animals under the 401

Posted on June 15, 2026 by Mary C

There are two large murals by Nick Sweetman that cover the two sides of Bathurst street as it passes under the 401 highway (in Toronto). Both of them are a collection of animals – birds, frogs, cows, cats, foxes, bats, tigers, and more. This is a selection of images from those two walls.

Photos taken May 2026

Rankins Lane (Melbourne)

Posted on January 20, 2026 by Mary C

below: Time for coffee, time for shooting. ….

graffiti in Rankins Lane, Melbourne, paste ups of three little men saying hey, it's coffee time, also a very blue shadowy character with a gun in each hand and a long robe and hood that covers his face

below: ET

graffiti in Rankins Lane, Melbourne, paste ups and stencils, globe parachute on an iguana, ET in a black robe and framed with flowers, words that say your dreams will come true if you keep wishing, and last, a big black question mark,

below: King of Clowder’s double headed woman stencil

below: Paper paste-up behind a plant – it’s a large espresso maker repurposed as a planter.

below: Rabbit and Cat, BFF

below: Happy Day

below: Words of advice – “Don’t trade your authenticity for approval.

below: Part of a large tropical mural by Deb with birds – parrots and flamingos – and a big pink royal looking cat.

mural by Deb in Rankins Lane, very pink, women, toucan, and flamingos, tropical plants

below: The other part of the Deb mural.

mural by Deb, a vulture and a plate of cupcakes

below: Recess time with scissors and combs.

below: Crab and beetle.

below: More pink. Mama Cat? With many kittens?

below: Clownish?

below: Gas mask and coveralls

Photos taken March 2025

behind Alhambra

Posted on November 29, 2025 by Mary C

below: This short alley in Toronto starts at Alhambra Avenue and runs east towards Dundas.

below: Renovations to expand up and out.

below: Cats, dogs, and little yellow clouds.

below: He walked into my picture.

below: The lane turns south and runs between Dundas West and Alhambra Avenue.

below: She stares at you from beside the Taj Mahal.

below: Ready to play.

below: Two Kizmet Radcliffes, the crazy raccoon.

below: Cruz1 painting (signed as Cruz Uno) – a parrot flies somewhere over Toronto.

below: Herbs vegan snacks

below: The Faceless Few in orange and blue.

below: Can you see it?

below: Sunflowers, bent over under the weight of their heads.

Photos taken November 2025

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

Bushwick bears, bees, and other animals

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Mary C

below: Bees with pink and blue translucent wings on a brick wall with a bear keeping a watchful eye on them.

part of a mural, two bees around a real light on a brick wall

mural on a wall beside a closed door, a bear is sitting on the ground, leaning on door, with a bee buzzing above his body

below: Honeybee

below: A mural by Hiraku with cats

…. or perhaps humans in cat costumes. Love and peace and a frilly tutu.

mural by hiraku of human-like cats, or people in cat costumes,

below: More cats, cats climbing up the wall, signed by eunice.music (aka Eunice Brito) and kosuke_james

narrow vertical mural on exterior wall, white cats climbing up a cat climbing frame

below: A concerned looking cat – maybe the ball and chain around his leg is going to be a problem?

below: The yellow and red background pattern was painted by 7 Line Art Studio (aka Duel Ris) and I suspect that the dog was added later by someone else.

below: A second dog, this one in bold shapes and bright primary colours.

large mural of a stylized dog with red body and blue head, and big white floppy ears with yellow and blue diamond shapes, yellow and white spots all over body, red tongue sticking out, yellow button nose

Photos taken August 2023

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.

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

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

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.

Librairie Henri-Julien

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Mary C

Librairie Henri-Julien, on the corner of Villeneuve and Henri-Julien, has three walls of colourful murals. On the east side of the building is this waxhead and cryote (aka Sebastian Millar) painting – Protector of the sacred texts in the citadel of yellow pencils.

bookstore on a corner in Montreal, white window frame with bars on window, a mural by waxhead beside the window

below: Carrying a lot of books on her head! under a window with white metal bars on it, a face in yellows and blues

below: A five-eyed cat, parrot….

a light purple cat with 5 eyes, mural on a wall, on a corner, with more cats and cats faces on the adjacent wall

below: blue cats, pink cats, and a puppy blossom by cryote.

pink and blue cats mural on a wall beside a window, with a pink and blue cat faces under the window

