Posts Tagged ‘spud’

dogs, and more, by the dog park

Posted: May 14, 2021 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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On Gerrard Street East, beside a parkette, is a grey concrete building that has been brightened by some paintings by Spud1 and kreech9 (and others?)

beside a park, a two storey concrete building with murals of dog portraits on the first storey, between the windows

red car parked in front of a body shop with a mural on the side of its building. Black and white dog in mural with black fuzzy ears, sunglasses and a Toronto baseball cap

part of a mural, a grey dog's face


part of a mural, a furry small dog's face in shades of brown with black nose and eyes, blue and orange spudbomb stencils under the dog, also words say #spud1. Pink and blue swirls for background

part of a mural, orange and white animal face with other symbols and abstracts

in the foreground, part of mural with blue, green, and yellow swirls. A hot dog with wiggly line of mustard down the center of the wiener is on top of the swirls

….And around the corner, past a pile of tires, is a wall of flowers, a happy face, and a rainbow.

a pile of tires in an alley across from a white wall painted with lots of colourful flowers, stylized form

painted, large 6 petal pink flower with yellow triangles at central edge, and an orange hexagon center, on same wall, a green happy face

alleyway with metal exterior stairs to upper floor, a pile of tires, and a wall full of colourful flowers and a rainbow

looking up an alley with a mural on the left and a chainlink fence with lots of saplings on the right

Ashbridges wallnoize wall

Posted: October 31, 2020 in graffiti and street art, locations
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There is a large construction project underway adjacent to the Ashbridges Bay water treatment facility between Lakeshore Blvd and Eastern Ave. The whole site is surrounded by plywood hoardings.  In mid-September, Wallnoize 2020 took over the area and painted water themed murals on a large portion of the hoardings.   More than ninety artists participated in this project, all coordinated by Cruz1.

signs at the entrance to the construction site for the new ashbirdge's bay water treatment facility on Eastern Avenue.

Let’s take a walk around the site, starting by walking east on Eastern Avenue towards Coxwell, south across the park, and then back along Lakeshore.  I suggest that you’re sitting down since I tried to cover all the murals and it might take a while!

below: Painted by Danielle Hyde

mural of large brown hands holding water

below: Trina Moyan‘s horse has a mane like many brightly coloured feathers.  “‘Water Spirit Horse’ – Nehiyaw Mistatim (Plains Cree horse).“

a brown horse with mane that lookslike coloured feathers, face painted in primary colours, mural

below: Portrait of a street artist in pink and white by Keitha Keeshig Tobias

mural in pink and white, a face wearing a gas mask, breathing apparatus for spray painting

below: by Siezswift

a tree in front of a text throw up mural in blues

autumn trees in front of hoardings covered with murals, wallnoize, leaves on the ground,

below: ‘Nibi Manitous’ by Cedareve. The water spirits are are shapeshifting between human and animal.

mural by cedar eve on blue hoardings, fish like creature with human heads

mural with two fish making a circle with a deer in betwee, some trees on both sides, multi coloured background

autumn trees in front of hoardings covered with murals, wallnoize, leaves on the ground,

below: “You are Loved” in a heart dripping with water in the center of a mural that is the product of the combined efforts of Shawna Howe and Monique Aura.   Rainbows and dancing stars.

mural on the hoardings around the ashbridge bay water treatment facility expansion construction site. the words you are loved are in a heart shaped space in the middle, brown hands holding a shallow brown bowl fromwhich a rainbow is pouring out into the smaller cupped hands of another person

below:  A head in the water by Shina

mural on hoardings near Ashbridge Bay water treatment facility, brown profile in water near yellow and orange shore

below: Bird and flowers by Jennifer, her first solo piece

mural on hoardings near Ashbridge Bay water treatment facility, wallnoize project, indigenous art style bird facing upwards with flowers on both sides

below: This picture of a bald man snorkeling was painted by still_hungry

mural on hoardings near Ashbridge Bay water treatment facility, wallnoize project, head of bald man with diving mask and snorkel, in the water,

below:  He looks like he’s made of water and he looks like he’s on a skateboard.  Painted by 3tr_t

mural on hoardings near Ashbridge Bay water treatment facility, blues wildstyle with man that looks like he's made of water, on a skateboard

below: Floating away, floating with the fish in a pink bathing suit.  Painted by Ghazaleh

hoardings around a construction site, beside vehicle entrance, a mural of a woman in a pink bathing suit floating on her back in a pool

below: by Francis Pratt, the poolboy cares apparently

the letters s o r b ae, with different fonts and different backgrounds

below: Branislav Dordevic‘s mural suggests keeping an eye on the water and ice, warm and cold.

