Tag Archives: alley

Whitehart Lane

Posted on by
Reply

… a small lane in central Melbourne with lots of street art.

below: A very round face, a mysterious face. Is he sticking out his tongue? Where is his other eye? What happened to his neck? And then you could ask why his hand is drawn that way.

street art in whitehart Lane, round mosaic face floating on top of a black and white painted body

street art in whitehart Lane, round mosaic face floating on top of a black and white painted body that ends at waist, one hand over chest, one hand hanging downwards

below: A very realistic drawing of a person with black hair, seated, with hands together wrapped around a glass jar. This wheatpaste piece of art has probably been strategically placed behind window bars. Unfortunately, the signature for this piece is also behind the bars.

coloured paper wheatpaste of a youg person seated, wearing sweater with geometric patterns, pasted on old window, behind bars

below: Balloon and frying pan behind bars, by Tweet

graffiti and street art on boarded up window, behind metal bars, white sciblles, a small sticker, and a paper poster wheatpaste of a yellow balloon and a frying pan, drawn on reused paper with chinese characters on it
old brick buildings in whitehart lane in melbourne, with street art on them

below: Spread Love, not the Virus, a message brought to you by Mickey Mouse in a black Covid mask.

spread love not the virus, on a poster with mickey mouse in a black covid mask holding a red rose

street art, urban art, in whitehart lane in melbourne

below: Raccoon by MyCuteCreatures on the top and a little guy with skull head and little black bat wings on his back.

slaps on a pole in an alley, cute little black and white drawing of a raccoon, by my cute creatures. Bottom slap is black skull on top of black caped body with small bat wings

below: The top one is probably a head.

graffiti

below: Hairy purple creatures lurk in the lane.

below: White birds in flight behind the garbage bins.

urban art painted on a brick wall, birds in flight

below: Looking down Whitehart Lane

below: Paintings by Aki Yaguchi (female), floating girls and stars

mural in Whitehart Lane, young girls faces, stars

mural in Whitehart Lane, young girls faces, stars

below: More graffiti (or maybe one is an advert)

slaps on an alley wall, top one is intricate drawing of a monkey like creature but there s more than one pair of eyes

urban art and other posters in Whitehart Lane

Photos taken March 2025

between West Lodge and Lansdowne

Posted on by
1

In Toronto, running west off of West Lodge Ave., there is an alley behind Queen Street West on the north side.  The upper part of this long, low building was painted blue a number of years ago.  Since then it has been tagged and used as a place to spray, stick, or paste graffiti.

alley, long low building on right hand side, painted blue, with windows,

below: T-bonez from Urban Ninja Squadron practises yoga positions.

below: A bright red door that has unfortunately been scrawled on.  Beside it is a black figure that seems to be diving backwards while holding a bunch of colourful balloons.

below: Once it was a pink cat with green whiskers

below: Holding tight to that red rose.

stencil on a wall in an alley, a fist holding a red rose

Continuing west towards Lansdowne ….

below: Faces in the alley, with a bit too much gold

below: Chubby cheeks and big fat lips…. and how many eyes?

below: Faces, many faces with their eyes closed and their hair swirling around.  Mural painted by Carol Ann Apilado

below: “Tell me its all going to be okay?  Not sure if I can do that buddy…..

graffiti on a black garage, white drawing of a person with fingers in peace sign, with text Tell me it's all going to be okay?

below: Patterns and shapes on fence, by Hello Kirsten

murals on a fence in an alley including one by hello kirsten, design patterns, also a woman in purple,

murals in an alley, a garage painted all orange, paintings on fence, face and cacti painted in side a car port under an apartment

motorcycle parked in front of blue fence, beside a garage in a lane, near Queen Street West and Lansdowne

mini cooper car parked in an alley beside a garage with street art and graffiti on it

green spray paint and black drippy paint graffiti on red brick wall

alley views

below: Enough!  Although once upon a time it said more than that…..

close up of painting on a wood fence, abstract shapes and colours, with texture

More Osage Lane, but possibly Orange Alley too

Posted on by
Reply

When I walked around the Mission District back in February, I walked Osage Lane and Orange Alley one after the other.  Later that day when I was sorting my photos, I messed up where one set of pictures ended and the next set started.  It’s possible that the photos that I posted a week or so ago were not just Osage Lane either!  (Mission District: Osage Lane) The two laneways run parallel to each other, one on the east side of Bartlett Street and the other on the west side.

