Madame Gilles

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

As you walk around the city of Montreal, you can probably spot quite a few paper paste-ups featuring collage images of people that were created by an artist that signs her pieces as Madame Gilles.

poster sized graffiti on a wall in Montreal, collage of different pictures to form abstract womans face, by Madame Gilles

below: Similar image as above but this time on a door with another, including “One Day You Will Come” by @_doverin

below: A little less abstract and a lot less colour

black and white paper pasteup graffiti by Madame Gilles, womans face is predominant feature

paper pasteup graffiti by Madame Gilles, black and white image of a female guitar player, Joan,

The next two pictures show the same doorway. First the top section where once again the same image appears.

pasteups by Madame Gilles on a door in Montreal

Lower portion of the door.

pasteups on a door in Montreal

pasteup that was a collage but has been tagged over in blue paint

Photos taken September 2021

La Fresque des Québécois

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

La Fresque des Québécois is the title of a 420 m² mural found on the side of Maison Soumande on rue Notre-Dame in Old Quebec City. It depicts figures from 400 years of Quebec City history. Twelve painters from France and Quebec contributed to the mural.

New France was the name of the French colony in North America beginning in 1593 with the arrival of Jacques Cartier. The French relinquished the colony to the British and the Spanish in 1763, at the end of the Seven Years War

a small group of people with their backs to the camera are looking at a large mural in Quebec City that depicts people from all parts of their 400 year history — Looking out of the upper windows are (on the left) Jean Talon (1626-1694) who was steward of New France; in this position he was in control of the civil administration of the colony. The other man is Louis de Baude Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (1622-1698) was Governor General of New France for many years.

part of the Fresque de Quebecois showing buildings in the old part of Quebec City with two men standing on a balcony

In 1763 what is now Quebec became the Province of Quebec, a British colony. In 1791 this colony was divided into two, Upper Canada along the upper parts of the St. Lawrence River, and Lower Canada, along the lower section of the river. Upper Canada is approximately what is now Ontario while Quebec has grown from Lower Canada. Quebec City was in Lower Canada.

François-Xavier Garneau (1809-1866), national historian of French Canada stands on a balcony with (on the right) Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786-1871), Member of Parliament in Lower Canada.

Playing his guitar is Félix Leclerc (1914-1988). Just behind him is Frederick Temple Blackwood, Marquis de Dufferin and d’Ava (1826-1902), Governor General of Canada from 1872-1878; He’s probably best remembered as Lord Dufferin. During his time as Governor General, Quebec City officials began the demolition of the old city walls. Blackwood persuaded them to stop and rebuild the parts that they had damaged. In 1985 Old Quebec was recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

a woman and three young kids looking at Fresque des Quebecois in Quebec City, figures from history, Leclerc the guitar player and musician, Lord Dufferin, Samuel Champlain, also kids playing road hockey in the mural — Samuel Champlain (1570-1635) poses in his green jacket while holding onto his hat with the large white feather. He founded Quebec in 1608. Just behind him is Alphonse Desjardins (1854-1920) founder of the Desjardins Cooperative Movement.

people posing for pictures in front of the Fresque des Quebecois, with Samuel Champlain and Aphonse Desjardins, also a girl holding balloons, — Coming down the stairs is Louis Jolliet (1645 -1700), along with Jesuit priest Father Jacques Marquette, was the first non-Native to explore the upper parts of the Mississippi River. Jolliet was born near Quebec City.

Carleton Village murals, Toronto 2021

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Mary C

Even when I walk in Toronto, sometimes I find myself in unfamiliar territory and so it was back in December when I went to investigate some alleys where I’d heard that new murals had been painted.

below: Around Toronto there are quite a few raccoons in murals by Emily May Rose. Here, these “trash pandas” are being watched over by a big white rat. Quite the dumpster fire!

mural in an alley by Emily May Rose of raccoons and a big white rat. One raccoon is setting fire to a dumpster

below: A large mural by BirdO (aka Jerry Rugg) beside Charles Sauriol school

below: Near the birdO mural (you can just see it on the left side here) is a house with street art covering the whole side of it.

the side of a house is covered with street art, 2 or 3 murals on both upper and lower storeys by Phillips Saunders and June Kim, in the background on the left side is a birdo mural

below: A man reaching out a multicoloured hand to a woman by Phillip Saunders covers the back part of the house

murals on the side of a house, a man and a woman with black curly hair

below: A brown octopus and bright coloured tiger playing together – a collaboration between Luvs and June Kim.

