new murals on South Wood Street, Chicago

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Mary C

A couple of stretches of concrete wall in Pilsen have recently been opened up to street artists in Chicago. One of these is on South Wood Street immediately north of the railway tracks (by West 15th Street). This past week, August 2019, a group of artists painted the wall. This is a selection of the murals that now adorn that wall.

below: Some of the new murals

a person walks past a wall covered with many murals beside a street, South Wood Street

below: As you emerge from under the bridge, this is the first mural that you see on the west side of Wood Street.

a mural that is partially under a railway bridge, metal supports for the bridge in the picture,

a mural on South Wood Street, a person with a wide brimmed hat carrying a ghetto blaster on her shoulder

below: Peace mural by @sob_e (aka Eliza Riley Delgado)

two murals on a wall beside a street, one has the word peace

below: Warrior City Tribe by Mero

warrior city tribe mural on a wall on Wood street in Pilsen

two murals on a wall, both with birds

below: Breaking down walls and letting the rats and vermin out.

two murals on a wall, painted like hole in the wall with rats, cat, and skunk

below: Two alligators (Crocodiles?), one break dancing and one stepping out in a hoodie and bling.

mural on a concrete wall in Pilsen, two alligators or crocodiles, one in a hoodie and one standing on one front leg and smiling

two murals on a wall, one is mostly red and has a wizard cap with a star on it and the other is mostly yellow

below: Sponge Bob Square Pants tries his hand at singing while Bart Simpson spins.

mural on South Wood street in pilsen illinois, a dance scene with an angry sponge bob square pants singing while Bart Simpson is the D J with two turn tables, a man is trying to dance

a small tree in front of two murals on a wall

below: On the left is a mural by Yo Loco

two murals on a wall

below: by @All_CITY_COWBOY, helicopter, music, and mayhem in the city.

a mural by @all_city_cowboy, helicopter, shadow silhouette figures

below: With the green lizard character standing by

two murals on a wall, one with green lizard character

Barcelona doors

Posted on April 12, 2018 by Mary C

Street art seen on doors in Barcelona Spain, April 2018

below: Vegan bunnies. One releases a caged bird and the other has scissors in her hair.

street art painting of two young women on a door, stylized, one with turquoise hair and the other with light purple hair. One with a red dress and holding a bird cage that a bird is flying out of. words at bottom say vegan bunnies. scrawled across the top are the words Lima love.

below: Cat and mouse by Cisco KSL who is also a tattoo artist. The mouse has a couple of vices. I wonder what the cat’s key will unlock?

motorcycle in front of two doors with murals. on the left is a cat and on the right is a greenish coloured mouse. both animals fill the door.

below: She lives at 202 Carrer de L’Escorial

a man and woman pushing a stroller walk past a garage door with a mural of a womans face on it.

below: Reaching out

a paste up of a boy in blue snow suit and blue and white hat, he is pointing outwards,

below: A bloody mess, a painting by Sarah Pitel – an American from Portland Oregon.

painting on a door of a person's head, with lots of black hair, top of body is just rib cage with lots of red paint that looks like blood splattered all over it

below: Cats? Cats with very long necks. (Ooops! Not a door).

three long necked cats painting on a door

below: It started with a street art piece by Arte Ignorante of a woman in blue tipping her hat with the girl in red beside her.

doors, wood, with two people on them, an adult and a girl

below: Handmade in Barcelona, the shoe maker at work, with a line of shoes above.

mural on a metal store window covering of a pair of hands working on making shoes

below: Black and white, two women looking at you.

door with graffiti on it.

below: BOB is on the right.

two doors with murals. on the left is goofy faced creature with orange spiky hair and on the right is the word BOB written vertically in large light teal letters.

below: Pandora’s box and bright finger nails.

