peace, love, and harmony

Posted on December 19, 2025 by Mary C

below: A Seileise stencil of a young girl with a small green plant in her bucket.

below: In the Ehrenfeld neighbourhood, Venloerstrasse intersects with railway tracks and this is the graffiti that covered one side of the arch before the street passes under the railway bridge.

A closer look at most of it –

below: Her shoes match her glass of red wine as she sits in a comfy chair. The other woman is a portrait by DISH and she sports bananas in her ears.

slaps, stickers, and other pasteups on a wall Heliosstrasse in Cologne

below: Fishes Invasion dominates this section of the wall…. but it’s not just an ordinary fish, it’s Joker Fish.

below: Lisson One yellow face among an assortment of little graffiti artworks.

below: A bird with a long white neck sits above 3 mall lids – a heart for love, a symbol of peace, and a yellow smiling face to represent happiness (or harmony?)

below: Seen here – A yellow woodpecker, a green and pink turtle, and an excitable little duckling who is looking for love.

below: The words are very small, but they say, “No place for love, peace, & harmony in this world”. But another little sign proclaims that “the heartest drug is LOVE!

below: Sheeptown 1 euro stamp, Candy by cinnirelli, End gender racism by lille-illus

below: Fight 4 ur rights. Plus a very small “Aut of Order” where a rainbow flows out of his head as it is tied up by several tiny people.

below: Feel the vibe.

below: Swordplay

below: “Be Kind to your mind” and “Das leben ist schon (life is beautiful)”. Both are by bierdeckelstreetart whose artwork is mostly text based.

below: A platter with one puppy and one kitten, and the words “immigrants food service” written above. But further down the wall, a young white boy and a young black boy walk arm in arm.

below: Love without the O

Photos taken October 2025

Chatham history

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Mary C

There are 2 older murals in Chatham Ontario that depict some scenes from yesteryear. The first is at least 25 years old and shows a line of stores and businesses. Even the upper windows are part of the artwork. Just this week (mid June 2025) it was announced that a new mural would be painted here this summer. I have just discovered that there is a video on Facebook of this old mural being dismantled and removed. I must have been in Chatham the day before it was removed!

So…. for a limited time only, here it is (in two images)

below: People enjoying meal at the Savoy cafe while others are tempted by the desserts on display in the window.

history of Chatham mural, older, peeling and faded a bit, a line of businesses, including the Savoy Cafe

below: Also in the row of businesses is Heintzman & Co Pianos, Lyons Tailoring, and Thomas Stone & Son (clothing?). People mingle on the street and a car drives past.

history of Chatham mural, older, peeling and faded a bit, a line of businesses, including Heintzman Pianos and Lyons Tailoring.

below: Ladies checking out what’s on display at the tailors, window shopping.

history of Chatham mural, older, peeling and faded a bit, a line of businesses, two women looking in the window of Lyons tailoring where a woman is adjusting a dress on a headless mannequin. A man about to get on a bike is also in the picture

below: A girl plays a tune on a Heintzman piano while a family out for a drive, passes by.

The Historic Downtown Chatham Business Improvement Area (BIA) have chosen a design for a new mural that was created by local artist Ruth Ann Pearce. Apparently history will still be part of the theme but beyond that, a surprise awaits!

The second mural is newer but was painted by the same artist as the one above, C. Penelope Duchesne. Help was provided by Nancy Foulis, Bonnie Cernenac, Shannon Lindsay, Amy Maynard, Terry Nelmes, and John Reimer.

The mural is in three parts – on both the right and left side is a market scene.

part of a mural by Penelope Duchesne of a market scene from early in the 1900s

part of a mural by Penelope Duchesne of a market scene from early in the 1900s, a white chicken in a cage, a bunch of sunflowers

“The old town hall at north end of the market, 1905” The central panel of the mural features the old Town Hall which was built in the 1850s. The market stretched out behind it. The city sold it in the 1950s; it was demolished some thirty years later.

painting of the old Chatham Town Hall, a large brick building, in a mural

Utopia and smiling faces

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Mary C

trees on sidewalk beside mural on a wall, by Toni Espinar titled the big lie, triptych of consciousness

On Via Regina Margherit in Stornara there is a large mural by Toni Espinar. It’s title is: “La gran mentira” (Triptico de la Consciencia) which translates to “The Big Lie (Triptych of Consciousness). Triptych refers to the fact that the mural is in three sections/scenes, each under its own arch. The arches resemble stonework found in church architecture.