mural of a June Kim brightly colored tiger on the side of a house along with a brown octopus by Luvs

below: Baby birds with beaks uplifted in a mural by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos

mural by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos on a wood fence in an alley, baby birds in a nest with their beaks open waiting for parents to feed them

below: Blue jay and tomato face, rowdyradrat and Chris Perez

street art on a wood fence in a lane

below: Taking cover under umbrellas on a rainy day in a mural by Elicser Elliott

below: Mural in another lane with a signature says June, Bacon, and Erika.

below: A Nick Sweetman painting of a large Cuckoo wasp feeding on a yellow flower

mural by Nick Sweetman on a garage door in an alley, a large blue green Cuckoo wasp, on a yellow flower

below: A multi-lingual thank you to essential workers on Davenport – obrigado, gracias, merci, and grazie!

below: More of Emily May Roses’s mischievous raccoons and their cans of orange spray paint.

an emily may rose mural on the side of a dark grey building, showing raccoons playing around a white cube van, vandalism with orange spray paint

below: Mediah blues on the right and a Que Rock mural with indigenous themes and symbols on the left.

looking across a park in late December, two garages in an alley painted with murals, on the right is one in blues by mediah. On the left is mural mural by Que Rock, indigenous themes, loons on the water, mother earth

below: Planta Muisca mural with an orange snake under a purple night sky.

a mural by muisca on a garage door in a lane, an orange snake in the purple night with moon and plant with large leaves

below: Anya Mielniczek’s woman’s face looks down the lane.

mural by Anya Mielniczek of a girls's head in pinks and oranges down a lane, rest of mural blocked by fence

below: A closer look of the mural reveals another woman’s head on the far side along with people mixing together in the central portion painted by Raoul

orange and pink woman's head by Anya Mielniczek along with a picture of a group of people, mostly men, by Raoul

below: Suri in grey tones while drinking, mural by haenahhh

mural on a garage door in an alley by haenahh of a woman sitting with a cup of coffee

below: HeldbyHuda mural

geometrics and shapes, abstract street art mural on a garage door by artist with instagram handle heldbyhuda

below: by Victoria Day

garage door mural by Victoria Day, stylized yellow and green flowers on a blue green gradient background

below: Sections of citrus fruit in glass bowls, real? reflections? by Steam

Steam, the artist, painted a mural on a garage door of citrus fruit sections in glass bowls

below: Fantasy creatures playing in a mural by Kisong Koh

mural by Kisong Koh on the door of a garage in a laneway of three nonsensical fantasy creatures, a purple animal with fins for legs is upside down, a grey creature is wearing blue boxer shorts with pink polka dots and the third has a long yellow beak, one human hand and foot, and long orange hair

below: Mural by Kseniya Tsoy on a garage door.

bright and colourful mural in an alley of a woman with long purplish black hair, very white skin, and a blue low necked top. She's holding a pomegranate and two branches with green leaves and red flower

Support for the alley murals was provided by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

I have included most of the paintings but not all. For a complete set of photos, please take a look on Erika James’s Instagram page as she was one of the organizers of the project and she has documented it well.

These murals also appear on my Walking Toronto blog in two separate posts:
1. Around Wadsworth Park and
2. South of Davenport

mr.besk in Instanbul (2018)

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Mary C

Because COVID is still slowing everyone down, I continue to search through old travel pictures because I know that there are still lots of photos of street art that I haven’t shared. Today I found four murals by mr.besk that I saw the last time that I was in Instanbul. They feature yellow outlines and little Basquiat-type three pointed crowns.

street art mural by Turkish artist mr besk of a person playing a traditional musical instrument, either a saz or a baglama, while wearing a white star wars type mask — Traditional clothing and a pearl necklace with a very untraditional mask

street art mural by Turkish artist mr besk of a young man singing into a hand held microphone

street art mural by Turkish artist mr besk of an official looking Turkish man wearing a fez

street art mural by Turkish artist mr besk of Albert Einstein on a red wall. Yellow outline of Einstein's head plus a small yellow crown with three points above his head. — Albert Einsten making faces on Turkgucu

other Artist Lane murals and graffiti, Windsor, 2018

Posted on August 2, 2021 by Mary C

Artist Lane runs parallel to Chapel Street between Green and Union streets, just north of Windsor railway station. Most of the lane is covered with street art of some sort.

street art painting of a man's head, a woman's head and a bird's head, all above a text piece

street art painting in Artist Lane of a man with two merged heads. He has one set of hair, four eyes, two noses, one mouth. below: Four hairy dudes by AEON aka Tom Gerrard
stencils of four people's heads with bright orange hair

