Hiding behind the Danforth

On the south side of Danforth, near Bowden Ave.., there is an alley….

below: Looking west to Bowden Avenue.  There are a few street art pieces that have been painted in the past couple of years.

an alley behind the Danforth, a painted fence, a large pink man's portrait, a painted traffic box at the end of the lane

below: Natasha Dichpan painted this young woman and wolf (dog?).  It’s probably a dog but for some reason I’d like to think that it was a wolf.

close up of part of a mural on a wood fence in an alley painted by Natsha Dichpan, a purple young woman's face beside a pink and purple wolfs face

below: The multicoloured swirls of dots and splotches are by Andre Castro.

street art on a wood fence, two womens faces, and a wolf, in an alley

below:  A young woman with flowing pink hair, pointy elf-like ears, and many eyes, rides on a blue pelican (or at least a bird with a big beak), painted by Katrina Canendo in summer of 2021.  Pink mushrooms in blue foilage on the accompanying door.

two street art paintings on a concrete building, a small painting of pink mushrooms on a door, and a larger mural of a four-eyed woman with pink flowing hair riding on a blue goose (or pelican), a bird with a long beak. she has an eye on the back of her hand too

below: She also seems to have an extra arm as well as an eye on the back of her hand. She ate the mushrooms?

close up of pale green skinned woman in mural of a four-eyed woman with pink flowing hair riding on a blue goose (or pelican), a bird with a long beak. she has an eye on the back of her hand too

below: By Sasha Fonkatz, the only man on the block.  The calligraphy in the black box on the right says: “Sometimes you have to be a lion to be the lamb that you are” (a Dave Chapelle quote).  I am not sure what the whole story is surrounding the pink faced man, but the first two lines start “A true community is not just about …”

mural on side of concrete building, in two sections, on the left a pink faced man with very short dark hair, surrounded by words, on the right is a square of calligraphy white letters on black with a pink flower below it. The words say sometimes you have to be lion to be the lamb that you are
below: by Amani Muhammad, blues…. blue woman, blue pigeon, and blue butterflies among the pink and red flowers

mural by Amani Muhammad, a woman in blue holds a blue pigeon, pink and red flowers around them as well as blue butterflies

close up view of mural by Amani Muhammad, a woman in blue holds a blue pigeon, pink and red flowers around them as well as blue butterflies

below: Another Katrina Canendo piece, this time from April 2022. On the sidewalk on Bowden Street with Danforth Church in the background.   Once called Chester Baptist Church, the building was completed in two stages.  The original building was built in 1911 while a newer addition fronting onto Danforth was added in 1931.

painted metal bell box on a sidewalk in front of a church

below: Bowden Ave.  The street is named after John Wilson Bowden, a builder who purchased land in the area in 1858 and subdivided it in 1871.

2 houses on Bowden Avenue, 3 storeys high, one with a large wood balcony

below: Behind the church

garages in the alley behind Danforth near Bowden including one with a basketball hoop above the door and the squares in the door all painted differently

a small shed behind a house, lane behind Danforth

To the west of Bowden there are a couple of garage doors that have been painted but that was long ago.  Some have been tagged over.

garages in an alley behind Danforth with doors with old paintings on them

below: Long ago as in 2012 which is when this double garage was painted – CHEST on one side with Magical Mystery Tour and RASR on the other with Imagine.  Beatles fans I presume.

double garage doors, one side painted by chest and says magic mystery tour and the side painted by rasr and says imagine, painted in 2012

below: and 2013 (pest, bacon, nozer).

corner of a mural signed pest bacon and nozer, on a garage door in an alley, in reds and purples, in 2013

behind an old 2 storey brick house, a fence and a gate. on one side of the gate the fence is painted teal, on the other side it is red

Photos taken January 2023

the smaller stuff too

…in Graffiti Alley

My previous post was also about a walk down a section of Toronto’s Graffiti Alley (Spadina to Portland).   This post is from the same walk –  because there were so many  images that I wanted to share, I decided to divide the fun into two parts.  This second part takes a closer look at some of the smaller pieces.

graffiti stickers covering signs at the entrance to graffiti alley where there is lots of street art in the background

below: Peeling paper hands….  A 33wallflower33 group of three women in their dashing outfits … and a charming man with devil’s horns and red glasses.

