Miriam Garfinkle Lane

Posted on October 29, 2026 by Mary C

… is an all that is north of Bloor, between Christie and Bathurst. Recently a group of artists painted quite a few of the garage doors here. “Flight of the Winged Ones” was the theme of this Laneway Mural Jam and it was dedicated to the memory of Miriam Garfinkle. The following photos are the murals that can now be seen in this lane – in no particular order.

two women painting a street art mural on a garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane

below: This is Adrian Hayles‘ contribution to the project. Miriam Garfinkle (1954–2018) lived on Barton Avenue, in a house which backs onto this laneway, from 2000 to 2018. She lived and worked in this community for most of her life.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane

below: Sebas Perez Vicentini painted this colourful mural with two long necked birds.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane by Sebas Perez Vincenti

below: A photographer takes pictures of birds and owls in a mural by April Grace and [sorry but I couldn’t read the name].

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane by April Grace

below: “Flight of the Winged Ones” title mural.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, purple owl in flight

below: Birch trees by the water by Joe Rich

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Joe rich, landscape with birch trees and water

below: Julia Harper’s thunderbird of the heavens

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Julia Harper, stars in night sky, thunderbird in the heavens

below: An archer concentrating hard on her red bow and arrow, by Hyunsun Park

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Hyunsun Park, female archer with red bow and arrow, taking a shot, concentrating

below: Chickadees by Nick Sweetman [This is actually an artwork from a few years ago].

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Nick Sweetman, chickadees

below: Gimun Ryu – A woman and her birds.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Gimun Ryu, a woman with open hand and pink birds flying towards her

below: A very stylized graphic-like rendition of birds at a cluster of bird feeders by Gust of Wind Studio (aka Mateusz Napieralski)

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, Gust of Wind Studioak a Mateusz Napieralski

below: Garages between Clinton and Manning Streets,

street art murals on many garage doors in Miriam Garfinkle Lane,

below: EGR‘s angel with a butterfly

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by EGR, an angel and a butterfly

below: ‘Kaktukopunjej’ by Veronica Orozco, in memory of Layton Stevens.

mural by Veronica Orozco, woman sitting against tree trunk while looking out over a lake, swallow flying past, against a setting sun, or it could be the moon, red handprint on woman's cheek, bird nest in tree, stars in sky

below: BJR, aka Bradley Reinhardt with a lively collection of birds in a tree – blue jay, robin, owl, cardinal, and more. A smiling grey bear and a fox are under the tree and Canada Geese are flying by. A green snake lurks under the tree.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, a lively collection of birds in a tree - blue jay, robin, owl, cardinal, and more. A smiling grey bear and a fox are under the tree and Canada Geese are flying by. A green snake lurks under the tree.

below: A blue Owl and a cardinal (with its foot in the door handle).

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Bradley Reinhardt, a blue owl and a red northern cardinal

below: Ohlordyitsjulia aka Julia Louise Pereira chose a nighttime scene of blue birds flying over rooftops in the city.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Julia Pereira, night scene in city, with birds flying around

below: The large orange bird (Phoenix?) was painted by Esky.

below: Scofy Wallz, nature in the city.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Scofy Wallz, woman's portrait, Toronto skyline with lake and CN tower, birds, butterfly, milkweed

below: Faces among the hummingbirds and bright flowers, by Cocreation Art (aka Danielle Hyde).

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Danielle Hyde, faces, hummingbirds and flowers

below: More birds! Painting by Shoreland Arts, (aka Thelia Shelton).

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Thelia Shelton

below: A closer look at the birds perched on blue branches.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, pink and yellow birds on blue branches, Shoreland Arts

below: A fawn prances through the night sky, a nighttime apparition among the stars.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, night sky, stars, fawn

below: A whimsical look at a fat striped caterpillar who in turn is looking at the butterflies as they flit among the milkweed and goldenrod…. by Anderkaya (aka Sarah Whang).

