Posts Tagged ‘turtles’

back to Ossington

Posted: May 8, 2025 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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Ossington Avenue is an interesting street to walk with it’s numerous stores, restaurants and coffee shops.  But there is another fascinating world hiding behind the main street in the numerous lanes and alleys in the area.  A few weeks ago I presented some images from these alleys (Behind Ossington, 15 April),  but I barely scratched the surface of what is there.

on Ossington Ave., older buildings that are now stores. one is painted olive green, another is white, and third is red brick. at the end, is a building with large yellow and blue vertical stripes, a bench is on the sidewalk

For this blog post, I have assembled more of the photographs that I have taken around Ossington since January of this year.  It gets a bit long because I decided not to chop it into smaller pieces, so grab a seat and let’s get started!

a bench beside a green wall in a snow covered parking lot, door beside bench has love U! written on it

below: A whimsical Uber5000 painting on a garage door.

uber 5000 mural, green biplane with 3 yellow birdies, including one standing on a bomb. dog standing on one of the airplane wings

below: Hearts on fire, burning love, and the fireman that is trying to extinguish the flames – in a mural created by D. Terra Stencils.

stencil,ural by D. Terra stencils, a crouching fireman holds a hose and shoots water upward towards a big red heart

below: One of the cutest raccoons that I have ever seen, also painted by D.Terra Stencils.

mural by D. Terra stencils, of a young raccoon, green leafy background

below: Some more cute raccoons of a different sort go camping in a mural by Emily May Rose

Emily May Rose raccoons go camping, with a grey and orange trailer, a yellow umbrella, and a folding chair too

two grey Emily May Rose raccoons play in a pile of dirt, while drinking canned drinks

below: … and some more raccoons!

Emily May Rose raccoons in a painting on a fence in an alley

below: …. and even more!

in an allley, wall and door, raccoons by Emily May Rose and text graffiti too
toronto alley near ossington with street art on fences and garages

below: Smaller black stencil graffiti on a white garage door – an iconic image of Marilyn Monroe as well as a Kung fu Panda.  The other woman gets a splash of bright red.

black stencil graffiti on a white garage door, portrait of Marilyn Monroe, and kung fu panda image, as well as another woman's head and face

below: A trumpet player and a gun fight.

black stencil graffiti on a white garage door, a man playing a trumpet, also two men in a gun fight with one standing over the other who is lying on the ground.

below: Bikes on the stairs with a colourful bird keeping a watchful eye.

in an alley, exterior stairs to a small balcony, bike parked on stairs, mural of a bird painted on wall beside the stairs

below: A tribute mural celebrating Canadian Black designers.

mural in an ossington alley, black background, text that says Designers of Canada, with three portraits, on the lower level of a three storey red brick building

below: An old square brick building, garages and fences with graffiti, old trees, and a row of houses at the end of the lane – this captures the look of a typical Toronto lane.

looking down an alley, garages with graffiti on the right, fence on the left, at the end, a semi divided house that is different on either side, also at end of alley, on right, a larger red brick building (old)

below: Home patio, outdoor living urban style.

exterior of building, concrete block painted a dark yellow,, white door, and black window, with 2 small chairs and a table, and a stool, immediately outside the building

below: “Stop and enjoy”.  I like how the poster below the stop sign says “mediocrity” which makes the overall message, “Stop and enjoy mediocrity”.  A bit snarky.

stop sign on a pole in an alley, beside a garage door with street art on it. text graffiti on the stop sign so that it says stop and enjoy

in a laneway with street art murals on all the garage doors

part of a larger mural, a face in the sun, eyes closed, some vines are growing over the face

older drawing on garage, man's face, coconut tree with palm leaves,

below: The tail end of a fishy mural.

a small alley near Ossington, cars parked in alley, one side has building with mural on it, the other is a house with grey siding cladding

below: This aquatic themed mural dates from 2016 when a group of artists painted many murals in the area, all with the Great Lakes as their theme. They were part of Pangeaseed Foundation’s Seawalls for Oceans project. Some artworks have survived better than others. Love letters in paint is a post from 2016 that show most of them in their original form.

fish mural by shalak attack

below: The Swiss army knife was also a Pangeaseed mural

street art mural with a big red swiss army knife in the center

below: Where possible, Jimmy’s Coffee shops have exterior walls painted with images of famous Jimmys including the one on Ossington. Jimmy Carter, James Dean, the guitar of Jimmy Hendrix and two muppets representing Jim Henson Gonzo and Elmo

images of famous Jimmys on the side of Jimmys coffee shop on Ossington, Jimmy Carter, James Dean, the guitar of Jimmy Hendrix and two muppets representing Jim Henson gonzo and elmo

black and white image of Jimmy Hendrix singing and playing guitar, pink background, mural

below: A Jimmy of a different kind, a fantastic cacaphony of colours and shapes in a mural by Jimmy Chiale

mural of abstract shapes and colours by j. chiale

below: Close up of part of a mural, a young man wearing a black mask over his eyes.