paper paste up graffiti on a door

below: Although it’s getting more difficult to see, there’s a Poser rabbit by the door.  The door is disappearing behind a layer or two of paper and paint.

a door covered with graffiti, with more street art paint on the walls beside it

below: There is a little pink stikman on the light above the door.

pink stikman graffiti on a light over a door in an alley

below: Once upon a time this skinny little guy was pink but ooops, a layer of paint and now he’s prematurely grey.

white stikman graffiti on a white wall behind metal bars

below: In her face – another stikman

small red stikman on yellow paint with a woman's face at the bottom layer

below: Last stikman for today… sometimes you find them tucked away in hard to see places.

green and black stikman hiding behind a hook with a black strap on it

below: Party line?  Four hands phone.

old phone booth but with 4 receivers, all covered with paint and graffiti

below:  A bleeding heart, a pansy flower, and a woman with a red hat and big ear rings.

small graffiti in graffiti alley, a red painted heart, paper paste ups of a pansy flower and a person's head

below: Polly wants a cracker before she takes over the world, or at least that’s what she told me.

paper paste up graffiti, one is a green bird with text that says bird takeover

below: A young woman with blue lipstick and jagged pink make up on her cheeks.  A spiked collar is around her neck.  Make of it what you will.

graffiti, woman with blue lips and spikey black hair, beside word peace stenciled twice in paint

below: Another young woman,  this time she’s a little softer (at least in appearance) – drawn by Catchoo.

below: Multiple Sailor dudes (trp613) in two varieties hanging out with a happy little catchoo critter and its smiley daisy balloon.

lots of paper pasteup graffiti in graffiti alley, one is a catchoo character holding a daisy shaped balloon

below: “Save me”!

paper pasteup graffiti in graffiti alley, including a blue floppy disc with text that says save me, by catchoo

below:  It looks like catchoo has been busy.

graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

below: More of that wall.

lots of slaps, graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

below: Darth Vader makes an appearance too.  Who’s that man peeking through the hole?

orange skull, graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley, also Darth Vader,

urban ninja squadron and others, graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

below: One flower sprouts a bald person while the other produces a sunny orb.  That black octopus doesn’t look very happy – perhaps in this winter weather it needs more than just a woolly toque.

paint graffiti in graffiti alley, black octopus wearing a red toque

below: There are those women again!

33wallflower33 sticker of three flapper women

below: Dogma slaps standing tall in his puffy jacket and bright red mitts.

2 slaps graffiti on a wall already covered with street art paint. One is a dog, standing on two feet and dressed in human clothes - or perhaps it is a man with a dogs head

below: Riding a D7606 crayon – T-bonez always finds new adventures.

paste up graffiti high on a wall, t-bonez, from urban ninja squadron is riding a large orange crayon with D 7606 (name of another artist) on it,

collection of stickers, graffiti alley,

below: A collaboration between Tamm Shinzo and April Showers Art produced this little round piece – sitting on top of the clouds with the moon shining over her shoulder.

round paper paste up on a utility pole in Graffiti Alley,

below: Cryptid Supremacy – a rat with a very long tail

pink background with drawing of a rat sitting on a bench, long tail, words: cryptid supremacy

below: More rats, this time “the rat race is rigged”.  Also another skull (skulls are very popular!), this time by Broke Canvas (aka Colin Green) on yellow.   And third, is it a rainbow or a very sad face?  – slap by Rider Waitress (aka Frances Sousa)

graffiti on a wall, a black rat with words the rat race is rigged, a yellow square with a drawing of a skull by broke canvas, and last a rainbow with two flowers that looks like a sad face, by rider waitress

below: While we’re dealing with rats – Squee!  They are all fleeing from an NYC trash can.  Don’t litter!

a sticker on a wall in graffiti alley, mice fleeing from a trash can, squeee

below: Another small collection – Catchoo shows up on a soy sauce bottle while a Sentient Cookie (aka Cecil Tian) character gets taped to the wall… remember that banana?!   And last, in the top left corner, a Cartoon Car Slaps.