La Caja de Pandora, Pandora's box, in white on black background, a hand is coming out of the box, with bright red nail polish, box is open,

cartoon like painting on a door, pink faced person with bright yellow sweater, a yellow fish

This post is also a “Thursday Doors” blog post. This is a weekly occurrence and a number of bloggers participate. If you are interested in doors in general and want to see more door themed blog posts, here is the link.

Quito Ecuador

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Mary C

There is a lot of street art in Quito. It covers a lot of concrete walls that are part of the city’s infrastructure (supports for elevated roads, walls around buildings, etc). Here is some that I saw in February 2018.

below: Two people, one inside sitting pretty in pink and one outside.

grey and white painted stencil of a man including head, upper body and one arm. on a yellow wall beside a window with a pink window frame. There is a sticker or pasteup of another face in the window looking out. Quito Ecuador

below: A bird in flight. One wing looks like flames while the other wing resembles water. Signed by yo-ho-ho.

street art in Quito Ecuador, a bird in flight, one wing looks like flames and the other wing looks like water, painted by yo_ho_ho. mural in Quito Ecuador

below: Many, many faces in pink.

on a wall with ivy growing over the top of it, many faces in shades of pink , overlapping each other. mural in Quito Ecuador

below: Part dragon and part fish?

on a yellow wall, behind a small tree, a colourful painting of a dragon

below: A painting by BEGO

on a house beyond a white fence, a painting on the upper storey of a woman with red hair and red flower

The next few paintings were on a wall surrounding an house that was falling down.

on an old stone wall, two animal heads, a dog and a cat maybe.

painted in blue, a pig with sunglasses and crossed arms, words say smoky pig

on a crumbling stone wall is a large green face with many pink eyes, and pink liquid spewing from his mouth

below: This is the last of the photos from the ruined building – note the broken bottles across the top of the wall. That’s very common in Quito… although electric fences seem to be replacing broken glass as a means of keeping trespassers out.

mural of a boy's head in profile, short hair, wearing goggles, all in blue shades

below: Crab (lobster?) hands

stylized painting of a man upper body with large crab hands, lack hair and blue writing (illegible) on both sides of his head. ‘

below: Laughing and pointing

large man's face with laughing open mouth, moustache and short hair, pink shirt collar, hand with index finger pointing , mural in Quito Ecuador , Hecho salsa

below: Someone stole an orange cone.

graffiti on a wall

below: Covering his mouth and I don’t think that it’s because he’s coughing.

mural in Quito Ecuador , large red face with a blue hand covering its mouth

below: Me

wall painted part red and part blue. on the blue part is a large ME in white with black border. Quito Ecuador graffiti

below: Pasteup over his face, a mouse and a mousetrap

part of a larger mural with soldier, wearing helmet with three gold stars on it, someone has put a red dot in the middle of his forehead, also a pasteup now covers his face, with a rat on it, mural in Quito Ecuador

below: Another gorgeous bird. Signed by Pagach? (Pagache?)

mural in Quito Ecuador , realistic painting of a bird with a black and yellow head.

below: Painted on a rusty metal gate. Reaching for the skull. I am not sure of the words but if it’s “ponte y las alas” that translates to ‘stand and the wings’ but there are more letters. Any ideas anyone? Painted by Aster in 2017.

on a rusted metal gate that is locked closed, graffiti of a person with outstretched arm, as well as a skull

below: Resiste

small paste up of a face and star with green and red parts

below: Graffiti behind the fence

graffiti on a wall beside an outdoor stairwell, behind a chainlink fence in Quito Ecuador

below: Supay Corpus in a residential area.

below: Someone likes to paint underwear, men’s brief to be more specific.

large black and white painting of a pair of men's briefs, underpants in Quito

below: A very realistic portrait of an old man with one green eye open.

realistic, and large, painting of a wrinkly man's face, one eye open and one closed. The open eye is green.

faded red concrete steps leading to a black door with a metal grille covering it,also some graffiti tags. Two bottle brush trees are in front with their red flowers

circular pattern painted in black and white with a cat's face ferocious in the center circle, painted mural