Baptist Lane, Melbourne

Posted on December 15, 2018 by Mary C

Graffiti and street art seen in Baptist Lane, CBD

below: looking down the lane. On the immediate right is an old mural of the Last Supper which has been scrawled over almost to the point of making the mural indecipherable.

graffiti and street art in an alley, pale yellow walls

once it was a sepia toned painting of the last supper (religious) but it has had a lot of graffiti written on top of it

below: A blank eyed bride with her flowers

black and white pasteup of a bride in veil, with 5 black stars encircling her head, holding a large bouquet of flowers

below: Two faced and holding up a jacket.

two black and white pasteups on a wall. on the right is a pair of white hands holding up an open jacket and on the left is a woman's head with two pairs of eyes, and a pair of hands below the head

below: Red brick wall and a window box

two windows in a small building in a lane, surrounding the windows is street art like a window box, awning, and then the wall space between the windows is decorated too

street art beside a window

below: I’m against all authority except my mother (close enough translation anyhow).

words on top and below a headless figure holding the head of a woman in its hands, words say contro toda autoridad excepto mi mama which is Spanish for I defy all authority except my mother below: Studying the hole in the fence

black and white pasteup of a person in a hoodie standing behind a chain link fence with a hole in it.

below: Two little cats two black and white cats on a pasteup in a lane

Mission Linen Building, west 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. Photos taken October 2015.

below: A large mural of the famous ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign dominates the west side of the building.

mural of the famous Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas sign painted on the side of a building

below: The head of a creature with Vegas eyes by New Zealand street artist duo BMD.

graffiti street art on a white wall - front end of yellow creature with big ping pong ball like eyes

below: Cats in love by #Danman

graffiti street art on a white wall - a sticker by Danman of a man and a woman in cat suits. The man has hearts in his eyes and is presenting the woman with some flowers

below: She seems to be looking at the two faced man.
I wonder what she’s thinking.

graffiti street art on a white wall -

below: Many likes for the fisherman.

graffiti street art on a white wall - two posters, on the right an Indian in native head dress in profile and on the left, a small boat on a big wave

below: Marilyn Munroe in green and a pink haired woman by Typical Bandit

graffiti street art on a white wall -

below: Street art in the Milk the Bunny series by Omayra Amador.
Bunny is holding a French flag in support of Charlie Hebdo.

graffiti street art on a white wall - a yellow rabbit with a pencil behind its ear, holding up a french flag with the words je suis charlie on it.

below: Another in the Milk the Bunny series

graffiti street art on a white wall - a dog on a cloud with the sun behind, he has pink bunny ears. A wheatpaste by Milk the Bunny

below: The seemingly unhappy entrance to 1001 South 1st Street

graffiti street art on a white wall -

below: El Teacher by Cova along with an Art Saved my Life stencil

blog_el_teacher

animals that lurk on walls, Montreal

Posted on December 28, 2016 by Mary C

Mural, street art and graffiti animals seen in Montreal

colourful birds

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - A brightly coloured bird head with fine feathers and a large yellowish orange beak

dogs

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - an ugly awkward looking dog paces in a mural. The dog looks like it's walking on the sidewalk. A bike is parked in front of it

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - a large dog face on a garage door that has been partially tagged over

flying elephants

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - elephants flying over blue and purple clouds and sky

flying fish

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - yellow and orange fish swimming in a purple sky with puffy clouds

a giraffe or two

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - a tall adult giraffe and a smaller young giraffe eating leaves with necks outstretched. A branch of a real tree is also in the picture and it looks like the girafffes are eating the real leaves

a swimming turtle

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - a turtle flying in the clouds past a real window, with small buildings on its back

as well as other swimmers

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - a dolphin is swimming under exterior metal staircases

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - a blue circle with concentric patterns of fish in reds, blues and blacks

ladybugs

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - two large ladybugs on green leaves

and Egyptian lions

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - a lion head in an Egyptian themed mural, a pharaoh head, and pyramids are also in the picture

a rooster

mural painting of a very large yellow and brown rooster on the side of two storey building in downtown Montreal

other birds

line drawing of an owl on a grey wall, red lines and white lines

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - a large stylized pale blue bird in a window of a red brick building.

and a few cats

mural of a large tabby cat lying on rooftops with its paw hanging over the side of the buildings

street art, graffiti, animals painted on a wall - blue cat with a very long pink tongue that encircles its body a couple of times, sitting in a doorway