catchoo soya sauce bottle, sentient cookie paste up and a cartoon slaps slap, garffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

below: Juice box time. By Clem Crevetz

sticker on metal pipes in graffiti alley, man sitting, with juice box in his hands

small green fish sticker beside a lock on a door

small graffiti painting, black line drawing of a face, with very pointy chin, on white background

elicser elliott painting of a woman in rabbit ears, drinking a can of pop

graffiti where is my $$

alley graffiti stickers, blepser and nervo
pasteup little character in white suit, probably marcel morceau, the mime artist

elle was here, written on sidewalk in pink

Photos taken January 2026

Graffiti Alley – first visit of 2026

This blog post is a quick look some of the “art” that can be seen in Toronto’s Graffiti Alley at the moment. There is lot on display even though I only walked between Spadina and Portland so this post focuses on the murals and larger paintings that I saw. The smaller stickers and paste ups will be in a subsequent post (sooner rather than later I hope!).

below: Blue birds and big ugly black dogs.

two murals, street art painting, graffiti alley, blue bird with open wins, but feet on pine branch, in background is a squat heavy set black and white dog mural

below: A portrait of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine’s blue and yellow colours.

portrait of zelensky, ukrainian leader president, in blue and yellow, street art mural

below: Daisy, in rabbit ears

word daisy written on arm of girl in street art painting, graffiti alley, she has black rabbit ears

below: On one of the corners, there is a long grey mural with bits of red….

below: “A lone samurai known as Ghost stands on watch”.   A story and a mural by Dewucme

below: Portraits painted on skateboards – there has been a collection of such portraits hanging here for at least a year.  I am not sure if these three are newer, or if I just forgot them last time.  (Link to blog post of skateboards from 2025)

graffiti alley, portraits on broken skateboard,

below:  Portrait by Bunso

black and white portrait, street art mural, graffiti alley, man in white t shirt and black cap, smiling,

below:  Other part of the above mural, but painted by a different artist (I think)

black and white portrait of a man

below: In memory of Andre Campbell

blue trash bins and black garbage bags piled in front of street art mural, black and white portrait of a man with short dark hair and glasses, with text that says in memory of Andre Campbell

below:  Behind the Queen Street stores

parking areas and back yards of stores on Queen street, graffiti alley view, three storeys, with balconies across the back street art and graffiti on fences

below: Painting on hoardings as downtown redevelopment (and subway construction) slowly encroaches on the Queen and Spadina neighbourhood.

tiger and dragon street art mural on hoardings in an alley in Toronto

below: “Find peace in your chaos” Plus, it seems to be wearing shirt and tie but it’s also drooling and looking just a little unhinged!

words on sidewalk that say find peace in your chaos, below a painting of a pink monster head with white eyes and big white teeth

squished face, monstrous, big eyes with orange pupils, big white teeth with gums bleeding above one tooth

monster faces, graffiti alley, street art, with snowman underneath

below: Monstrous television screen head with bloody gums and matching tie.

monster faces, graffiti alley, street art, big teeth, with a head shaped like a television screen

tree in front, looking across alley to side of building, completely covered in street art painting, graffiti alley

street art painting, graffiti alley, purple face, blue hands with thumbs up

street art painting, graffiti alley

below: “Who you gonna call?”  Ghostbusters green slimey thing!

street art mural in graffiti alley with green slime creature from Ghostbusters movie in center

below: He’s got one big eye and a scowl on his face.  There’s a burning cigarette in his mouth and the Ace of hearts is tucked into his hat band.  Quite the character.

two garage door murals in graffiti alley

below:  Not all cats are cute?

ugly cat, yellow, with bulging green eyes, street art mural, with two monkey faces, graffiti alley

below:  A woman with her purple hair tied up with little glowing (but ghostly) lanterns in a mural by MonkYi

street art painting by Monk Yi, woman holding a blue fan, with her hair tied up and two little lanterns in her hair, big gold ear rings.

