Yes, YouCanSpray

Miraduoro da Graca, Lisboa

below:  A smiling older man with birds

street art high on a wall, realistic portrait of an old man with leaves and feathers on half his face, with orange birds making a frame for his face and shoulders by oze art

below: A portion of the wall was painted by Diego Tiradentes. Eyeballs

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below: A red and white monkey playing with the sands of time

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below: Blue, blue, my world is blue. Even the happy face mask is blue. Mural on the right by RossellaRZ. On the left is #dogood #begood woman with closed eyes by Osiris Rain.

two murals on a wall, on the left in shades of grey a woman with long curly hair and eyes closed with words #begood #doggod #playhard #workhard.  on right is blue person with blank face holding a mask, also in blue, with a happy face

street art painting of a blue person holding a blue mask on a stick in front of her face.  Mask is a happy face, real face is blank.

 street art mural on a wall of a young man with a leaf painted on his forehead
murals, street art, on an outdoor set of stairs, in the rain, people with umbrellas

below: Rezende

two street art portraits of women

below: Lonely Man by Gustavo Baseggio
mural street art in blues of an older man in a cap, title Lonely Man, painted by Gustavo Baseggio,

below: This colourful mural was painted by Jotapê of the artist collective, Jotapepax

mural street art in bright jewel tones, purple, dark pink, turquoise of a person sitting looking at their hand, also a long arm with fingers

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below: Tiago Hacke

below: Purple skinned couple by Féto and Nate
street art mural, a couple, man and woman, both with purple skin

some murals on a wall in Lisbon, a black cat, and a black and white leopard

below: A leopard by Marcello Mea

street art of a black and white leopard

below: A colourful threesome by Alex Kaleb

colorful mural by Alex Kaleb of three people standing in knee deep water, two with blue hair and one with red hair

A mural in Lisbon of a young man or woman with longish black hair, with word GO written on one cheek, blank white eyes, bluish colour to his skin

on a wall, a painting of a green and purple face, purple hair and ear, green hand, on polka dot background

part of a Lisboa mural of a greenish yellow skinned man wearing light purple top, reaching out hand holding two ice cream cones, wide open startled mouth and long nose, signed waroox

part of a mural, heavy set man with small mustache, wearing a diving, or skiing mask, open mouth,

mural at the bottom of a set of stairs, pink city buildings at sunset or sunrise, people and car in front are a bluish purple

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Photos were taken in December of 2019.

Link to Yes You Can Spray instagram page

Patio de Dom Fradique, Lisbon

entrance to Patio de Dom Fradique, sign on gate post, people walking up the path, street art on walls in the distance

below: Maybe it’s a hand wrapped in ribbons? Painted by osch aka Otto Schade

mural by Otto Schade in Lisbon of a hand with finger pointing made of ribbons wrapped around and around

below: A man with his musical dog by omik, aka Mickael Guedes.

murals on an old wall in Lisbon, in front is a man holding a whistling dog by omik

below: Another person by omik, this time a long haired woman in a pink dress and bare feet.

street art painting of a young woman with large head, white eyes, long reddish hair, pink dress and bare feet, by omik a k a Mikael Guedes
an old twisted tree in a courtyard beside a path, with street art on the walls around it, Lisbon

below: A guitar playing, cowboy hat wearing, man who has seen better days, by Toys Daniel.

older painting on a wall, some paint peeling, a bear-like man with yellow skin, blue cowboy hat, playing a guitar
street art painting of a young woman on a door, she's looking upward, beside a small square window with a metal grille

below: A fish on an old wall, a fish out of water, by Vibes aka Will Vibes

a mural of a large fish parts are realistic and parts are collages of other images including a mans face

small painted multicoloured flowers on a wall

near Picoas metro station – Lisbon

The Cronos Project initiative involved painting murals on the walls of three large abandoned old building on Av Fontes Pereira Melo close to the Picoas metro station.  They were painted  by several international artists including the Brazilian Os Gémeos, the Italians Blu and Erica Il Cane, and the Spaniard SAM3.  Since the murals were painted in 2010, smaller graffiti – both paint and paper –  has been layered over the lower portions.

below: She seems to have a ball of string in her hand and that string goes all the way to the next mural on the corner of the building (out of view in this photo)

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below: She appears to be keeping an eye on that kraken, octopus that has appeared.  Note the string across the picture.

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below: View of two sides of the building

large mural of a white face, male, wearing large gold crown, on three storey Lisboa building

below: He holds the end of the strings in both hands.

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below: A closer look at the man with the gold crown and the bendy straw.  Whatever he was drinking has been painted over.

large mural of a white face, male, wearing large gold crown, on three storey Lisboa building

below: A large silhouette in the darkening sky.