And last, there were some word stencils….

below: #2mayo and “ecuador ama la vida” which is ‘ecuador, love life’ is now someone’s love note to Mina.

two black stencils, the first is a raised fist with the words #2mayo and the other says ecuador

below: “Sigue to corazon & disfruta el viaje” which means “follow your heart and enjoy the trip”.

black stencil on grey concrete, sigue tu corazon a disfruta la viaje, written twice

below: Natura Insurrecta? and “Mineria responsable cuento miserable”. The direct translation for the latter is “mining responsible, tale miserable”.

green stencil on top and black on the bottom that says mineria responsable cuentu miserable

street art animals, Bristol

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Mary C

More Bristol street art
This time, focusing on those featuring animals

below: A debonair lion stands in the doorway, by Alex of lucas-antics

a lion standing in a doorway, by lucas_antics, green vest and green hat, holding a cane, tail curled up and a white mouse on the tail

below: Another mural by Alex covers the front of The Little Shop on Cheltenham Road. This time, she has painted bunny rabbits and pineapples.

bunny rabbits and pineapples on a blue store front, The LIttle Shop on Cheltenham ROad in Bristol

close up of mural - bunny rabbits and pineapples on a blue store frnt, The LIttle Shop on Cheltenham ROad in Bristol

below: A red dinosaur

street art mural, animals, red dinosaur, with some text graffiti too

below: A bird mural by Aspire

street art mural of a bird, blue and grey and black

below: Another Aspire bird, a robin on a tree branch. Beside it is an orange telephone box by D7606 (instagram)

a robin on a branch, mural, on green background, on a wall beside another street art piece of an ornge British telephone box

below: Bite the hand that feeds you. Someone is missing an arm!… it looks like it might by Ronald McDonald’s arm?

a graffiti fox, standing on two legs, with words, bite the hand that feeds you.

graffiti, cat head,red lips with green tongue sticking out, plys yellow triangle and blue circle

pink pink graffiti on a brick wall beside sign that says Princess Road

below: The ice cream in the cone is looking horrified as the teeth and beak of a yellow bird-like creature hovers above him. There is also an owl that was painted by Dscreet (Australian). The words between the bottom two windows say Burning C which is a reference to Burning Candy Crew, the group that Dscreet once belonged to.

a yellw bird creatre with a long beak, an owl and an ice cream cone

birds on a wire, silohuettes on blue background

blue cat like ceature with gold crown, sitting in window sill with two clay flower pots in front of it

Jamaica at Hillgrove, Bristol

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Mary C

below: A panda finds a quiet corner under the street sign.

small street art piece of a panda with bamboo in its mouth, under a street sign for Hillgrove Street

Hillgrove is a short street, two blocks long. It is dissected by Jamaica Street. On one corner is a large mural by Phlegm. A man looks through a telescope while sitting on the shoulders of a man who in turn is standing on stilts. One hand is holding the telescope while a bird on a rope is held by the other. A large red and white wave reminiscent of ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Katsushika Hokusai is the eye catching focus of the painting. It’s as if he’s looking to the future while standing on the shoulders of giants (masters).

buildings on a street in Bristol, including one with a large mural by phlegm,large red and white wave with a person on a ladder besideit looking through a telescope

large mural by phlegm,large red and white wave with a person on a ladder besideit looking through a telescope

below: A stenciled cat walks on the sidewalk…. the work of Beastie.

small stencil of a realistic looking cat, on a concrete wall, at sidewalk level so itloks like it's walking on the pavement

below: A natural woman of sorts – with plants, vines and roots and the bugs and butterflies that depend on them.

tall narrowmura of a woman with flowers and vines and chinese character tattoo on her shoulder

on Tallinn walls

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Mary C

Tallinn is the capital city of the small Baltic country Estonia. I was only there for a short time but I did find some street art in the old town and in Kalamaja.