street art painting, graffiti alley, large red and yellow daisy by catchoo, wad of money bills with arms and legs and a face too

street art painting, graffiti alley, on a door, woman with black hair, red lips, and red clothing that looks a lit like flames, red hot

street art painting, graffiti alley, pink tiger, with pink hearts

below: Climbing green onions (scallions?)?  An upside down blue goose?  … And in the middle, yellow siu mai (Chinese open-topped steamed dumplings, a dim sum favorite), all images from the imagination of Mixt Paints aka Kelcy Timmins Chan

purple naked person climbing a bunch of green onions a light blue duck with yellow beak that is diving downwards, street art painting by mixt paintz

below: There’s that snowman again, but on a different wall and surrounded by graffiti

a little white snowman with carrot nose and black buttons, street art painting on a wall covered with graffiti, graffiti alley

below: Ninos Libres, by Kalaruno

street art portrait of a child by Kalaruno, ninos libres

below:  Another Kalaruno painting

lumber and trash in front of a mural in graffiti alley, grey squarish character with human face by Kalaruno

below: At least it’s a step up from tagging…..

red, black, and white mural in graffiti alley

below: A green finger on the trigger.

side by side, two smaller street art painting, graffiti alley, on left is green hand and pink spray paint can while on right is a stupid round face with big oval teeth

behind store, graffiti alley view, pile of empty boxes and trash at bottom of stairs, with doors with street art in orange and blue

graffiti and street art under stairs, green turtle, mushrooms

below: Blue.  And strange looking.  He’s hanging out in the doorway.

street art painting, graffiti alley, in doorway, blue faced weird looking man

below: An introspective dragon

a street art painting of a greenish grey dragon with the word introspection in orange across its body

street art in graffiti alley

people walking down a wet alley, puddles and reflections on the pavement, of the street art and graffiti on the surrounding walls

Photos taken January 2026

in the alleys of Owen Sound

Owen Sound is a small pleasant Ontario town that is nice to wander around. It has more street art than one might expect from a town its size.

parking lot and alley behind shops in Own Sound, three storey brick buildings with street art murals along the bottom third.

below: Back in 2013, the Bleeding Carrot Cafe decided that the alley adjacent to the cafe needed some art and thus the Bleeding Carrot Alley Project was born. That summer, the exterior walls of the cafe (in the alley) were painted with street art murals. Most of them still exist. Although the Bleeding Carrot doesn’t seem to be in business any more, it has left behind a colourful legacy. The first part of this blog post is dedicated to those murals.

below: Brilliant red poppies painted by Andree Levie Warrilow

a young woman's face and some bright red poppies, a mural

below: This was the first mural that was painted in the alley, a boy and his toys.

mural of a boy sitting on the floor in Artist's Alley in Owen Sound

below: Another from 2013, painted by Alan Glicksman … where everybody seems to be talking.

below: Keep on rockin’ downtown, bright yellow by Robert Menzies (also 2013).

below: More 2013 – a surreal scene by Marc Matei with a purple octopus (with more than 8 legs!) makes a headpiece for a surly looking man who has a shaggy beard and one big tooth.

street art mural, purple octopus, orange donkey, man with beard,

below: Portrait of Jim, by Jennifer Crawley (2013)

street art black and white portrait of an older balding man with his dog.  Small dog is white with black patch covering one side of face

below: Logan Pellerin’s trippy trees and a rocky road that leads infinitely into the distance

grey road curvy, travelling to the horizon, great perspective,

person in yoga position, mural on outside wall in alley

below: Jana Miller painted these wavy rays of sunshine.

small street art painting of a semi circular yellow sun with long rays, symbols underneath

below: In later years (post-2013), the other side of the alley was also painted.

alley behind shops in Owen Sound, three storey brick buildings with street art murals along the bottom third.

below: An orange skull

below: “Vida” is a collaboration between artist Billy Goodkat and local high school students. Vida is the Spanish word for Life.

alley behind shops in Own Sound, three storey brick buildings with street art murals along the bottom third.  Purple stripes

part of a mural in Owen Sound, Mexican theme, woman holding a child, by Billy Goodkat and students from local high schools

abstract street art mural
brown turtle partially submerged in water, face is above water street art painting

below: A large section of wall in Carney’s Lane is covered by this Owen Sound mural which is also known as the Koodoo mural.

street art mural with words, Owen Sound, and a pink bunny and a blue fish

abstract street art

below: The south wall of the Grey Gallery is covered by “Transformation” a large mural by Raquell Yang that was painted in the summer of 2020

mural painting along one wall, exterior, outdoors, of the Grey Gallery Garden.  Two large blue whales across the top, two male portraits below with a large eye with butterfly wings between the men

below: There is a large mural behind the Roxy Theatre that was painted to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the theatre. It is composed of a number of theatre related vignettes. It is the result of a collaboration between a number of artists under the leadership of Billy Goodkat.

car in parking lot, parked in front of a large theatre themed mural painted on the back of a cinema

stage and theatre theme vignettes in a larger mural

stage and theatre theme vignettes in a larger mural

stage and theatre theme vignettes in a larger mural, spotlight on an actor

below: And last, I found a wall covered with Emily May Rose’s raccoons.

blue raccoon with a microphone, Emily May rose mural in Owen Sound
pink and blue raccoons, one playing a guitar, the others dancing on the stairs.

