behind Central Ave

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Mary C

St. Petersburg is home to a growing number of murals. There are maps online that help you find the murals but if you walk along Central Avenue and explore the streets and alleys close by, you will encounter most of them.

below: There’s a short alley behind the north side of Central Ave that is home to quite a few street art pieces. This is the view westward from 6th St. North (toward 7th St N)

street art and murals painted on walls and buildings in an alley

below: This is the mural at the east end of the alley. This portrait among the fishes and mermaids was painted by Derek Donnelly

mural of a man with black rimmed glasses painting on the wall, marine scene

part of a mural, a mermaid with long pink hair and a pink fin

part of a mural with fish

below: Colourful mural by kosharekart

a mural by kosharekart

below: Some paper pasteups that have seen better days
paper pasteups, partially peeling

paper paste ups on a wall in a lane

below: Circle patterns in a mural by Megan Kelly

below: Frida Kahlo

a small mural on the side of a garage, portrait of Frida Kahlo car parked in front of a mural

below: Another painting by kosharekart

female figures with very decorated clothing, painted in a mural

close up of a mural showing a woman in a sail boat, with a large bird and its beak beside

below: Another Derek Donnelly fish. The lower portions were once a brighter orange but it`s faded over time (painted in 2014).

a car is parked in front of a mural of a very large fish painted by Derek Donnelly

mural in an alley by kosharekart

below: Boat on the water

mural in a lane, a woman stands beside a boat on very wavy water

below: Hearts, a bird, and a snail

mural in an alley of a female figure dressed in a red heart covered dress. There is a large snail on her lap

below: Someone seems to disapprove of Mr. Cactus.

a small sticker of a cactus with a face, stuck on a mural beside a face

below: `Twiggy`by Brad Mize is at the rear of 648 Central Ave.

very large face on white background, mural in an alley

pale purple background, cursive writing of the words life is magical
“Life is Magical When You Look” with a black cat sitting on the moon nose to nose with a dragonfly in a mural by Christy Faris

mural of a black cat sitting on the curve of a new moon, also a dragonfly by the cat

below: Brad Mizes ‘Mr. Sunshine’ is now partially behind a fence. The sun is a copy of a 1940s design used to promote the city of St. Petersburg.

bright yellow sun on sky blue background, mural, sunshine mural

below: Fish in a birdcage

small sticker on a post, white background, black drawing of a fish in a birdcage

mural around a door that makes it look like it's in India, some white lotus flowers painted beside the door

black mural with hands and the word adios in cursive

at 1st Street North & MLK

Posted on April 23, 2022 by Mary C

below: The northwest corner of Martin Luther King Blvd and 1st St North in St. Petersburg Florida where there are a few murals on the buildings. The mural of the cat and dog in the foreground was painted by Matt Kress.

northwest corner of 1st Street North and Martin Luther King Blvd showing some one storey buildings with murals on the sides

below: On the other side of the building (an animal hospital) are more cats and dogs.

part of a mural, a cat face that is partially obscured by a white fence

part of a mural, two dogs

part of a mural, a cat's head, mouth open, tooth showing

In the first photo, you can see small parts of another mural. This one features well known cartoon characters such as the cats Felix and Garfield, as well as Disney’s Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, and Goofy. It was painted by Greg Mike as part of the SHINE mural festival in 2021.

below: The whole mural

mural by Greg Mike featuring lots of well known cartoon characters

mural by Greg Mike featuring lots of well known cartoon characters including Felix the cat and Donald Duck

part of a mural by Greg Mike

Garfield the Cat in a mural by Greg Mike

Disney's character Goofy in a mural by Greg Mike

mural by Greg Mike

below: The last mural here, on the far side of the back building, is another recent painting. Also part of the SHINE 2021 festival is “Tell Me How You Feel, Part III” by Bakpak Durden.

mural by Bakpak Durden a large jaw from a skull with white teeth, a hand is reaching out to touch it

near Picoas metro station – Lisbon

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Mary C

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)

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

below: View of two sides of the building

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

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

below: A large silhouette in the darkening sky.

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

below: A silly yellow cat on the balcony

below: A large green crocodile (alligator?) clumsily crashing through the building.

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

below: Wakeup! to a bright green alarm clock.

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

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

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.

Murals on Hoardings, Cuenca Ecuador

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Mary C

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: A 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.

Bristol Bearpit

Posted on February 22, 2022 by Mary C

The Bearpit is a park in Bristol, circular in shape and with roads surrounding it; It’s like being in the middle of a large roundabout and in fact it is the St. James Barton Roundabout. All entrances are by underground passage.