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Sarah Whang

woman taking pictures of street art murals on garage doors in Miriam Garfinkle Lane,

below: A slightly creepy winged insect that resembles a tiger face… with many eyes! As you can see, the artist was Shalak (aka Shalak Attack)

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Shalak Attack

below: The chickadees are breaking free! … by Murals by Marg,

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Murals by Marg, chickadees

below: Talie Shalmon painted a red wing blackbird and her nest of 3 blue eggs.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Talie Shalmon, s large red wing blackbird flying towards a nest withthree blue eggs in it

below: A pair of indigenous art style birds.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, indigenous art, birds

below: A big bee checks out a few flowers

below: Cedar Eve, strawberries, blueberries and a couple of strange faces.

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Cedar Eve

below: A very large bat flying over the garden, by Trina Moyan

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by Trina Moyan, a large bat flies over a garden

below: The purple painting on the right was the contribution of nshtsh (aka Nishina)

a few street art murals on garage doors in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, including a purple one by Nishina

below: A cedar waxwing and a butterfly, by Miguel Albino.

Miguel Albino, street art mural, cedar waxwing bird and a butterfly, on a wood fence in Miraim Garfinkle lane

street art mural, birch trees, with orange circle in the middle, faces in the circle, feathers too

two women paintingstreet art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane,

below: A crested bird by DJNU

street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane, by DJNU, a bird with a crested head

two men working on garages and back fence, surrounded by street art mural on garage door in Miriam Garfinkle Lane,

With apologies to the artists whose names I didn’t know.
Photos taken October 2026

checking in to see what’s new

Posted on August 26, 2026 by Mary C

… another walk down Graffiti Alley

below: Part of a monochrome mural by Nicolas Araneda aka niko.volts that has a lot of very American feet walking all over the faces of other people as lay on the ground…. ‘Trampling’ might be a better verb than ‘walking’

below: Some walk in heavy boots, and others swim with open mouth ….

below: Looking crazed and demented, “Lobo” by Horus (aka Trevor Goodwin)

below: Not quite so crazy or so demented but certainly not cuddly and warm either.

below: “Bring your green hat” by FreshPaintDaly aka Billy Creekwater

below: Two (and a bit) of six panels, drawings by Hartshorn (or posts collective).

below: “Not today Satan”. There’s a lot going on here – the Silly Sausage Gang being front and center. 33wallflower33 in her white coat with the fuzzy collar and little decorations by catchoo . There is also a T-bonez (of urban ninja squadron fame) wearing a green shirt and a necklace with a pendant – that’s Sticker Eddie he’s wearing, apparently. The red-hearted pug’s name is Mopsi. Mopsi has something in his mouth but the donut is in the way (for more Mopsi see the Instagram page of his creator, So schoen immer weider)…. And the other dog is a collaboration between TRP613 (check out the reflections in the sunglasses!) and DivadogLA

below: “Get me out of here” and a dose of Instant Karma.

below: Free Iran

below: This painting of a woman with her headphones above and yellow birdie walking a dog below was one of the first murals in Graffiti Alley – the work of Uber5000. Not many originals still exist!

below: Elicser Elliott’s contribution to a larger mural that has been painted below the pink Poser bunny, “Don’t watch me cry”

below: Half a face. He only needs one eye to stare at you.

below: Gold… With a garland of white and blue flowers.

below: A very large and very purple bear is at the door.

below: He or she looks rather cramped in there. Signature says Neem?

below: Another flower garland and another Neem head squeezed into a box.

below: Scowling and smoking with ace in his cap.

below: Skydome forever and ALCS, as well as Vladdy’s number 27 shirt and World Series 2025…. little blue and white pieces of ceramic that celebrate the Toronto Blue Jays that someone lovingly made.

below: One Inch? … And other stickers crammed together.

below: “We are the colours of corn”

below: More stickers and pasteups including catchoo’s dumpster fire that t-bonez from urban ninja squadron is using to dry his socks and underwear.

below: A couple of contributions from Dogmaslaps here (they’re all about dogs in case you haven’t guessed yet).

below: More pasteups, some of which are quite intricate and detailed … especially the top two (vulture and jaguar?) which are both the creations of Ezpektro.

below: Sharing space with the Ezpektro pieces are a few smaller pasteups, some of which were made by artists that are new to me. There is a pink bike in the top right, the same bike that is in the Make Art Not War poster in the above image… BikeDeSuro creates stickers and wheatpaste featuring bikes. From the left, a woman by Fiigueers and then a young girl with the Spanish words, “que nunca se apague la llama de la autonomia” which translates to “may the flame of autonomy never be extinguished”… The collection is rounded out with a guitar player from Sentient Cookie and a cute little green guy from Catchoo.