Part of an Emily May Rose painting of raccoons dancing

part of a street art painting

Photos taken July 2025.

behind Alhambra

alley on a rainy day, wet pavement, garages, some with painted garages, street art below: This short alley in Toronto starts at Alhambra Avenue and runs east towards Dundas.

alley that runs east of alhambra south of bloor, before turning south behind dundas west

below: Renovations to expand up and out.

large house on alhambra, from alley behind, addition on back including third floor and rooftop terracebelow: Cats, dogs, and little yellow clouds.

garage with 4 cartoon-like cat and dog heads painted on it

below: He walked into my picture.

red garage with white doors, in an alley, beside a larger white building, west pavement,

below: The lane turns south and runs between Dundas West and Alhambra Avenue.

looking south down lane behind dundas west, just south of bloor

lift parked beside wall covered with street art

below: She stares at you from beside the Taj Mahal.

below: Ready to play.

basketball hoop, slightly crooked, mounted on garage with large mural of a woman with pale purple flowers over her eyes,

below: Two Kizmet Radcliffes, the crazy raccoon.

painting by kizmet, radcliffe character, on the side of a garage in an alley

metal stairs, exterior, painted orange, contrasts with a bright blue wall

below: Cruz1 painting  (signed as Cruz Uno) – a parrot flies somewhere over Toronto.

A parrot flies somewhere in Toronto - painted by Cruz.Uno

below: Herbs vegan snacks

mural on a garage door in an alley, cartoonish characters

below: The Faceless Few in orange and blue.

faceless few mural covers the front of a garage including both doors at number 15, in an alley, mural is in orange and blue
faceless few mural covers the front of a garage including both doors at number 15, in an alley, mural is in orange and blue

below: Can you see it?

alley scene, garage painted in olive green camo pattern

small building in an alley covered with graffiti and street art

below: Sunflowers, bent over under the weight of their heads.

two sunflowers painted on a white garage door

Photos taken November 2025

small graffiti on a white brick wall, small yellow heart with black eyes, black drawing of an ugly face or head

GAWD’s animals

This post first appeared in my Toronto blog back in 2019.  I am posting here because I have learned that this mural has been painted over.

In Toronto, just south of St. Clair West, Runnymede Road runs under the CP train tracks.   In the summer of 2017 the wall on the west side of the underpass a mural was painted by Christopher Ross (aka GAWD).  It is a collection of animals, mostly in shades of pink and blue – dragonfly, pigs, birds, and more.   Most of the animals are in pairs.

part of a mural by Christopher Ross on an underpass wall in pinks and blues, a dragonfly

mural on a wall, two fat pink pigs snout to snout

part of a mural by Christopher Ross, aka gawd, on an underpass wall in pinks and blues, a pink bird

part of a mural, two bird heads, very much like ducks or geese, in orange and brown tones

part of a mural by Christopher Ross on an underpass wall in pinks and blues, a blue animal and a pink animal

part of a mural by Christopher Ross on an underpass wall in pinks and blues, a large blue bear

part of a mural by Christopher Ross on an underpass wall in pinks and blues, the end piece of the mural, mushrooms

At one end of the mural, this little engine sits on a tree stump.

part of a mural by gawd, a little railway engine sits on a tree stump

Enjoy (more) Denial

A previous blog post showed some of the murals that can be seen in Maiden Lane in Windsor. At the south end of that lane is a parking lot where one more large mural by Enjoy Denial has been painted.