mural, a large eye at top center, ice bergs, lake, ice and snow by onesketchyguy

below: Water being poured into three tall clear glasses because we’re all thirsty for clean water, a mural by Julia Antohi

three tall glasses of water, each with a different amount, with the words thirsty for clean water, in a turquoise box, a mural

below: A green god with his trident – either Neptune the Roman god of the sea or Poseidon his Greek counterpart, by tongbokes

a small tree in front of murals on hoardings near Ashbridge Bay water treatment facility, wallnoize project,

below: After the green god, is a more somber toned mural with the words, 1752, Mi’kmaq Nation, Take care of the water.

looking uphill at murals on hoardings near Ashbridge Bay water treatment facility, wallnoize project,

below: A mermaid in a jar by Yasaman Mehrsa. Has she been captured?  Is she in a protective bubble?  Do mermaids live in glass houses?

mermaid in a jar in the water, a mural

mural on hoardings near Ashvridge Bay water treatment facility, wallnoize project,

mural on hoardings near Ashvridge Bay water treatment facility, wallnoize project,

below: Surfer dude by broguymanz and a green throw-up on purple by Lukas Byra

mural on hoardings near Ashvridge Bay water treatment facility, wallnoize project,

truck and vehicle entrance to construction site, orange cones, wire fence, hoardings,

below: “Be Like Water” by Adrian Hayles and  what could be blue sea serpent, or a blue Chinese dragon, by Avril Wu

wallnoize street art murals on blue hoardings around new water treatment plant, by an entrance to the site, a mural of a man

below: A mermaid of another sort, with skulls and burning candles, brought to life by Oriah Scott.

mural, long haired woman with nose ring, topless, upper body covered with tattoos, with scarves over her arms, halo on head, skulls beside her and a burning candle in each hand

below: Bomi (aka bomitosangrantes) painted the lines and white dots that cover this corner

wallnoize street art murals on blue hoardings around new water treatment plant, cranes behind the fence, murals at the corner

below: It’s not that easy to see, but the grey letters that look like stones in water along a rocky shore were painted by Getso.  In the foreground is what looks like a mountain of flowing water (by bareket)

long line of murals on blue hoardings zround water treatment facitily upgrades construction site, with yellow water pipe running along beside, green grass,
below: This pink striped octopus with stars in its eyes is the work of Jieun June Kim.  Did you know that October 8th was World Octopus Day?

a mural of a pink striped octopus sitting in the water with head above water and some tentacles sticking up above the water, by Jeun June Kim

below: Like the words say, Kizmet the original Toronto raccoon, Radcliff is his name.  I don’t think he’s going after the cranes even though that’s what it looks like.  Swimming away from Radcliff is a Sedna, a curving woman by Angela Aulia.

wallnoize street art murals on blue hoardings around new water treatment plant, a kizmet raccoon and a person swimming

below: A KERZ throw-up to the left of the BUBZ wildstyle  with the tam-wearing duck with a bottle of water on top

 

a duck character looks over the top of two text based graffiti murals one says kerz and the other is by bubzart

below: A “Clew” throw-up by Clewin77

throw-up style graffiti on mural in light blue and olive green

below: Three colourful fish swimming in the waves by Poonam Sharma

mural of stylized fish swimming in the water with the sun shining down from above

below: Blackbird flying along with the moon in different phases is the work of Natalie Very B.   On the right, the wildstyle text-based mural was painted by spud1

2 murals on hoardings, a stylized blackbird flying with the moon in different phases around it. on the right is a wildstyle

below: A watery wildstyle by Trevor Goodwin (aka Horus)

wildstyle mural on blue hoardings, pine tree beside

black and white wildstyle mural on blue hoardings, pine tree beside

below: The white eyes are a bit disconcerting – awake? asleep?-  but otherwise she’s colourful.  Kizmet32 again.