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below: Painted windows make a starry sky while wrought iron railings speak to a past elegance.

part of a mural on a Lisbon building, black silhouette of a man's head, windows painted night sky blue, balconies with wrought iron railings

below: A silly yellow cat on the balcony

abandoned building in Lisboa covered with murals and graffiti

below: A large green crocodile (alligator?) clumsily crashing through the building.
large abandoned old building on Av Fontes Pereira Melo in Lisboa that is covered with street art including a large green crocodile or alligator, a yellow cat on a balcony and large birds that cover one side of the building
close up of a green crocodile's head in a mural on an abandoned building
behind the rusted bars of an old gate is graffiti as well as weeds and small trees with no leaves

below: A cute little couple, paste-up by Costan with a wolf (fox?) prowling in the background.

a black fox or wolf stencil on the bottom of a gate, along with a paste up of two people, a girl and a boy holding hands

below: Wakeup! to a bright green alarm clock.

picture of a green and white alarm clock paste up on a wall with the letters ekup

below: seeing triples, stencil featuring Elton John by A.L. Tony

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below: Rui Veloso, Portuguese singer, another stencil by A.L. Tony

a pasteup of man's face in black and white, three copies of the same photo, on purple, behind bars of an old gate, stencil of singer Rui Veloso by A L Tony

old rusted gate on an abandoned building, with purple graffiti, some pasteups in black and white

below: The Costan couple again, still with their hands forming a heart, along with some black stencils by Dalaiama – black birds in flight and two euros.

below: Another Costan, this time a cat with a hat.

painted yellow graffiti dog with a black cat beside a paper pasteup cat by costan in Lisbon

an old gate with graffiti behind it and around it

a black and white tag graffiti on a stone wall with some small green alien type figures stencil on top

Murals on Hoardings, Cuenca Ecuador

In Jaunary 2018 a large section of the old historic part of Cuenca was a construction site. The plywood hoardings around the site were painted with street art murals. I have credited the artist whenever possible but unfortunately most of the work was unsigned.

below:Chicho rat

street art of a rat holding a yellow object, by Chicho

street art on hoardings around a construction site

below: Hambre translates to hunger.

mural on hoardings with historic church in the background, word hambre with 4 objects, a clown head, armchair, watermelon piece, and a red balloon on a string

below: Fourteen candles

mural with 14 lit candles in a row, with their reflection across the bottom.  Candles are purple on the bottom, yellow in the middle and white on top.

below: White clothes; red heads

below: Wide eyed face with many teeth and an angular nose

mural on hoardings, a large rectangular horizontal black face with white features,

below: Cuenca street scene

a man walking down a street in Cuenca Ecuador with hoardings surrounding a construction site on one side of the street, the hoardings have murals painted on them

below: San Pancho re-arranged

blue background mural with crowd of white faces

hoardings, a mural that has been re-arranged incorrectly, hoarding panels are in wrong order

below: passing the peacock feather from top to bottom

mural on hoardings, peacock feather being passed from top half of person to bottom half of person
a young man in a hoodie is walking past murals on hoardings, picture on mural is of a person wearing purple shoes, Cuenca Ecuador

below: Shopping with diegumberrto aka Diego Molina,

detailed mural in mostly yellow of objects on shelves, a man appears to be shopping, has word extra on front of his baseball cap

below: She’s kneeling in the garden wearing mis-matched earrings and a pink sun hat; she is surrounded by a book, dolls, watermelon, lots of flowers and even a skull.

mural of a young girl in a pink hat and with mis matched ear rings, kneeling outside with dolls, plants, and other small objects like a piece of watermelon, a small white skull with an arrow through it,

below: Pieces of clothing flying everywhere

below: Honeybee and gummi bears

below:Flores en el camino, signed Anuska?

below: ideas, thoughts, and dreams

below: At the corner

below: More hoardings

below: Rearranged where workmen are busy.

Escalinata Juana de Oro, Cuenca Ecuador

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graffiti and street art along the wall of an outdoor staircase in Cuenca Ecuador

below: Cefiro pasteup. Cheer up!

below: The walls along the stairway were painted with a mural (2015 or before?) with a series of characters or pictures connected by pipes and branches.

graffiti beside the stairs, a tap on white pipes, a blue cat

below: Since then, many pieces of graffiti have been added to the wall including these two ink drawn paper pasteups.

2 pasteups on a wall, a purple triangle with a black and white drawing in the middle, and on the left, a drawing of a face

street art mural on a wall beside stairs, partially covered by pasteups and other graffiti

part of a mural

below: Ears that look like those of a certain famous mouse.  … el medio ambiente y qu…. but just out of reach of a wide open mouth

paper pasteup over a mural.  Pencil drawing of a Mickey Mouse type character

below: Pencil marks on paste-ups.  Cual prefieres tu?

paper pasteup graffiti some drawn with pencil, figures and faces with words

below: A handful of feathers beside blue bubbles.  A small paste-up of a cute little dog beside a not so cute creature in black and white, Juanito La Guerra.

part of a Cuenca mural, white background, bubbles coming out of a blue pipe

part of a street art mural beside stairs in Cuenca Ecuador, a large white faced clown with red lips is banging on a drum

below: I don’t think that chicken’s very happy… and is it best to eat the accordion?

below: Faces gathered around the windows

below: Fish in the pipes, running shoes, birds, and a black cat.   And what is that little guy all dressed in black really up to?

blog_fish_pipes_birdsstaircase called Escalinata Juana de Oro in Cuenca Ecuador with graffiti and street art covering the walls