below: The woman’s portrait painted by Denial was shown previously; a small portion of the other Denial mural can be seen here on the right

portrait of a woman, mural by daniel bombardier, also known as denial

below: A few images of different angles and views of the mural. In the first photo, a large replica of a highway 401 sign. Windsor is at the east end of the 401. There is also a sign in the mural pointing “To Canada, Bridge”; Windsor is home to the Ambassador Bridge that crosses the Detroit River.

part of a Windsor themed mural by denial beside a parking lot in downtown windsor

part of a Windsor themed mural by denial beside a parking lot in downtown windsor
part of a Windsor themed mural by denial beside a parking lot in downtown windsor

below: “Welcome to Windsor” turned upside down.

part of a Windsor themed mural by denial beside a parking lot in downtown windso

below: “Everthing must change” and the Detroit Pistons basketball team.

part of a Windsor themed mural by denial beside a parking lot in downtown windso

below: And last, someone has added their own two cents to the mural

in pink marker, someone has written words on a large mural, text says It only takes time for someone to become something

Photos taken June 2025

WIFF Alley

WIFF = Windsor International Film Festival

sign that says create made to look like a reel of film on old style film projector

below: Silhouettes in the window – Willy, Edgar, Dorothy, Toto, and Edna

on a brick wall, onld windows have been bricked over and in each of the 4 windows is a black silhouette that looks like a famous film character, Edgar Allan Poe, Dorothy and Toto from the Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka, and the little spymaster woman Edna in the "The Incredibles' movies

below: In autumn 2019, Daniel Bombardier a.k.a Denial or Enjoy Denial, painted this movie themed mural

movie themed mural by Denial in WIFF alley in Windsor ontario featuring famous movie characters, Princess Leia from Star Wars, Marily Munroe, Charlie Chaplin, the blue emotion emoji character from Inside Out, a box of popcorn, Rosebud, a movie ticket,  Also some text such as The end, Once upon a time, action,

below: Jessica Rabbit from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ is portrayed on the far left side of the mural. She stands under a “Danger 10,000 volts” sign. Popcorn anyone?

Jessica Rabbit from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit, under a sign that says Danger 10,000 volts, beside a box of fresh popcorn in a red and white striped box

below: Action! Charlie Chaplin and

Charlie Chaplin with black hat and mustache the blue emotion emoji character from Inside Out, in a mural by Denial

below: More moments in cinema including Rosebud from Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’

 Princess Leia from Star Wars, Marilyn Munroe, Rosebud, The End, censored, fist from Superman, Jack Nicholson's head on door, all in movie themed mural by Denial

below: “Life is Cinema” by Derkz

large mural in an alley by Derkz, shades of grey, very realistic, people with movie cameras, one modern, one slightly older, hand held cameras,

below: Complete the sentence….

Rainbow coloured paint covers metal staircase in alley, with text is one place that says Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my
three d sign or sculpture at the start of an alley, windsor theme images on the sculpture,

below: Rose City mural

Rose City mural, red and white roses on purple background, with an open with a palm full of rose petals

below: Mr. Toon hangs around in WIFF Alley too

Mr. Toon, 3D artwork, on wall under sign that says WIFF alley

below: Cheerful and cheering, Chris Haven characters on a pole in the alley.

two graffiti stickers on metal pole, both by Chris Haven, small pyramidal shaped character with stick arms, triangle shaped mouth, both cheering with arms up

Maiden Lane – Windsor

Windsor Ontario that is.

green vehicle parked in front of street art murals, with other murals reflected in its windows

Artist Alley and Maiden Lane, between Ouellete and Pellisier Streets, has provided a canvas for many street artists. Free 4 All Walls is an organization that has helped turn the alley into the art gallery that it has become. This blog post is a look at some of the murals that have been painted here.

Back side of a building in an alley, covered with graffiti that is mostly words in different fonts and colors, such as will be, everything, no more yes, fun, no fun,

below: A man in shorts, all in red, by Jarus.

portrait of a man standing, all done in shades of red, with very large red background, by jarus,

below: A PURE Maple Syrup can makes an appearance in this mural. If you see any painting, or other form of graffiti featuring this can, you can assume that it is the work of Canadian artist ‘WhatisAdam’ aka WIA

mural of a man in cowboy hat, leading a horse past pine trees and blue sky, horse is wearing a can of pure maple syrup
horse is wearing a can of pure maple syrup, in a mural in windsor ontario
many large murals in Maiden Lane, in Windsor Ontario, one is titled Blanche and has a large red rose on the head of a person with short white hair and wearing large sunglasses..   Two are portraits of women, one in profile, the other wearing a wide brimmed floppy hat

below: Spy vs Spy, cartoon sharacters wearing wide brimmed hats. Black Spy vs White Spy, both with long pointy noses. These characters originally appeared in Mad magazine as early as 1961.