water treatment facility construction hoardings, mural, by kizmet 32, a woman's face in green, blue and red, on top of a textual

pine tree beside hoardings around a construction site that have been painted by wallnoize, a group of street artists who have each painted a mural on a section of the wall

below: Burner on the left and Poser on the right

two text murals on hoardings, on the right is poser, and on the left is one with two eel heads poking up on top

below: The happy grinning lobster with a fish on each arm is Gentle Giant aka big_doz261.   The other mural is by onerzeus

a cartoonlike character red lobster grinning with a female fish on either of two arms, one at each side

below: A little fish nears the blue head at the end of the CRUZ tag in this Cruz1 mural.

mural by Cruz 1 on hoardings around a construction site near Ashbridges, a blue face and lots of colours around word that says Cruz, plus a tiny fish in top right

blue text

below: by Rusty (aka gutter_crew_guru),  If anyone would like to attempt an interpretation, I’d love to hear from you.  There’s a lot of detail in the mural that is fascinating yet creepy. Happy Halloween!

bright orange background like fire

below: A collaborative effort between Rowell Soller and @tenneshaskyers

portrait of a black man in the middle surrounded by calligraphy in black and white

on blue hoardings, a row of text graffiti

below: A very realistic looking creature in the water painted by Cesar Ar.

very realistic painting of a water dragon or monster in the water

below: Mural by Julie Amlin

Julie Amlin mural on Ashbridge water treatment construction hoardings, curves and curvy shapes in different colours

Jipik'am mural of a snake with tongue out, first nations symbols, words that say land back

hoardings around a construction site that have been painted by wallnoize, a group of street artists who have each painted a mural on a section of the wall with city of Toronto water tower behind

below: The work of invader.zima

green text, with a machine

below: Horizontal stripes of fish and water in a basket, or woven onto fabric, by Dakota Brant beside a Octo-Godess-Sea-Witch Lady by Katrina Canendo

two murals

below: A vintage scuba diver among the weeds, by silestyle161

below: Two whales swimming in the ocean, an orca on the left by Ren Lonechild of Red Urban Nation. The whale on the right was painted by Camila Wong and she describes it on instagram as “Inspired from the Great Hokusai artwork, expressive waves with colourful brushstrokes and whale represent overcoming challenges in your life“.

2 murals, one is a whale and the other is a dolphin, swimming in the water

below: Three Nick Sweetman green moray eels looking at SADAR‘s (aka blazeworks) mechanical octopus.

two murals. one is 3 large eel heads in yellos by Nick Sweetman, the other is a mechanical looking octopus

below: Two murals made with text.  FATHOM on the left and the creative efforts of RUN (Red Urban Nation) Artist Collective

two textual paintings on a wall, one with hashtag red urban nation and the other says fathom

below: Ashbridges water treatment facility with the wall.

round Ashbridges water treatment tower with lots of green grass in front, a blue hoardings wall around the construction of new parts of water treatment plant, with lots of street art murals painted on the hoardings

below: Looking in the other direction.

city of toronto concrete water tower behind blue hoardings with street art murals on them

below: Calligraphy by Kreecha (right) and a painting by Art Child (left)

two murals on hoardsing with crane behind.

below: Two figures nose to nose with their reflections in the moonlight, by Julii McMillan. The nail polish matches the blues of the water.

mural by Julii McMillan of two identical heads nose to nose in the water up to their noses, reflections of the two. hands beside heads so they reflect too. water, dark, moonlight

below: Victoria Day painted the very pink woman with grey hair who is surrounded by lily pads and little green dinosaurs? eels?   To the right is Clean Water text by SKAM

two murals on hoardings around new water treatment plant by Ashbridges, on the left a very pink faced lady with grey curly hair in the water with little green dragons and lily pads. on the right, text painting that says clean water H 2 O

below: A lovely orange octopus by Spyone beside a man partially submerged in the water, Rise Up by James (aka mistersoy)

two murals on hoardings around new water treatment plant by Ashbridges, an orange octopus and a man in a red and white striped T shirt with words rise up

A white boat with many portholes sails past, while on the right, by Andrea Rodriguez (aka Andrea Cataro) a pink dolphin and a grey walrus swimming underwater.