close up of a street art painting, a young man in a black mask over his eyes

photo taken in a snowy parking lot, of the backs of some houses, fences, backyards,

below: Rowell Soller

rowell soller mural on a garage door

below: Two paintings on two different garages that look like they were done by the same artist.  The signature appears to be Soul R. and the top painting is from 2017.

mural of a turtle swimming in the water, in light shades of brown, blue garage

mural of a turtle swimming in the water, in a wall in an alley, with a pile of empty boxes and containers on the ground in front of it

below: 2022 Christina Mazzulla, for the Golden Turtle Restaurant.

mural, pink flowers, a fish, and a sea turtle

on the side wall of a house in an alley, mural, pink flowers, a fish, and a sea turtle

below: “You are stroger than you think”

a house being renovated, plywood over downstairs window with graffiti on it

below: Nick Sweetman has used shades of blue and purple to create this wonderful northern scene with a bear and moose combo.

a large bear and a moose, in a mural on a garage door in an alley, painted by bruno smoky or shalak attack

below: Totally blue.   The other colours have faded?  Or were never there in the first place?

gate in alley, double wide, at the end of a driveway, all in blue

below: More garage doors painted by D.Terra Stencils

alley near Ossington with lots of garage doors covered with murals, street art, urban art

below: On a bright yellow background, an image of Jean Michel Basquiat, one of the original creators present-day street art.

garage door painted yellow, then a portrait of Jean Michel Basquiat often considered the founder of street art

below: .. and beside Basquiat, a levitating woman

mural on an alley garage door by D.TErra stencils, a levitating woman, lying on her back up in the air, long hair hanging down.

below: Written in Portuguese is “Nem às paredes confesso” which translates to “I don’t even confess to the walls”.

mural on red background, musicians, one singer and one instrument player

below: Portuguese words, and nearby a Portuguese flag

street art painting of the Portuguese (Portugal) flag

mural, portrait of a man on a purple background

below: Boxers – Muhammad Ali and an opponent

boxing mural

below: The last D. Terra Stencils is this rendition of Ren and Stimpy

ren and stimpy from Nickelodeon TV in the 1990s, in a mural

trimming trees in an alley, man in lift above the lane, truck, some garages with graffiti and street art

little bits of metal on a wood utility pole

exterior door in an alley, covered with street art

part of a larger painting, a small character peaks its head out from the middle of a puffy orange letter O

below: The next four images are of the same mural in a snowy laneway parking lot…  starting with DAM DOG ketchup bottle

parking lot, in winter, box with street art on it beside a wall with more painting

parrt of a mural, smiling skull with a chain through one eye socket, and slightly yellow bottom teeth,

below: Parking for Animals

from a larger mural, young man in multi colour sunglasses, with a can of spray paint in his hand

close up of part of a mural, finger on the top of a spray paint can

below: These little ceramic animals have been walking in this alley for at least ten years.

little flat ceramic animal shapes, a turtle a small dinosaur, glued to a wall in an alley, beige with green and pink dots,

below: T-bonez stands alone, maybe waiting for the light to turn green?

t bonex sticker on a yellow box (for crossing signal). urban ninja squadron, visual noise,

T bonez sticker from visual noise and urban ninja squadron

close up of an old turquoise section of street art on wood fence, with red spray paint circle and double cross

on a wall painted very deep but bright red, outside in an alley, torn bits of paper remain where posters have been partially torn off

box on a wall, covered with stickers that are mostly in black and white, with red spray paint tag on top of it all.

below: And what’s this? Even more raccoons?! Toronto’s “beloved” trash pandas are everywhere!

raccoons in an alley mural, one sitting on a trash can, drinking, raccoons are trash pandas

part of a mural, painted by Emily May Rose, of a greenish grey raccoon, or trash panda, sitting of the top of a metal garbage can, holding a bottle with an XXX label.