black spy, white spy, cartoon characters with wide brimmed hats and long pointy noses,

below: Nychos painted this strange cowboy. Weirdly realistic but very anatomical. I’m not sure how his hands stay in place.

cowboy mural by nychos

below: Peace sign with bones

hand, with just bones, making a peace symbol, with two fingers in V shape

below: Now adding a green peace symbol beside the peace sign with bones

large green peace symbol beside a hand made of just bones making the peace symbol

below: Another peace symbol

street art painting of a realistic hand, very large, making peace sign with background of protest signs in black and white, as well as a large red spray paint peace symbol

below: No guns, No war zone, Keep the mayor happy at all costs. More protest signs.

graffiti wall with words Love Street, and No War Zone, image of pistol with red slash through it,

below: More Peace and Love

graffiti wall with black and white images, collage, of anti war protest, words saying peace and love, no war, just peace on, together we win, with red spray paint word no on top,

below: According to an Instagram post by the artist, Jason Garcia, this image was inspired by an aerial view of the Windsor/Detroit area. The cities in pink with the river between them.

part of a mural by jason garcia, geometric patterns in different colours but mostly in pink

part of  mural by jason garia around a window with metal grille over it, geometric shapes to the right of the window, lots of red, green, and blue hearts to theleft

below: The pink pyramid guy is by Chris Haven.

graffiti on a wall, red character with round face and bat wings, pyramidal shaped character in pink giving peace sign.

below: Oh my!

orangish yellow character with body like a basketball, long skinny arms and legs, looking angry and wielding a wood bat, on a building in an alley with a door

below: It’s not Spiderman in that red costume… and that skull is rather creepy. The artist for this mural was Matt Gondek.

mural by Matt Gondek in a Wndosr Ontario Alley, large red costume, ripped to show grey skull below,
close up of head of character in mural by Matt Gondek in a Wndosr Ontario Alley, large red costume, ripped to show grey skull below,

below: “.. And then things got better” in a mural by Denial.

large mural by Denial, woman's portrait in profile, long black hair, blue eyes, with text above that says and then things got better

below: “Denial loves you”.

part of a larger street art painting, dabs of color in orange, red, yellow, and blue, in a diagonal pattern, with text at bottom that says Denial loves you

below: Luigi! But he’s behind bars…..

part of a street art painting, Mario Brothers character, Luigi, is behind bars

below: Piccachu makes an appearance too (that’s a lot of cameras on his body!). This image bothers me a bit – the look on her face is not nice. Mind you, with a chipmunk stuffed in there she’s got to be uncomfortable. Ick. There is text on the mural (not in the photo) that says Graffiti Zombie

part of a graffiti zombie mural

CK, Can Jam murals

Last summer, Chatham Ontario held its first mural festival event, Can Jam, and these are some of the murals that are now on some downtown walls.

below: Meghan Kehoe (aka MCK Studio) and Sarah Steele painted this very large woman behind the Capitol Theatre in downtown Chatham. Most of her hair is a bird’s nest with three shiny pink eggs. A small black and yellow bird stands on the nest.

street art mural in Chatham Ontario, on the side of the Capitol theatre

street art mural in Chatham Ontario, on the side of the Capitol theatre

below: A version of the Tooth Fairy, by Fel3000ft. Winged teeth and butterflies.

street art mural in Chatham Ontario,

street art mural in Chatham Ontario,

below: Rather plump, and very bright – blue, red, and purple birds sitting together on a red branch, by Crz Prz (aka Caesar Perez)

street art mural in Chatham Ontario,

street art mural in Chatham Ontario,

below: Sarah Steele also painted this musician duo.

street art mural in Chatham Ontario,

below: Sunflowers, daisies, and a bee on a purple background in a mural by local artist, Sarah M. Robbins

street art mural in Chatham Ontario,

Photos taken June 2025

Instagram page for CK Can Jam