a dog and cat head in front of a large white boat in one of the two murals on hoardings around new water treatment plant by Ashbridges. other mural is a pink dolphin and a blue narwhal playing in the water

below: Abstract and sort of geometric, in teal and purple, by David Baron

abstract geometric mural by forge fury in teal, purple, and black

mural, an old woman's face in the middle, stylized brown trees, lines for earth and sky

below: A wonderful woman with turquoise dreadlocks in a turquoise sea under a pink octopus wearing a tophat.  This mural was painted by Désiré Betty

mural on hoardings, a woman with long braided turquoise hair under a pink octopus wearing a black top hat, mural by dbetty13, Desire Betty

below: A blue, purple, and white sea monster  by Andre Castro looks towards red and purple text by mr_tensoe2 

two murals side by side on blue hoardings, on the left is a blue monster by andre castro and on the right is an orange and red text graffiti

looking along a wall of murals on blue hoardings

below: By dat_dude_stu

text street art in layers, red on top, yellow in the middle and green on the bottom

below: Something other-worldly by fongkikid

a painting by fingkikid, fuzzy abstract watery thing in blues and purples

below: By mr. Water

mural, in blues, stylized waves, or text, could be either

looking along a wall of murals on blue hoardings to where they cross and block the sidewalk

below: Swirls by Flip surround a slightly greenish woman with hair that merge into the waves.  The woman’s face was painted by @gosiakomorski One Love – Don’t let hate win.

wallnoize street art murals on blue hoardings around new water treatment plant, a woman with long flowing hair and with her eyes closed

below:  Luvs crocodile with crocs floating in the water to the right of a small elfin(?) woman with long pink hair by @monicavcao

wallnoize street art murals on blue hoardings around new water treatment plant, a crocosile, very realistic looking, by luvs, with its feet in water

below: At the end of the painted section of the hoardings is this old green car, “little deuce coupe” surrounded by skulls, a dudeman ‘trademark’ of sorts.

wallnoize street art murals on blue hoardings around new water treatment plant, one end of the hoardings, by the bike trail, an old green car by spud, and a graphic in neutral tones,

once more down Graffiti Alley

Posted: June 29, 2018 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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It was quieter than usual when I walked down Graffiti Alley today.

  There were some guys painting a new street art piece

a street art piece in progress, man spray painting,

below: Elicser (and someone else) painting

elicser paints a person on a wall, another man is beside him, also spray painting street art in Graffiti Alley

The first thing that happened on my walk was that I was yelled at by the woman inside this ‘tent’. She obviously didn’t like the camera in my hand so she screamed how was stalking her and harassing her. So I took a picture.

graffiti on the wall

Not the best way to start a walk. Grump. Grump.  But it could have been the heat and humidity….

graffiti of a star with a frown

Or maybe because it was the day that Doug Ford officially became premier of Ontario.

Or maybe because someone has littered Graffiti Alley with numerous stencils of this kind…. this is the largest.

Mood – it certainly affects the way you look at the world. Grump. Grump.
Then along comes a little lovebot to make you smile.

stickers on a metal box, urban ninja squadron, also one with words that say Choose people who choose you

graffiti on a wall, and orange door with graffiti and stickers, Graffiti Alley

And maybe all is okay after all.

You are Here

Posted: November 24, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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big bright pink flowers, mural on a garage door by Blazeworks
above: Bright pink flowers by Blazeworks

I shared David French Lane with some garbage men, a bright green truck, and a lot of smelly garbage the other day. Luckily there were lots of murals to distract me from the smell!

a green GFL garbage truck in a lane as men pick up garbage on garbage day

below: The north end of David French Lane is at Barbara Barrett Lane, immediately south of Bloor.  Here, elicser painted a mural in his characteristic style that I have already blogged about.   It is also where there is a mural of a blue and white train.  I didn’t take any photos of it this time because it isn’t new and it wasn’t part of the Wall Expressions project.

corner where two alleys meet, a green P parking lot and a building with murals on two sides.