below: Someone is a Gladys Knight and the Pips fan with a quote from their song, ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’, “Trying to get back to a more simple place in time….”

fence with street art including text that is a quote from Gladys Knight and the Pips, Trying to get back to a more simple place in time

below: A Cheech and Chong themed mural celebrating the famous comedy pair.  Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong rode the free loving, hippie era to success with stand-up routines, records, and films based largely on drugs/cannabis and other counterculture subjects.

cheech and chong mural

below: “My name is…” a 2022 mural by Precita Eyes Muralists.  Directed by Flavia E. Mora.  Assisted by Teresa Benson. In collaboration with 6th and 7th grade arts electives students at Synergy School.  It’s a mural that touches on most social justice issues of the day – Missing Equity, Land Back, Black and Trans Lives Matter, Equality, and Reproductive Rights.

black lives matter mural

below: Only some heads remain.

pale green mural with people that has been tagged over in blue so that just the heads of the original are visible

red mural with people that has been tagged over in blue and white so that just the heads of the original are visible

street art mural, tag throw up in many parallel lines in mostly purple

mural of a woman with long hair, holding a bouquet of flowers

below: Frija, Goddess of Fertility with her antlers and long white hair.

goddess of fertilty Fija sign over door and under an image of a woman with long white hair, a crown of antlers,

below:  Faded.

large mural

below: Pablo A. Medina, “There is so much love in this city”.

two large murals in an alley, one is text - there is so much love in this city

below: All in green – a large tree….  and a hand on a paint roller… and everything in between.

mural on a garage front mostly in greens,

garage door with street art mural, green and white, people''s faces with text throw up

below: A colourful fellow with whiskers and button-like eyes, in a mural painted by Sune Nesu.  It also has a little glowing halo; is this a memorial to a lost friend?

mural that is an abstract animal shape with big ears and button-like eyes, whiskers, in geometric shapes, many colours, artist is sune nesu

1984.yo mural of a young man with a hat on

below: San Francisco under the window with the Golden Gate bridge in the background.

on a wood building, drawing of cityscape, window above the art

street art, throw up looks like rock or cracking concrete, with a skull

older faded stickers on a metal pole, one is a hello my name is sticker, and the other shows the upper body of a football player in blue uniform, number 98, with helmet on

poles and walls in alley covered with graffiti and street art

below: Cheer up!

cheer up graffiti sticker on metal pole, sad clown with a red nose

below: Forever in our hearts.

memorial mural, forever in our hearts, thux,

graffiti and street art on a door and surrounding walls in an alley, mission district

below: Oranges!

orange tree with lots of ripe fruit behind a fence covered with abstract street art

magnolia tree full of pink blossoms and a large prickly pear cactus plant sidewalk,with word orange stamped into it

Photos taken February 2025

St. Enochs Square

Posted on by
Reply

St. Enochs Square, between Massey Hall and the back of the stores facing Yonge St., just south of Shuter St. (Toronto)

This mural was painted back in 2013 as part of a project to rejuvenate this alley. It was a collaboration between EGR and Elicser Elliott.

entrance to laneway, red brick building on the left (Massey Hall), mural painted on the wall on the right. Mural shows a woman & a boy blowing the seeds from white puffy dandelions.

entrance to St. Enochs Sq. on Shuter St.

.

A woman is holding an infant and a small child. Another child is clinging to her. A man is to her right and a girl is to her left. The infant is ugly and may not really be an infant but instead be a little roly poly old man... or a hybrid of the two

left side of the mural

.

a large black and white cat is looking at the viewer. It is wearing a little crown. Beside the cat is a boy in a blue and white striped shirt who is blowing the seeds off a puffy white dandelion.

blowing dandelions

.

panorama view of the whole mural

panorama of the mural

Photos taken July 2014

Paul Estrela Lane – then and now

Posted on by
Reply

Have a seat!
It’s another tour of laneway street art.

two chairs sitting in front of a closed garage door, a wooden chair with teal back and legs, a directors type chair with teal fabric, garage door is painted teal. autumn, leaves on the ground in front of the chairs. Today’s blog features Paul Estrela Lane which runs for one block on the northside of the Danforth ending at Woodbine Avenue.   Some of the garages and fences have been painted with bright and cheerful murals.  There are quite a few paintings considering the fact that the lane is only one block long.   I first visited it in 2017 and most of these photos are from that time.  I went back the other day to see if there were any changes….