below: The young person on the right is the work of @minaJaLydia. I you look closely, there are two tiny faces to the right of the knees.

street art by MinaJaLydia on a concrete wall, two pieces, a pasteup of an elaborate abstract drawing of a face and hands as well as mushrooms and other plant life. the other is a young person sitting on a chair, with 4 legs hanging from the chair.

below: I am calling this one, The Warrior and his Social Media Hedgehog. They are the work of Edward von Longus

a large muscular partially clad man with a weapon over his shoulder, on a grey brick wall, a small hedgehog is working on a laptop beside him. graffiti

below: Close up of the hedgehog. It needs time in the limelight too.

graffiti, a small grey and white hedgehog is working on a laptop

below: Whatever he was writing on the wall is long gone. This is another work by Edward von Longus.

painting of a blond boy with a red T shirt and blue jeans is facing a wall and drawing on it.

below: A green and blue planet Earth between two animals (a cat and a ?), by multistab

street art by multistab. A blue and green small plaet earth in between two large black and white creatures. One looks like a grinning cat, the other might be a cat but migh be something else

below: A couple of couples by Linna Sokk but with the theme of domestic violence.

two poster pasteups by #koos Both are of a couple, in one they are kissing

below: Something’s stuck to his forehead… looks like a sheep to me.

a large sticker with a realistic picture of a skull on it, on a small electrical box beside a building

below: Not your average Easter Bunny!

painting of a large agressive stylized rabbit in grey top and white shirts, a carrot in its mouth, running on two legs, one arm upraised.

below: A multi talented, multi handed, multi tasking elephant!

an elephant with 4 arms and two legs, bare feet, spray paint cans in its hands,

below: This wall is difficult to see because of the fence – it is part of the old fortress/prison that is no longer open to visitors.

street art on a wall that is hard to see because it is behind a fence

below: The next two are by the same artist, Lume, of LDK crew who is from Naples Italy.

stylized flowers and leaves in pastel colours, line drawings, on a pale yellow wall

stylized flowers and leaves in pastel colours, line drawings, on a salmon coloured wall

below: In case you can’t read it, the sign that Darth Vader is holding says: “Help me. I need $$$ to build a death star.”

a few small piece of graffiti, a yellow face, a black stencil of a man's head and shoulders, a stencil of Darth Vader, and some scribbles,

on a wall beside w window, two line drawings of animal creatures, on dinosaur like and the other a small round thing

a big bee on a yellow wall, street sign that says Salme

two drawings, one is Jerry the cartoon mouse and the other is

three stencils on a wall, an orange womans face, a blue diamond and a purple man with sunglasses on

a paste up of a person's head wrapped in an old fashioned bandage that ties under the chin

doorway shaped and sized line drawing graffiti in purple with turquoise highlights, a man's head and neck

Mission Linen Building, east wall, Las Vegas

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Mary C

The old Mission Linen building is at the corner of South 1st Street and Coolidge Avenue in Las Vegas. The following photos were taken when I was in Las Vegas in October 2015. The east wall of the building (facing South Casino Center Blvd) was a canvas for a number of street artists in a project curated by Dr. Lepper. It was covered when I saw it and it was being added to as well.

exterior wall of a two storey building that has been covered with street art by a number of different artists

below: Artist John Pacheco was putting the finishing touches on a mural about Donald Trump and his wall. It also features Gandhi, the Pope, and Mother Teresa. Pacheco told me that he planned to paint the word ‘freiheit’, German for ‘freedom’, above the wall. In hindsight, perhaps a word in Russian would have been more appropriate?

street artist John Pacheco stands in front of the ladder that he is using to paint a mural featuring Donald Trump, Ghandi, the Pope, Mother Theresa and a wall that is being built.

below: In the mural, Trump is saying “I want in. I can win”. As I write this, it’s the 18th of Jan 2017 and Trump’s inauguration as President of the USA is only 2 days away.

blog_coolidge_pacheco_mural