Quite a few of the garages in David French Lane had been painted sometime in the past.  Many had been tagged over or were in need of updating.  The ‘Wall Expressions – You are Here’ project provided the lane with a fresh coat of paint back in mid-September.

below: A large TTC bus drives into the alley by dudeman, surrounded by skulls of many colours.

a mural by dudeman, TTX bus, spadina sign, and lots of different coloured skulls

‘You are Here’ was the result of a collaboration between StreetARToronto, the Tranzac Club, the local community, and last but not least Team Spudbomb who organized the artists who participated.

below: More colours here too – lots of movement and energy too.   Mural painted by Chris Perez.

a garage covered with colour splotches

below: Almost didn’t get this shot – the garage door started opening as I stood there.  A geometric abstract mural by Andre Kan.   It reminds me of the chaos of roads in the city

geometric abstract mural in browns and red and blues, by andre

below: Another geometric design – this time by mediah.

geometric abstract mural in browns and greys, by mediah,

below: whales by wales, swimming in the lane

large mural with marine life theme, whale, blue background for water,

a row of garages with the doors painted with murals, garbage ready for pick up in front of them, in a lane, large tree too

below: Midtown cinema by ACK

mural on a garage, red and light brown text on the botto, grey tones picture of midtown cinema on the top part

below: A portrait of Ed Mirvish holding an iconic Honest Eds sign, painted by spud.

street art portrait of David Mirvish holding iconic Honest Eds signs

garage with two sides painted in street art, lane, backs of houses, no leaves on tree,

sides and front of garage with street art on them

below: Mural by fly vandals

mural on side of building, purple,

mural on garage

below: An apt phrase – ‘Be Here Now’ beside a fence of spudbombs.

a garage door with the words Be Here Now beside a fence painted with spud bombs, hand grenade shaped characters with eyes and smiling mouths

Leaside has murals!

Posted: August 20, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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Today’s story begins back in 2007 when elicsr painted this mural behind a store that fronts on Eglinton East.

mural depicting the biblical story, Luke chapter 15, of the prodigal son

It depicts the bible story of the prodigal son.  A very brief summary of the story – A wealthy king had two sons.

mural of the prodigal son, the wealthy king with his two sons at the beginning of the story

The younger son took his half of his father’s money, left home, and squandered the money. He fell into hard times.  He realized that he would be better off as a servant in his father’s household than living in penury on his own.

mural, the younger son leaves his father the king where he goes and squanders his half of his father's inheritance

So he returned home to repent.  His father celebrated the return of the son and forgave him and his prodigal ways.

part of a mural, return of the prodigal son to his father, the king.

Fast forward to August 2016 when the alley became a canvas for 46 street artists and their Wall Expressions project, Go Big or Go Home.  I walked the alley on Thursday and this is what I saw.
[Warning: a lot of the street art is text or abstractions which may not be your cup of tea. ]

below: Girl power skull with pig tails by dudeman.

street art mural on the side of a garage in an alley, by #dudeman, blue stylized skull and cross bones with pig tails on the skull, the words, girl power as well

below: Under the weather vane, a newer garage door painted with a mural by Mediah IAH aka Evond Blake.

two garages in an alley, both covered in murals. On the right is a newer garage, with a weather vane on top, and a mural in blue and greys, geometric and abstract shapes. On the left is an older garage door with multicolured street art on it.

below: Black and white owl on a branch by mska

mural by mska of an owl sitting on the branch of a tree, the owl and tree are in black and white, there are concentric circles in many colours in the background.

below: SPUD bombs and swirls on the back of Eco Cleaners.

spud bombs and swirls on the back of eco dry cleaners

below: And another SPUD creation on the other side of the lane.
A few skulls seemed to have snuck into the painting!

spud bomb and swirls street art on a fence in an alley

below: ‘Mars Attacks’ by the ACK crew, wales, miles, noser, braes and tensoe.

large mural on a two storey brick building, mural is called Mars Attacks, shows a green robot like alien and lots of tags.

below: Garbage bins lined up in front of a horus/tuffytats rose in blue and red.

mural of blue and red roses, large and stylized on a wall, a line of small trash bins in grey , blue and green (garbage bins, recylcing bins and organic waste bins) is in front of the artwork by horus also known as tuffytats

below: A swirly wavy mix of colours brighten up a wooden fence.

a section of wooden fence covered with street art in pink and orange and turquoise and purple striped swirls

below: Red head (and shoulders) man

street art mural on a garage door, head and shoulders of a man in red tones,

below: The Men’s Salon Barber Shop now has a mska creature, complete with scissors in hand, by the back door.