below: A mural by mediah and the CBS crew.

abstract geometric mural by mediah on a red backgroundbelow: Another contribution from the CBS crew but this time in collaboration with kanos, a French artist, from Paris.  More of his work can be seen under ikanografik on instagram.

red background mural in black and white below: A warm summer day by the surf.

mural of a brown woman with a two piece bathing suit standing on a beach holding onto a surfboard. There are 4 very big waves behind her. Painted over two garage doors.

below: Toothy grins and googly eyes, coloured monster faces all squished together to completely cover the back of this building.   It is the work of monicaonthemoon.

exterior wall in a laneway with mural by monicaonthemoon with many silly stylized faces in bright colours below: Listening to music as her orange and pink hair blows in the wind, by Kim

garage door painted with a mural of woman with light skin skin and orange and pink hair with eyes closed and wearing blue headphones. music notes around her headbelow: Marine life swimming in the laneway, an octopus with orange eyes looking at you, and what I think is a squid on the left.  Painted by kittzen.

two garage doors with murals of marine life, a squid on the left and an octopus on the right.

below: Wings, another mural by Monica Wickeler

large black and white wings with multicolouredbackground - mural on a garage door in a lane

below: The work of dajenesis aka Jeannie Priscila

head of an animal, front view, wide open mouth with large white teeth by dajenesis

below: More goofy faces

fence in a laneway with mural by monicaonthemoon with many silly stylized faces in bright colours

below: Japanese characters painted by Tokyo.   Hint to street artists – if you want to be found, your moniker should be something that doesn’t bring up millions of unrelated hits on a search engine.  Any ideas about what he might be saying?

mural by Tokyo, red background with black and white boys face, and white word bubble with red Japanese characters written inside

Most of the above murals are still there – looking a little faded, or with small shrubs growing up in front of them.   The remaining photos were taken in March 2024.

blog_green_face_lady

blog_many_faces_trash

below:  A blue eyeless man and his cat with marvelous green eyes – the work of a mystery man, Victorful.  This mural was here in 2017 but the painting to the right was a newer addition to the alley (photo from 2024).

blog_victorful_impressions_feline
below: Children eating ice cream.
in a mural, a row of children eating ice cream cones

below: Another newer mural is this 2018 creation by Caitlin Taguibao

mural by Caitlin Taguibao, a woman with neck encased in green and black striped puffy thing, pupating maybe, surrounded by plants with blue leaves

below: This little blue boy is part of a larger mural that is on two sides of a corner of a building.

part of a mural, a boy painted in blues

alley back fences
a line of garages with graffiti and street art, Paul Estrela Lane in Toronto

Treeftsteeg

Posted on by
Reply

There are a number of lanes and passageways that connect the canals/roads Singel and Herengracht in central Amsterdam. One of the narrowest of them is Treeftsteeg.

below: Entrance to the alley, from Herengracht.

entrance to Treeftsteeg, a narrow alley, with graffiti painted on the walls

Various messages and symbols of peace – “I Love Kherson”, a girl waving a large Ukranian flag, “Love no War” (Love not war?), a white dove with wings of blue and gold, “Love makes a house a home”. In addition (under the word Kherson) there is a portrait of George Yurri Shevelov (1908-2002). His CV is long but in general he is most known for his research proving that the Ukrainian language has a separate history from Russian.

words and portraits painted in an alley

below: The portrait of the man in the top left corner is of Taras Shevchenko (1814 – 1861), a famous Ukrainian poet. Moving right, the woman at the top with the orange background is the former Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Beatrix. Third from the left is Ukrainian writer and feminist Lesya Ukrainka whose work spanned the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the right side there is an image of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy although it is not the clearest picture.

anti war, pro Ukraine graffiti in an alley

below: Commemorating the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian ship in the Black Sea near the beginning of the war.

painted graffiti in an alley

below: arrow showing the way to Kharkiv

graffiti in an alley, a red arrow pointing left with word Kherson written in it

below: caricatures

graffiti, faces, portraits

below: The narrowness of Treeftsteeg. Along with the pro-Ukraine messages, there are a few black and white portraits.