The first frame is dominated by large purple creatures with big white teeth and shiny red eyes. Green biohazard symbols are in their mouths. A gargoyle-like human head with eyes closed is at the top of the arch.

Under the word “Utopia” is a very pregnant man with a tattoo that says “Respect” on his tummy. On his shoulder is another tattoo that combines the symbols for male and female. He is looking skyward, or perhaps heavenward. Is there a comparison to Christ that can be made here? Is there a resemblance to how the face of Jesus is often portrayed?

hairy gremlins with big ears and impish grins, and happy faces, in a mural

Tiger mom seems to push little tiger son into the boxing ring. The white words above the gremlins say “La grande bugia” which can also translate to “the big lie”. Across the top of the arch it says “cambiare mondo, non follia ma giustizia”, or “change the world, not madness but justice”

part of mural, La gran mentira (Triptico de la Consciencia)

The chest tattoo is a winged red heart with the equation e=mc2, Einstein’s theory of relativity. There is also a series of keyholes on his chest.

On the far right of the mural, a school of green fish swim together.

Photos taken February 2024

animals on the walls of Montreal

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Mary C

below: “Siamoises” – What looks like twin cats in red dresses is actually a row of identical kitties, but the spotlight is on those two. A mural by Mono Sourcil, aka Maxlie Martel.

mural on a red brick wall in Montreal, circle, night with moon in the sky, two identical cats standing, wearing identical red dresses

below: SBU One’s red rooster, or red chicken.

below: Designed by ANYO – squirrels with different coloured hats. I have only shown two, red and turquoise, but there are many more out there….. how many have you seen?!

graffiti sticker on metal, a squirrel wearing a red hat

below: Giraffes

below: A wish for peace and love, amor et paix, for Ukraine.

yellow and blue background, a white dove with word paix which is french for peace

yellow and blue background, three white dovess with word amor and paix which is french for love and peace

below: A small portion of a large mural by Pantonio showing two of the many birds in the mural – a large bluish black bird and a cute little purple and white bird.

part of a larger mural by Pantonio,two birds, one is small purple, and white, the other is larger a blackbird

below: “Mechanic Bird” by Dede Bandaid & Nitzan Mintz, with text: “Of my dozens of keys, the smallest one opens home”

black and white mural on side of brick building, a bird with large wings

below: This rendition of Daffy Duck is the work of Simon Beaulieu – throwup “text” says Simple.

below: Dog (wolf?) with laser eyes.

below: It’s an animal, right? The blue creature on the left. It was painted by Cryote and the whole panel was a collaboration with Labrona and Waxhead.

below: Buzzzzzz……

little yellow bee with open wings, graffiti

Photos taken September 2024

behind a building on Union Street

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Mary C

This is the back of 270 and 280 Union Street in Lynn MA as seen from the (large) parking lot. All of these murals were painted as part of the Beyond Walls program.

A closer look at the four of them…..

below: Two large murals, male and female, by Erin Holly

below: A large, vibrant mural titled “KLK Mi Gente” painted by a group of artists: Angurria (aka Nestor Garcia), Dovente (aka Johann M. Baez) Silvia López Chavez, and Willgom (aka Willy Gomez). The artists are either from the Dominican Republic or have Dominican roots.

“KLK” is an acronym for “Que lo que!,” which loosely translates to the English, in meaning and usage, as “What’s up?” The mural is a celebration of Dominican culture.

below: Hanimal, an artist from Colombia, two little guys like two peas in a pod , meticulously detailed,

mural in green tones, on a red brick wall, lots of detail, two little people with eyes closed together in a pea pod, pea plant, painted by hanimal

below: Portuguese artist, Diogo Machado aka Add Fuel painted the top corner of the building. His ‘layers’ wrap around the corner, each layer revealing a different tile pattern.

mural by add fuel, high up on two sides of a corner of a brick building, designs in blue and white as well as brown and white, painted to look like layers of wallpaper being removed to reveal the layer below,

Photos taken July 2024

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.

Tag Archives: art