30th street mural

Posted: February 9, 2019 in graffiti and street art
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Back in November, before I went away, a friend and I ventured out to Long Branch because we had heard that there was a new Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street. Just north of Lakeshore Blvd., 30th street passes under the railway tracks.  This is where the new mural is.  It’s a collaboration with fellow artist Phil Cote and it’s nearly 500 feet long.

below: North of the railway tracks

a large section of the mural by Nick Sweetman on 30th street as it passes under the railway tracks

Photos of the mural, in no particular order:

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street, close up of the face of a creature with white whickers and a blue nose

a butterfly

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street, large butterfly

some turtles

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street, a large turtle and a smaller turtle, by the railing along side the sidewalk

two birds in flight – all of a redwing blackbird and part of a cardinal

a red wing black bird in flight and the back part of a cardinal, part of a mural

a bee on two orange flowers

a bee, on two large orange flowers, Nick Sweetman mural

some fish

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street, a yellowish fish with blue fins

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street, a purple fish with yellow speckles and fins

a fox, a duck with duckling, and a purple owl

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street, a fox, a duck with yellow duckling and a purple owl

a cute furry animal

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street, a small furry animal bside a plant with pink flowers, as well as a person standing on the sidewalk and taking a picture of the mural

… and hiding under the tracks in a place where it’s difficult to take a picture is this large moose (elk?).

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street, a moose or elk with large antlers

part of a Nick Sweetman mural on 30th street - plants, with a real tree growing in front of it

 

new kid in the alley

Posted: August 24, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Hey!  There’s something new in Graffiti Alley! 
It comes in many disguises.  Or maybe there are many different ones, an invasion of sorts.

I’m not sure if they have names.
But there is little chicken guy, in fact there are two of them!  Birds of a feather they are.

red zombie with exposed brains

blog_chicken_gate
below:  I just call this one Iron.  I think I caught him in the act of tagging the wall.  If he looks something like a video game character, well, I’m sure that’s just coincidence.

Mario brothers parody I think, yellow shirt, blue pants and a moustache
below: This little  storm trooper, policeman sort of guy is being watched.  All police need oversight?  Is this a political statement?

storm trooper, under an eye from another graffiti piece
below:  Michaelangelo was always my favorite.  He’s the one in orange.

turtle caps, a parody of teenage mutant nija turtles
 below:  This little wizard has lost his wand but he can’t see where he’s going so he’s hopelessly lost and can’t find the wand, or anything else for that matter.

yellow wizard cap with stars on it

below: Zombie guy!  Watch out Alley, your brains are in danger!

blog_zombie

below: The force is probably strong with these guys

two rotund figures that are supposed to look like white storm troopers seen in the Star Wars movies

below:  An invasion!  A whole division of paratroops has started dropping in!  If the zombies don’t get you first, the invading army will!

with parachute, all in brown camoflage

with parachute, all in green camoflage

with parachute, all in brown camoflage

If anyone knows if these creatures have names, please let me know!

UPDATED:  Turtlecaps!  They’re called turtlecaps

almost around the block

Posted: August 22, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Walking around the block, sort of, near Ossington and Queen.

North from Queen Street, west side of the alley

graffiti and street art by elicser on a wall in an alley, on the side of a Wine Rack store

detail of mural by elicser of two faces, a woman and a man in profile

Little animals crawl along the bottom part of a wall in an alley. They are covered in polka dots, there are two turtles, a hippo, a dinosaur and part of a beaver

street art on a wall in an alley

mural on a wall around, above and below three windows, looking down the along alongside the mural towards Queen St. west

part of a mural on a wall, a couple cheek to cheek with the woman wearing a purple party hat, also a topless green woman

detail of part of a mural showing a snake head and a skull. the snake looks fierce and has his tongue out

East side of the alley

street art, car movement and lights

mural of a jogger and a car with bright headlights shining through the night

Turning, now behind Queen Street West

graffiti and street art on both side of a corner of a building at the intersection of two alleys
street art covered wall in an alley

close up of a door covered with bright yellow, red, and blue graffiti

sticker graffiti, hot dog with line of mustard on it on a blue and yellow door

part of a street art painting on a wall with two windows, two large male faces, one in grey and pink and one in a brownish yellow

close up of a street art painting showing a large hand in front of a blue and red sweater

street art around two windows on a wall, pink on the top, green and brown on the bottom, with two faces, one realistic woman's face and one stylized face with eyes closed

A small corner in an alley that is behind metal bars, has graffiti on the wall. Beyond that is a wall cover with street art.

lovebot playing card wheatpaste high on a wall in an alley

pink swirls and a light purple skull in a street art painting

Where the alley meets Brookfield Street

A wall in a parking lot is covered with a mural with large S A and K letters,

A double garage door is covered with a painting in black andd white of geometric shapes, converging lines, with two faces as well.

two wheatpaste graffiti pieces, one yipyaps and one man's head. The word irony is written as well. They are on a worn black painted wood surface

On Brookfield Street at Queen Street West

street art by amek in pink white on blue background, sidewalk and bicycles in front of it.

below: The red line marks the alleys in which the above photos were taken.

map of Queen West at Ossington showing the northwest quadrant