Artist Lane, Windsor, Melbourne with street art on garages and walls

street art in Artist Lane, two faces, one man in orange hat, also a fish

a blue mural at the end of Artist Lane, a blue creature

below: “I ain’t afraid of no ghost”, says the cat the skull and the devil.

black drawings on white of a cat head, and a skull. cat has word balloon that says I am not afraid of ghosts

graffiti of a cat in egyptian goddess outfit
below: Fresh presto phats diva!
a text abstract street art with the words fresh presto phats written in the top corner

section of a large series of murals along Artist Lane

below: A tropical scene by Skr3am (aka Skream III)

a mural by skr3am of a tropical beach sunset with palm trees

mural of a dog's head in blue with a large nose

Artist Lane, Windsor, Melbourne with street art on garages and walls
realistic street art painting of a man's portrait in grey tones, black and white

street art, a cartoon painting man with a hat with rabbit ears, he is eating a carrot

mural thati includes a large spray paint can with arms, legs, a mouth and a very big red tongue

a paper paste up of a brass faucet that is peeling away, on a pole in Artist Lane

an eye ball in the middle of a palm of a hand, graffiti

street art in an alcove, up under air conditioning units and plumbing, looks like a sea creature with a big mouth and teeth

Chapel St. tiger, Fitzroy

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Mary C

On the corner of Chapel and Johnston in Fitzroy there was once a tiger mural painted by Lauren YS (seen in December 2018). It was a tiger with sharp teeth and a long red tongue. Its tail curled around two tattooed faceless women dressed in red.

mural by Lauren YS of a large black and white tiger with its tail curled around two women dressed in Asian red dresses and with tattoos on arms and legs

part of a mural by Lauren YS squid licker of a black and white tiger's head

part of a mural by Lauren YS, two women in Asian red dresses with hair in two buns

Red head on Gore St., Fitzroy

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Mary C

Covid is still playing havoc on travel so I am starting to work through some archives of photos. This mural was seen at Gore and Johnston in Fitzroy (Melbourne in December 2018) on the BIBA Academy building and barber shop.

red head woman lying prone in a mural, blue eyes, her head is abov a door on Gore Street in Fitzroy.

white car parked in front of a mural of a woman lying down on stomach, with very long red hair, part of naked body obscured by the windows

legs of naked woman in mural above windows in the building. cars parked in front of it

murals and mosaics on the stairs

Posted on November 3, 2020 by Mary C

More street art from Guayaquil Ecuador starting with two murals at the top of the stairs.

below: A queen bee by the flowers

mural, a large bee with a crown above its head

below: A soldier is being thrown from his horse, a mural by Einer, 2017

mural by einer, a man is being thrown from a horse

The walls along the sides of the stairs are lined with other murals such as this astronaut in his rocket.

street art painting of an astronaut with a helmet on inside the round window of a rocket

There are also lots of mosaics

staircase outside, wall is covered with mosaics, with city beyond a wrought iron fence

mosaics on a wall beside the stairs, a skull, wavy lines,

mosaic of a person with bridght yellow wings

mosaics, 3 scenes, one is people under an umbrella, 2 houses one red and one yellow, and a fish swimming in a creek

mosaics on a wall beside the stairs, white star, blue star, church, and a black insect

city houses on a hill with stairs below, mosaics on the wall

graffiti on an old building

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Mary C

What looks to be an abandoned house in Guayaquil that has some street art and graffiti on it. Some nice painting, some scribbles. Animals too – cat, dog, mouse, and bird.

cat mural on a boarded up door

street art and graffiti on an abandoned building in Guayaquil Ecuador

graffiti on an old house

painting of a yellow cat with abstract details in green and purple

red blobs on yellow, some blue line drawings of cat, dog, and mouse,

brotha y otha

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Mary C

The largest throw-up on this wall in Cuenca Ecuador was easily read as ‘brotha’. The other (or otha) throw-ups are not as legible although one might be ‘llama’. The murals are where calle Jose Alvear meets Av Fray Vincente Solano

large brotha throw-up in orange and yellow

a grey elephant with a baseball cap that says Cuenca on it, also letters, possibly L and L, mural on a wall,

mural on a wall with a large tiger head as well as the head of a bird, also two throw-ups, text,

street art, upright green crocdile with black sunglasses and holding a baseball bat text throw-up in purple and green mural, picture of a yelling man with mouth wide open showing crooked teeth, balding, overweight,

Pictures taken in January 2018

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Author Archives: Mary C