below: MonkYi cat with a very real looking heart in his claws. Two carp swimming on the pavement in front.

below: Charmander, a Pokemon character.

below: Alfred E. Neuman makes an appearance in a couple of places – he’s the dude from MAD Magazine.

below: By 50 shades of greatt aka Adam McKnight – It looks a lot like Sponge Bob… maybe it’s his cousin? But what’s with that tongue? It looks like a slug is trying to slither out of his mouth.

below: Verity and a happy face.

below: Someone is not impressed…. Lame

below: Green guy says: “In one year’s time, strike your blow, I shall return.”

below: “These days will define us”

Photos taken August 2026

people on an old wall

Posted on February 12, 2026 by Mary C

Near the Mercato del Capo in the historic center of Palermo Italy there is a warren of small alleys. On a wall in one of these alleys is a small series of faded drawings or painting.

below: Two women’s portraits – a larger classical looking face with a smaller more modern woman in the top corner. The old stones and bricks add a layer of interest to the images that remain.

two women's portraits, faded street art on an old brick and stone wall, textures, alley in Palermo

below: He’s painting a large face on the wall and it looks like he’s been doing it for a long time.

a man, seated, is painting a black face on a stone wall, faded street art on an old brick and stone wall, textures, alley in Palermo

below: Painting at number1

faded street art on an old brick and stone wall, textures, alley in Palermo

below: Blue and red on old brick

below: The brickwork suggests there was once a small window here.

Photos taken February 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

Graffiti Alley – first visit of 2026

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Mary C

This blog post is a quick look some of the “art” that can be seen in Toronto’s Graffiti Alley at the moment. There is lot on display even though I only walked between Spadina and Portland so this post focuses on the murals and larger paintings that I saw. The smaller stickers and paste ups will be in a subsequent post (sooner rather than later I hope!).

below: Blue birds and big ugly black dogs.

below: A portrait of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine’s blue and yellow colours.

below: Daisy, in rabbit ears

below: On one of the corners, there is a long grey mural with bits of red….

below: “A lone samurai known as Ghost stands on watch”. A story and a mural by Dewucme

below: Portraits painted on skateboards – there has been a collection of such portraits hanging here for at least a year. I am not sure if these three are newer, or if I just forgot them last time. (Link to blog post of skateboards from 2025)

below: Portrait by Bunso

below: Other part of the above mural, but painted by a different artist (I think)

below: In memory of Andre Campbell

below: Behind the Queen Street stores

below: Painting on hoardings as downtown redevelopment (and subway construction) slowly encroaches on the Queen and Spadina neighbourhood.

below: “Find peace in your chaos” Plus, it seems to be wearing shirt and tie but it’s also drooling and looking just a little unhinged!

below: Monstrous television screen head with bloody gums and matching tie.

below: “Who you gonna call?” Ghostbusters green slimey thing!

below: He’s got one big eye and a scowl on his face. There’s a burning cigarette in his mouth and the Ace of hearts is tucked into his hat band. Quite the character.

below: Not all cats are cute?

below: A woman with her purple hair tied up with little glowing (but ghostly) lanterns in a mural by MonkYi

below: Climbing green onions (scallions?)? An upside down blue goose? … And in the middle, yellow siu mai (Chinese open-topped steamed dumplings, a dim sum favorite), all images from the imagination of Mixt Paints aka Kelcy Timmins Chan

below: There’s that snowman again, but on a different wall and surrounded by graffiti

below: Ninos Libres, by Kalaruno

below: Another Kalaruno painting

below: At least it’s a step up from tagging…..

below: A green finger on the trigger.

below: Blue. And strange looking. He’s hanging out in the doorway.

below: An introspective dragon

Photos taken January 2026

Vhils and friends in Honolulu

Posted on January 1, 2026 by Mary C

below: Wall of street art on a building in the Kaka’ako district.

three pieces of street art across the back of a long, low building, palm trees in front, cars parked in front

below: This portrait of a man is by Portuguese artist Vhils (aka Alexandre Farto). Vhils is known for his unique “scratching the surface” technique, which involves carving, drilling, and chipping away at layers of plaster, posters, and dirt on walls to create images. The mural was created as part of the annual POW! WOW! street art festival in 2014.