Nahual, Mexican graffiti artist – “nante de ojos abiertos reforestacion crece en las paredes” is approximately the same as: [nante] wide-eyed reforestation grows on the walls

below: Blues. Breathing life into the world.

blue street art beside stairs, leaves, a face rising out of the leaves and blowing swirls of blue air

Photos taken January 2018

more Montreal women

The previous blog post was about a large Montreal mural by Kevin Ledo that was a portrait of a woman called Mary Socktish. There are a number of other murals in the city that have a woman, or women, as the main feature. These are some of them – the following photos were taken on four visits to Montreal between 2015 and 2021 and some of these murals may no longer exist.

below: One of the older murals in Montreal, a graffiti granny, old woman by ASHOP Productions

mural of an older woman with hair in a bun, wearing glasses, and an apron,purple buildings in background on mural,  on a Montreal corner,

below: A mural by five8art, a young woman looking skyward.

large mural of a young woman with longhair, blue background, she's looking up

below: By a Depanneur at Pins and Hotel de Ville, a large mural of two seated women and their scarf by Australian artist Fintan Magee.

At the corner, beside a depanneur, a large mural of two seated women by Fintan Magee, one has blue and white checkered scarf over her face, the other has same scarf across the top of her head.
Close up of mural by Fintan Magee in Montreal, by small window in building, hands of women plus their blue and white scarves

below: A mural by Rone, another Australian artist.

close up of a large mural by Rone of a woman's face in shades of brown, on a brick wall in Montreal, street art

below: Sorry is Not Enough, a mural by Denial (or Enjoy Denial) with a shout out to Black Lives Matter

large mural in Montreal of a woman crying, eyes closed, white tears, red lipstick, by Denial, above her face are words Sorry is not enough

below: From 2018, this mural by Drew Merritt and Sainte Famille and Milton (photo taken in 2018 as well)

mural of a woman on a MOntreal wall painted by Drew Merritt

below: Street artist Nychos working on a mural

street artist nychos up on a lift and painting a large mural in Montreal as people walk by on the street

mural by nychos in Montreal

below: A tribute to Lea Roback (1903-2000), by Carlos Oliva (aka Hsix) in 2014. Roback was a textile worker who became a trade union activist, feminist and pacifist (among other things). She fought for woman’s suffrage in Quebec (1936), she played a role in helping to organize 5,000 garment workers who had been on a three-week strike in 1937, and that is only a small fraction of what she accomplished.

below: by Sandra Chevrier, pop culture references to Superman and Batman

below: A collaboration between Cyrielle Tremblay and Poni (aka Hilda Palafox, painted in 2018. Working in an imaginary garden maybe?

muraal on a brick wall, two women working outside.  One is planting a blue pine tree and the other is pouring water, ther is a cross on a red hill with other blue trees on it.

below: A whimsical black and white of women astronauts, guitar players, skate boarders, astronomers, and others. It is the work of Le Monstr, aka Benjamin Tran.

black and white mural of women doing a number of activites, also some sleeping cats, an astronaut among the planets, a shkateboarder, reading, playing guitar.  Mural in Montreal, by Le Monstr, a k a Benjamin Tran

below: A mural from 2014 putting a spotlight on the call for justice for missing and murdered indigenous women.

on the side of a book store in Montreal, a mural calling for justice for missing and murderedindigenous women, a woman sitting outside, with a blanket around her shoulders

Hallelujah

The song “Hallelujah” is probably Leonard Cohen’s (1934-2016) most recognized work … or at least that’s what I think whenever I hear Leonard Cohen’s name, or see a picture of him. In Montreal, Cohen’s hometown, there is now a large mural of him that was painted by Kevin Ledo, also of Montreal.

very large mural in Montreal of Leonard Cohen, head and shoulders, wearing a fedora, in purple tones, by Kevin Ledo

Hallelujah Lyrics:

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you dont really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well, maybe there’s a God above
As for me all I’ve ever learned from love
Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
But it’s not a crime that you’re hear tonight
It’s not some pilgrim who claims to have seen the Light
No, it’s a cold and it’s a very broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Instrumental

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Well people I’ve been here before
I know this room and I’ve walked this floor
You see I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
But listen love, love is not some kind of victory march, no
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And I remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove she was moving too
And every single breath we drew was Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Now I’ve done my best, I know it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didnt come here to London just to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand right here before the Lord of song
With nothing, nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Queen Elizabeth + Bowie = Banksy NOT!

Rock star status lightning bolt – a now iconic symbol painted on David Bowie’s face for the “Aladdin Sane” album cover in 1973. Here, Banksy Incwel applies the lightning bolt to a younger Queen Elizabeth in a piece titled “Still Sane”- bestowing her with rock star status? It was painted in 2012, the year of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee (i.e. her 60th year as monarch).

behind a traffic light, on the upper level of a building, on a pale grey wall, a Banksy street art.  A black and white Queen Elizabeth 2, younger woman, with a crown on her head.  She has a red and blue David Bowie lightning bolt across her face like the Aladdin Sane album cover of 1973