back door of men's hairsylist and barbershop, 814 Eglinton East with a white skulled creature holding a pair of scissors by mska as well as a large yellow 814

below: Next to the barber shop is this mural, or at least this is part of it.  The next photo….

multicoloured mural on a wall with a car parked alongside it.

below: … is the end of the mural.  I’m not sure who painted it but the marks on this are: Mark One, BOB (or 13013) and xFLA,.

tag-like street art in yellow and orange on the side of Bonavista store, alley north of Eglinton East, back of car in the picture - it's parked in front of the rest of the mural

below: A mural for Loui by minus two (and others?)

mural, street art text and tags with words 'for loui'

below: More text and abstractions, this time by manic, roam and acuse.   Loui gets another mention too.

 

street art mural of text and colours across the back of a building in an alley

looking at a building so that the corner is in the front, can see two sides of the building, both of which are covered with murals. Wood railing across the top as there is a balcony up there

below: In the foreground, a Nick Sweetman shrimp swims across a mural with help from peru and ctr.

an alley with street art murals, a pickup truck and a car parked in front of one of the murals

below: A closer look at that shrimp

a street art painting of a colourful but realistic squid in yellow, turquoise, and blue, painted on a wall

below: Another large mural with more than one photo.  At one end there’s a zas possum hanging out, spray paint can in hand – possibly up to no good?

street art of a large possum standing on its hind legs, and standing beside an open door

below: And at the other end there’s another animal that is usually nocturnal, a raccoon.  An animal that is no stranger to Toronto!

large street art animal, raccoon, in a mural, with a white crown on his head

below: Look up, way up!  There’s a dog on the roof.

mural on the side of an upper storey, above the roof of the bulding beside it, a dag, some text, and the back of a man painting on the wall

below: Swimmer with a bathing cap looking at you, by sparr

mural on the side of a building, a woman's head and shoulders. She's in the water and wearing a bathing cap. Above her is a painting of a man spray painting on a wall.

 

below: Phil wrote his name on a garage door.

large blue letters P H I L in street art form on a garage door

below: Sofe in orange and green tiger stripes

large letters S O F E in orange and green tiger stripes with purple sky-like background

below: Two more garage doors.

two garages in a lane with street art spray painted on their doors.

below: Bright colours stand out on the side of this garage near the entrance to the lane.

mural on the side of a garage by cruz 1 art, a young girl in orange with many colours abstractions around her

below: Rozy, from the other side.

mural on the side of a garage by cruz 1 art, a young girl in orange with many colours abstractions around her

below: someone beginning with the letter m?  (m–?) and lerch.

mural in an alley, horizontal street art aerosol spray paint artwork of text graffiti, two different ones side by side

below: Big fat P in pink by bias? at number 153

a large fat P in pink on a white wood fence, with some other symbols as well, street art

below: And last, a little snail

a small painting of a large orange and blue snail on a fence beside a tree in an alley

This project had help and support from Toronto Police (53 division), Stephensons Rental, Dominos Pizza, and StreetARToronto.

video of the event on vimeo

in an alley, back of a store, old rusty metal stairs to the upper storey, small awning over the backdoor, laundry hanging by the door, weeds growing in front of the bottom of the stairs.

small metal box, part of doorbell system, covered with graffiti stickers, including purple horror face of man

 

 

between Pape and Donlands

Posted: August 8, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I decided to head to Pape and Danforth on Friday, on a very hot & humid afternoon.   The Danforth was just beginning to get ready for the Taste of the Danforth weekend festival.  I stopped for a bottle of water and tried to find a bit of shade while I figured out where to walk.  The street was still quiet.  The day was hot and humid and no one was moving quickly.   Not many photos to be had there.   Instead, I decided to walk a few of the alleys north of the Danforth between Pape and Donlands.

trucks parked on the street, a small ferris wheel being set up pon a street, stores, barricades

below: No famous graffiti artist has left their mark in your neighbourhood? No problem, make your own!
A collection of icons with even the bricks painted into the picture.

copies of famous street art painted on a garage door. Brick background has been painted on too. Mona Lisa, Campbell soup cans, the woman lifting the corner of the wall to sweep things under it. Einstein holding a placard that says love is the answer. A little dog by Albert Einstein's feet.

