below: Natashia Faustino and her pink cat (tiger?) on “Into the Wild”

painting a mural

below: Melo was the artist who created these organic looking blobs and swirls

mural on a garage door of white, orange, and purple blobs and squiggles

below: Raoul working on his mural

using a long handled brush to paint a mural of a woman's face on a garage door

finished mural of a woman's face, with her eyes closed

below: Making straight edges on his mural, Andre Kan.

spray painting a mural

below:  Flowers surrounding a peaceful woman in blue, a mural by Gosia Komorski

blue lady in profile, head only, with long hair ties up on head in a large braid, surrounded by stylized flowers in a mural in pinks and blues

close up of stylized flowers in a mural in pinks and blues

below: White squirrels on yellows and oranges by Karen Roberts

artist sitting on the ground while painting a mural on a garage door in a lane

below: Al Runt puts some finishing touches on his mural

Runt, street artist, painting a mural

below: The finished mural

mural by Al Runt, coloured creatures. a patchwork dog plays a piano that has walking legs

below: Near/Far by Henry Tyminski

mural that says Near Far

below: More words, this time “It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood.”  A quote from the TV show, ‘Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood’ along with a picture of Daniel Striped Tiger, a hand puppet from the same show.

white garage door with blue words that say It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood, also a picture of a hand puppet,

 

below: Shafia Shaik working on her mural.  The word GLOW has been cut off.  The finished work was signed as  EWOK project standing for Equity for Women of (K)olour.

spray painting the eye on a mural

rise and shine mural by C. Scaife, looks like neon signs that would be in a restaurant, eggs cooking, hot coffee, bacon and the words rise and shine in cursive writing

below: A mural by muisca.  The finished mural has green leaves and vines on both sides of the face.

mural by muisca on garage door, bright colours, aztec face and head dress

below: Bright lines by Bomi (aka Rodrigo)

painting a mural

Andre Castro painting a mural of multicoloured whale on a garage door in a lane

below: Finished whale by Andre Castro

finished mural of a multicoloured whale on black background

a pink kids' bike parked beside a garage door with a mural, no seat on the bike

below: A second whale, this one is the creation of CTR (aka Christian)

large mural of a many coloured whale swimming on a white garage door in an alley

parrot head on a garage door, mural, done in triangles and other straight edged shapes

below: Cruz1 mural in the foreground

garage doors being painted with street art murals, laneway

mural by cruz 1, green angry face

close up of ugly red face in mural by cruz 1, big blue eye and green mouth with large crooked teeth

below: Slightly abstracted flowers by Chris Perez

Chris Perez mural of red and blue flowers, slightly abstract, on a garage door

below: A wonderful, larger than life loon swims towards the sunset, by Cameron Chalmers.

mural on a garage door of a loon swimming into the sunset

blog: Wild and crazy colours and shapes in a mural by Diana and Ted

a wild mural with bright colours, shapes from nature, watery, and a black background by Ted and Diana

below: Lines and angles all over the place, by Kenny Alexander

lines all over the place, abstract picture, mural

below: Lemon Drop man is waving at you.  Mural by Jieun June Kim

lemon drop character on a pink and purple house with green trees, a mural by Jieun June Kim

below: Choose Kindness and a heart with four eyes!  A mural by monica on the moon (aka Monica Wickeler)

pink heart that is sort of anatomically correct, with words choose kindness around it, mural

below: A mural by Soul partially completed

partially completed mural by artist soul,

below: And, last but not least, two murals by Nixo

mural by nixo on garage door, straight horizontal lines

graphic looking design painted on a garage door in black and yellow with grey lines, by nixo

This project was supported by StreetARToronto

love is a many splendored thing

Posted: February 23, 2018 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
5

I know, I know, Valentines day has come and gone.
But this week I kept seeing hearts and other signs of love in many of its forms.
There’s nothing wrong with sharing a little love, right?

Especially the love where the heart is full and ready to explode in colour.

the front of a garage is covered with street art. A bright red heart is in the middle from which coloured geometric shapes eminate outwards and cover the entire front of the building.

Love is witty… or it just can’t spell because love fogs the brain.  Love is blind after all.

dark brown garage door,metal, with white spray paint words that say love @ first site

Love is solid and strong

a small concrete love bot stands on the grass beside the garden in front of St. Patricks church, winter, no leaves on the small tree, stone church

Love is weak and hides in a corner.

metal staircase, outside, running diagonally across the back of a building, a shopping cart under the stairs with a box in in, a door in the wall under the stairs, both door and wall are cover in graffiti including a large orange swath and a bright red heart

Some hearts are jaded.

on a utility pole in Graffiti alley, there are 4 paper hearts in pink and purple, with words written on them - I love me, no luv,

Sing a song of romance
A pocket full of lies
Four and twenty belittlements
Baked in a pie
When the pie was opened
All hell broke lose
When ranting, and tears, and screaming, and all sorts of incriminations….
You know the story.

“All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.” Oscar Wilde

beside a street art painting of the pink panther, standing with arms crossed (but head missing in the photo) is a utility pole with three paper hearts attached to it, two are light blue and 1 is orange. The hearts have writing on them, bye bye, friendzone, kill me

“If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?” Lily Tomlin

on a utility pole in Graffiti alley, there are 4 paper hearts in pink and purple, with words written on them - bed bugs, sk8 me, its you not me,

“Go forth.
the tellers of tales
and seize whatever
the heart longs for.
Have no fear.
Everything exists.
And everything is true.
And the earth is only
a little dust under our feet.”
W.B. Yeats, “The Celtic Twilight”

small black and white stencil on a concrete block wall. An adult penguin is standing with its head bent over looking at a small black and white cat that is looking up at the penguin

elicser paints people (again)

Posted: October 18, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
4

As part of a larger mural project in David French and Barbara Barrett Lanes (near Bloor and Bathurst), elicser has painted another mural with more of the kinds of people that he is known for painting. Every day people doing every day things – with some emphasis on musicians and the people who listen to them.

For this post I’ve combined photos that were taken back in mid-September on the weekend that the ‘Wall Expressions’ project was started with those that I took a few weeks later.  ‘Wall Expressions’ was a StreetARToronto project to paint/repaint garages in David French Lane.

below: Elicser works on a face

street artist, elicser elliott, up on a lift as he spray paints the outlines of a man's head as part of large mural that he is working on.

below: The finished face.

mural, part of, by elicser, people sitting outside, a young child with red hair sits on the grass, her mother behind her. A black man sits on a wooden seat, a cassette player on his lap

below: More of the mural in progress.

view of most of a long horizontal mural on the side of a building in an alley, by elicser, who is in the picture, painting, mural is of people doing various things.

part of a partially completed mural, two girls sitting at a table and talking, one with brown skin and long black hair, one with short red hair, a glass of water in one hand

partially finished man with green sweater, grey hair, elbows on table

finished section of a mural, with man with grey hair sitting with elbows on a table,

elicser works on painting a mural, in the foreground is a large painted guitar player with a red uitar, painted behind a metal fire escape staircase

part of a mural by elicser of people - 4 people, a woman overlooks them, a small black man on a cello and a man with beard and glasses on a white guitar.

part of a mural by elicser of people - a woman is sitting on a stool and playing a guitar, a man in a red and black checked shirt

below: The complete mural

mural by elicser of people - whole mural, completed, on Barbara Barrett Lane, musicians and the people listening to them as they sit at tables

Older Entries