below: Paradise and Beyond is written on the large mural in the middle but I think that the title is actually “A Big Wave”. Also written is Melón which refers to the artist MelonJames & Co. (with a shout out to alohabohs – aka Mike). This was painted in 2020, also as a POW!WOW! piece.

two street art pieces, on right is portrait by Vhils and on leftis abstract in blue, yellow and black, by alohabohs and oldboy melon

below: A tall tree on yellow.

below: In the shadows to the left of the tree, is a door that has been boarded up and covered with Mickey Mouse-ish images. The headline on the poster in the window reads Congrats Hawai’i, Give Yourself a Hi-5. There is then a lot of text that I can’t read.

portion of boarded up glass door covered with mickey mouse and minnie mouse images, some with giant eyeball oozing instead of a head, with pull sign with chinese alphabet characters

Photos taken July 2025

Coral Street concrete

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Mary C

Kaka’ako, Honolulu

below: Along a fence made of concrete blocks there is a series of street art murals… with a big fish at the south end.

below: They are out “fishing” but trying to hook a slice of pizza. Riding along in that fish – is it a real fish? Or a boat called Cheez?. The passenger – more like a shrimp or lobster or something else altogether? Mural by CKaweekS (aka Jahjahjitsu).

below: One fellow doesn’t look that happy to be onboard for this adventure!

lobster with human facial features, big claw hands, riding in back of fish boat, looking unhappyin a mural, by jahjahjitsu,

below: Predominantly in black and white and shades of gray, the next stretch of wall suggests straight lines and graphic designs.

street art paintings on a concrete wall, part is a 3 dimensional looking maze

below: “In loving memory” This part of the wall was painted by DropDead.Grace

below: A portrait and calligraphy. It would be interesting to know if it is supposed to say something. Can it be read? Is this section of the mural in his memory?

below: Bunnies! Lots of rabbits.

part of an urban art mural, a group of rabbits, black line drawing on white concrete block wall

below: IN/LM = In loving memory

murals on a wall including one with IN/LM meaning in loving memory

Photos taken July 2025

WIFF Alley

Posted on July 20, 2025 by Mary C

WIFF = Windsor International Film Festival

sign that says create made to look like a reel of film on old style film projector

below: Silhouettes in the window – Willy, Edgar, Dorothy, Toto, and Edna

on a brick wall, onld windows have been bricked over and in each of the 4 windows is a black silhouette that looks like a famous film character, Edgar Allan Poe, Dorothy and Toto from the Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka, and the little spymaster woman Edna in the "The Incredibles' movies

below: In autumn 2019, Daniel Bombardier a.k.a Denial or Enjoy Denial, painted this movie themed mural

below: Jessica Rabbit from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ is portrayed on the far left side of the mural. She stands under a “Danger 10,000 volts” sign. Popcorn anyone?

below: Action! Charlie Chaplin and

Charlie Chaplin with black hat and mustache the blue emotion emoji character from Inside Out, in a mural by Denial

below: More moments in cinema including Rosebud from Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane’

Princess Leia from Star Wars, Marilyn Munroe, Rosebud, The End, censored, fist from Superman, Jack Nicholson's head on door, all in movie themed mural by Denial

below: “Life is Cinema” by Derkz

large mural in an alley by Derkz, shades of grey, very realistic, people with movie cameras, one modern, one slightly older, hand held cameras,

below: Complete the sentence….

Rainbow coloured paint covers metal staircase in alley, with text is one place that says Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my

three d sign or sculpture at the start of an alley, windsor theme images on the sculpture,

below: Rose City mural

Rose City mural, red and white roses on purple background, with an open with a palm full of rose petals

below: Mr. Toon hangs around in WIFF Alley too

Mr. Toon, 3D artwork, on wall under sign that says WIFF alley

below: Cheerful and cheering, Chris Haven characters on a pole in the alley.

two graffiti stickers on metal pole, both by Chris Haven, small pyramidal shaped character with stick arms, triangle shaped mouth, both cheering with arms up

Whitehart Lane

Posted on July 3, 2025 by Mary C

… 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.

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.