bicycles parked and leaning against walls in a very narrow alley

a black and white portrait of a man, pasted on wall that is blue and yellow

below: These portraits are part of “A Paper Monument to the Paperless” is an ongoing project headed by Dutch artist Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries.

portraits, posters on an alley wall, part of A Paper Monument to the Paperless, a project by Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries

a painting of a person wearing long red pants sitting under a tree

zirco fish

Posted on by
1

In an alley near Dovercourt and Queen West in Toronto are two garage door murals unlike any others.

below: ‘Elephancy’ by Zirco Fish – It’s an elephant but it’s not. Tusks like an elephant and the ears seem to be big a floppy. But the mouth is like a beak and the eyes are certainly not those of an elephant. A crazy fantastical creature, the product of someone’s imagination.

a street art mural on a garage door, rust coloured wood garage. Image looks like an elephant
mural on a grage door, another garage door that has been tagged, graffiti on a fence, the back of a house, in a lane.

below: ‘Scrat Attack’ by Zirco Fish. 

mural of a cat head, in memory of Scrat, painted by James Zirco Fisher, on a garage door in an alley

Durazzo 2014

Posted on by
Reply

green vine grows in front of a blue painting, outside, of boats on the water, grape vines or ivy

All of the paintings in this blog post were seen in a lane in Durres Albania, in the “old town” part of the city near the Roman amphitheatre.

paintings in a laneway, on the left is a painting of a partially open wood doorway with a girl stepping out and smiling at the two boys on the front step. A black and white cat is also there. Some words are written in the corner, then on the right is a pale pastel coloured painting of flowers and leaves

Faleminderit Shqiperi = Thank you Albania!

They were all painted in 2014 (8 years ago) so most of them are looking a little weathered.

painting of kids, 2 boys and a girl, playing in a doorway

Written beside the painting below: “Ass. Cult. Ecletica 1st Bienale di Durazzo 2014”. 

painting on exterior concrete wall, a green shape with a face seems to be in water, beside a tree
paiting on outdoors wall, in black silhouette, a couple kiss under an open umbrella
a painting on a wall on a narrow street in Durres, a fisherman holding his net watches a woman dive into the water
a man walks past a mural on a concrete wall of a pair of pink lovebirds on a grey tree with grey and pink leaves

painting of a door on an exterior wall with a semi circular window above the door

mural on a wall in a lane, a woman looking out of a window, children playing on the beach

mural on a wall in an alley, seaside, old urn or jug, a helmet, other treasures washed up on the shore or hidden away

street art painting of a mans tie with colours and shapes on it as well as a black Albanian crest symbol
painting of fish swimming away from fish hooks, outdoor mural street art
painting on an outside wall
abstract mural around a window with a musical theme - a guitar, some music notes, treble clef

With thanks to the Mulliri Vjeter coffee shop on Rruga Myslym Shyri in Tirana where I hung out trying to stay cool while editing photos for this post. June 2022

behind Central Ave

Posted on by
Reply

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 Kahlocar 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

below: Adios! Let it go

black mural with hands and the word adios in cursive

below: Treat yo self, woof woof, by aurailieus

mural of a black pug dog on blue background

below: Mural for Caskey, a musician, or more specifically, for his song “Thank God I Made it” which was released about the same time that the mural was painted (May 2021).  Artist: skycaptain

skycaptain mural ode to musician caskey

below: Shark mural by Shark Toof, a 2015 SHINE mural, on the east wall of the State Theater building.; It too is a little bit faded.

mural of a grey shark on an orange red wall a car parked in front of a mural that is the same orangish red that the background of the mural is, a large shark with mouth open and many teeth

below: This the Hindu Goddess, Saraswati, who symbolizing knowledge, learning and wisdom was well as, music, art, and speech. She was painted by Palehorse Design. Follow the link to learn more about the mural.

large 50 foot by 30 foot mural by Palehorse Design of the Hindu goddess saraswati playing a musical instrument called a veena. She has four arms to represent the four elements of inner life, mind, intellect, ego, and consciousness.

below: “Space Rainbows” by Ricky Watts

view from behind trees in a parking lot, large mural called Space Rainbows covers the side of a building Space Rainbows mural from the side Many of these murals are the product of SHINE Mural Festivals. Follow the link for more information about these festivals. All photos were taken in mid-April, 2022