below: Three garage doors with street art including one by spud.

three garages in an alley, each with street art painted on their doors.

below: Cruz1art (aka Angel Carillo) and a girl power pink skull by dudeman

a low concrete building in an alley with street art by Cruz 1 art, one says girl power. Large pink skull, basketball hoop in the foreground.

below: “Turn the lights off and look to the sky”

street art in an alley of a woman with long hair, wearing sunglasses, a tag beside it.

below: I’m used to seeing ‘No Trespassing’ or ‘Keep Out’ signs but not so many ‘Keep Off’.

an old rusted sign that says 'keep off' attached tot he top of a chainlink fence, in between two garages in an alley

below: A happy Uber5000 birdie knitting away, a close knit street art painting.

an uber 5000 art piece on a garage door, yellow uber birdie is knitting something with blue wool. the words say "close knit"

below: Another creature by Cruz1

blue animal creature painted on a garage door, green shrub growing in front of part of it, art by cruz 1 in an alley

below: Two more painted garage doors, very linear, very stylized and abstracted.

two single car garages in an alley, both with street art paintings on them, also the back of the houses behind them in the lane.

below: A play on the word ‘cool’.  Snowy words and a penguin with sunglasses.  Unfortunately it didn’t make me feel cooler but only slightly nostalgic for winter.  Only slightly!

street art mural on a garage door in a lane, a penguin standing upright wearing sunglasses. The words, written in large blue letters with snow on them, What's cooler than sum glasses on?

below: On the left is “destroy and rebuild” and on the right is “We are 1, [illegible] mi gente siempre”.  The last bit is Spanish and translates to “My people forever”

two garages in an alley with art on their doors, on the left is an abstract in blue and orange with the words destroy and rebuild. On the right is a woman's face. She's slightly blue. Words written beside her are: we are 1, mi gente siempre

below: I think there was a point to this picture, but I’m not sure what it is.

the top of two pieces of wood in a picket fence type gate, pointed tops, wood,

below:  Since this stretch of the Danforth has been “Greektown” for as long as I can remember, it makes sense to find street art in Greek.  In this case, Greek love.

garage door painted bright blue, with the Greek word for love written on it in large letters

below: A slight chuckle, the next garage door is the translation.

garage door painted with a large cursive lettering word love in pinks on blue

below:  Insert a little rant about horrid TTC concrete fences here.  At least someone has found a way to brighten one of them up.   This one is right beside the entrance to Donlands subway station.

concrete fence with paint drip art on it

A few more pictures….

garage door in a laneway covered with streetart painting

geometric street art on a garage door, pink, grey and black

below: A survivor. A lone white rose amongst dead roses.  May you all survive the heat of summer!

one white rose growing against a fence in an alley , with lots of dead roses around it.

 

 

 

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.

wildlife on St. Helens

Posted: October 19, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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A number of street artists have collaborated to paint an animal themed mural on a wall
that separates St. Helens Ave from a Value Village store and parking lot (near Bloor and Lansdowne).

street art painting by braesoner of a tiger poking its head out from behind a tag

street art mural on a wall beside a sidewalk, with leaves on the ground and two small trees in the picture as well

street art painting of a toucan with a colourful beak, sitting on large green leaves with a sunset in the background.

 

street art painting of a yellow spray paint can with a big happy face on it.

side view of a street art mural on a wall beside a sidewalk, the closest part of the mural is a picture of two giant beetles by Nick Sweetman with a painting of a spray paint can farther down the fence.

street art mural by Nick Sweetman of two large beetles and a pink flower, on a wall, St. Helens Ave in Toronto

street art painting of letters that spall fathom

street art mural by EGR of a lion beside a tree

street art painting on a wall by cruz1

street art painting of a brown monkey

street art painting by cbs

street art mural on a wall, by Nick Sweetman, of a snake head in blue, purple and green, with a long pink tongue and an orange eye

street art painting on a wall by spud1, #spud1

street art mural painting by EGR of a probably naked woman crouching in the long grass with a spear in her hand.

north to Humbert

Posted: August 21, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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There is a lane that runs parallel, and just to the west of, Ossington Ave.
It’s only one block long, running north from Queen St. West to Humbert Street.