It is in an area that is the historical center of the city. After being badly damaged by aerial bombing raids during WW2 , not much was done with it until the late 1960s when new roads and office blocks were built. The bearpit was designed as a pedestrian friendly area, a city park but soon became a place where no one felt safe. In 2011 it was voted the worst place in Bristol . Over the years a number of groups tried to clean up the park and make it a welcoming place for people – with mixed success.

In May of 2017 when I was there it was a place to hang out. It was also a place for political protest.

tables and planters at Bristol bearpit, park, with a mural of flowers. In the background a sign, political poster, and in he background, Debenhams store — VOTE – “It ain’t much, but it’s all we have against the Greedheads” Hunter S. Thomson

May 2017 was in the midst of campaigning for the the UK General Election of 8 June 2017. Theresa May (Conservative) was Prime Minister. May had became PM after David Cameron resigned because of the Brexit vote. Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party. The Conservatives won the election with 317 seats although Labour was close behind. Like most elections, this one can’t be summarized in a few sentences but if you are interested in more details, there are lots of places to look on the internet.

below: A large Corbyn rat poster by political art John D’Oh with the slogan/phrase “Make June the end of May”.

large poster by John D'Oh political humour for the 2017 UK election

political poster save the NHS vote Labour, picture of a woman on the phone, by John D'oh

In paradoy of newspaper Daily Mail, text on graffiti says Daily Fail, with three stencil faces

below: Mural by SP_ZERO aka Keith Hopewell

graffiti of face of young girl with braids tied with ribbons, and wearing a red bandana mask over her nose and mouth, on a green tile wall beside stairs

government is theft graffiti

street art by a tree in the bearpit area of Bristol, a person in a grey hoodie is spray painting a black line, beside a stencil of a man with long beard and mustache that says beard envy

graffiti on a tile wall beside stairs, an electrical two pronged plug with little legs, running, with broken electrical cord as a tail

A group of young men sitting on benches in a park, with a street art wall behind them, space aliens and creatures

street art wall with imaginative and creative space aliens and creatures

below: Mural by LAIC217

Where’s the toilet paper? Is there any significance to the Adidas clothing and shoes?

Mural with orange headed devil with horns, yellow eyes, and skull like face, with bony hnads on shoulder of graffiti artist, caption says For using stencils you will go to hell — For using stencils U will go to Hell.

below: While we’re on the subject of Hell, a poster playing on the word exposure by Georgie aka georgieartist. I love the fact that someone has written “Story of my fucking life” on it.

below: A broom with heart by qwert art

whimsical graffiti by qwert art of a broom with a white skirt and long skinny arms holding up a red heart where a face would be

below: Mural by Kid Crayon of Eat Crew. Just above the mural you can see part of the black and white bear sculpture/statue that used to stand in the park.

In 2019 the Bearpit was “cleaned up” i.e. all the graffiti and street art was removed as were the squatters. A quick check of the area on Google Street View shows that as of March 2021 the park was still graffiti free.

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

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

faces near Roma Termini

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Mary C

There is a cluster of murals featuring people’s faces near Roma Termini, the central train station. More specifically, at the intersection of Via Giovanni Giolitti and Via Alfredo Cappellini. Many of these are the work of Mauro Sgabri.

below: “Divine Welcome” by Sgarbi – Dante on the right and an immigrant woman on the left, face to face.

motorcycle parked in front of a wall with a mural by Mauro Sgarbi, green background, called Divine Welcome, Dante on one side, an immigrant woman on the other

below: On the left is “Gaetano” repainted in 2019 (by Sgarbi). On the right is a portrait by beet root, aka Riccardo Beetroot, of Trilussa, an Italian poet whose name was actually Carlo Alberto Saulstri (1871-1950). He is shown here surrounded by some of the words from “Felicita”, one of his more famous poems.

motorcycle parked in front of two mural of men's faces. one on the left is a just face, man with mustache called Gaetano. The other is an older man with Italian words written around him

C’è un’ape che se posa
su un bottone de rosa:
lo succhia e se ne va…
Tutto sommato, la felicità
è una piccola cosa.

below: Another portrait by Sgarbi, this time ‘Manzi the teacher”. Alberto Manzi was an Italian teacher who gave Italian lessons on TV in the 1960s and 1970s.

below: … with the body of a man but with the head of a goat

a mural of a person shoulders up except that there is a goat's head instead of a human head, arms and hands are human, wearing a red shirt,

below: The last two paintings in this area, by unknown artists

paper paste up, poster, ghosts, in black and white, on a concrete wall

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.

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