zirco fish

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

behind Central Ave

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

une ruelle verte, Montreal

In 2017, there Last year, there were 346 officially designated ruelles vertes, representing about 69 kilometres of laneway, in Montreal.  One of these alleys is in the vicinity of Milton and Parc.

close up of back wheel of an old bike that has been painted pink and has a garland of fake autumn leaves woven through the spokes.

 an old bike that has been painted pink and has a garland of fake autumn leaves woven through the spokes. bike is leaning agains a wall where the bricks have been painted in shades of white, pink, and green.

below: Two murals by Kael Paradis – the first blue triangle shapes on red

mural, red backgound across back of brick building and door, shapes made from blue triangles painted on the red

below: The second Paradis mural is “La Fete des Voisins”, a winter scene

winter scene mural by Kael Paradis, called Le Fete des Voisins, sun, fire, people in winter clothes and parkas,

mural on the back of a house, including real door, that makes it look like there's a roof and a window, planters with real plants in front

below: A tree of words, words such as diversity, art, croissance, foi, loving, fierte, desprit, and many more positive statements.

close up of part of street art mural in an alley, shape of a tree but filled in with words in different colours, words shuch as passion, communate, respect, fierte, English, French and Spanish words.

below: The same tree, but more of it.  Multilingual too.

street art mural in an alley, shape of a tree but filled in with words in different colours, words shuch as passion, communate, respect, fierte, English, French and Spanish words.

Union Lane, Melbourne

Union Lane is a short alley in downtown Melbourne and like a lot of lanes in Melbourne, there is some street art on the walls.  Here is a selection:

on a grey metal door in an alley, a simplistic painting of a chubby black boy wearing a white shirt and holding a bunch of white, pink, and red balloons, some of the balloons are drifting away.

a multi coloured face painting in an alley that has had stickers added to it. The word beside the face is blender

5 old cassette tapes are mounted on a wall and then covered with spray paint as part of a street art piece in Melbourne

A grey man's face street art painting in Union Lane in Melbourne
street art in a lane of a man's face in orange, he has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. A large orange tag (only partially seen) is across his forehead

a balaclava mounted on a wall in an alley in such a way that it looks like a face, covered in pink and gold spray paint as part of a street art piece

In Union Lane, Melbourne, on a wall, a drawing of buddha's face with the words to Hare Krishna written beside it, along with "be happy"

Two wheatpaste pictures of women. On the left is a woman in a head scarf with the name Malala Yousafai written below. On the right is another woman in a head scarf and a thought bubble that says 'My purpose is to serve humanity'.

The head and neck of a creature with a beak, with a droopy melted pencil lying across it, plus words in a square that say bmd Noah Eva, plus of Bill Murray beside sign that says Bill Posters Prosecuted

a man's face wheatpaste in the foreground and a double metal guard rail mounted on a wall and covered with graffiti in the background

little monsters, green, pink and purple with big eyes and scared open mouths

street art painting of a woman's head, shoulder length black hair, sunglasses and also a peeling paper wheatpaste

white sticky tape face-like creation on the pavement

a wall in a laneway in Melbourne, on it are three things, a sign that says "Bill Posters Prosecuted", a paper wheatpaste of a silhouette of a naked woman, and a face in two colours - orange on one side and white on the other, with the name Tina written on it. The orange side has eye open and the white side has eye closed.