In the summer of 2012 this lane was the site for “Brighten the Corners For the Love of Art” mural project.  The project involved a number of local community groups such as ProAction Cops and Kids as well as the Academy of Lions (a gym on Ossington Ave).  Twenty artists painted many of the garage doors and fences in the alley.   Some of the paintings remain, some have been defaced, and others have been painted over entirely since then.  This is what the alley looked like last week.

An alley that runs parallel to Ossington Ave., looking north with garages on both sides and a tree overhead, looking towards Humbert St.
Two birdo creatures on a brown garage door
Two spud bomb graffiti characters on a blue garage door in an alley

A large white spud character on a garage door, with big googly eyes and arms that come out from where his ears are

 

a number of colourful street art paintings on a garage door and gate in an alley

garage door painted orange and then a geometric street art painting in greys and purples painted on that

A door in an alley with two montsters painted on it. A one eyed purple monster with a long pink tongue is sitting on top of a blue monster who is trying to pinch the end of the purple monster's tongue

Close up of a graffiti piece, many colours, with a blue 3D stick figure surrounded on three sides by frame-like boards

Two garage doors with street art. On the left is a yellow lovebot and a red grominator. On the second is a large woman's face that has been scribbled on as well as a fairy-like creature. The latter two are the work of EGR.An old broken toilet is in the corner.

A purple faced man is blowing grey clouds, the alley is in the background.

A mural of big headed, big toothed creatures by broken alley on a garage door in a lane.

The creatures on the garage door above always remind me of ‘scrubbing bubbles’ from the cleaning products of the same name.

A picture of blue scrubbing bubbles from TV ad

revisiting an alley

Posted: August 9, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I was sorting through older photos recently when I discovered some of street art and graffiti that I saw in an alley near Trinity Bellwoods Park.  The photos were taken in February so there is lots of snow in them.  I thought that it would be silly to write a blog post in August using cold and snowy photos so I went back the other day to retake the pictures.

A painting by street artist birdo of a red and blue striped horse like creature with its neck bent downwards so that it looks like it is eating the weeds that are growing between the cracks in the lane. It is on a garage door, tops of houses can be seen in the background, above the garage

The alley is at the north end of Trinity Bellwoods Park, running behind Dundas West between Montrose and Grace.  The east end of the alley turns north to exit at Dundas West.

a fence that runs down the right side of an alley has been covered with street art

below: This guy, and his chess issues, is at the corner where the alley meets Dundas West.

a low concrete fence is painted with graffiti street art, a green snarling green raccoon creature is acting out against a chess piece, a castle or rook

two street art pictures that look a bit like angry birds

cruz1 street art that looks like leaves or green abstract letters on a fence
3 big round headed aliens by street artist mska, one is green, one is pink and yellow and one is yellow and orange, on a fence in an alley

close up picture of a green leafed vine growing up a street art painting in blue and red with a yellow heart
A garage door in an alley that has been painted with many brightly coloured skulls

A garage door in an alley covered with a street art painting of letters and hand grenades - spud bombs

street art on a garage door in a laneway, dog riding on top of a doghouse, sort of like Snoopy did

below: close up of the dog from the painting above, taken in February

street art of a dog wearing sunglasses and pretending to be a pilot, taken in the winter as there are icicles hanging from the roof

below:  There was one garage that had been painted between February when I first saw it and early August when I went back.  The two photos below show the garage ‘before’ and ‘after’.

The side of a garage in an alley in winter, snow on the ground, two small trees. The side of the garage is painted green and it has a black and white orak tag on it.

The side of a garage door in summer, two trees and a parked car. The side of the garage is covered with street art

below:  This Anser face was on the doors of the above garage back in February.
It has since been painted over.

A face painted on a garage door. bright blue eys, otherwise drawn with just black lines. by the artist anser

 below:  Blaze Works has painted this where the Anser face was. Always remember.

blaze works tag like graffiti street art on a garage door in an alley

other garage doors

tag like street art on a garage door in an alley

tag like street art on a garage door in an alley Diana Gordito

tag like street art on a garage door in an alley crsy fario, killa wales, lpk 66,

tag like street art on a garage door in an alley ynn doh

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