standing upright in Girona

Posted on September 8, 2023 by Mary C

A long stretch of railway is elevated as it passes through the city of Girona, Spain. A bicycle and pedestrian path runs underneath. Some of the pillars supporting the railroad have been decorated by street artists.

below: Birds in flight

street art of black and white birds in flight on a concrete pillar

below: Cyop & Kaf have painted a few of the pillars with their black silhouette-like people such as this stolen kiss.

silhouette black people in street art, on a concrete pillar, top is man hanging upside down holding the feet of another man who is also upside down and kissing woman standing on the street, motorcycle parked in front

or this very tall man – He’s all tied up with his feet in the mud? in concrete?

street art on a concrete pillar - black silhouette man with his feet buried in the ground

street art on a pillar by Cyop and kaf

street art of a man, black silhouette, wedged between two blocks of concrete, and trying to pry space wider with a stick

people walking under an elevated railway, on a bike path, with street art on the concrete pillars supporting the railway

below: KRAM is responsible for two pillars including this blue character on a swing.

street art on a large concrete support, a blue character with human body but different head, sits on a swing, wearing purple running shoes with orange laces untied, orange shorts and brown t shirt, tongue stuck out, by kram

below: The other KRAM pillar is this one – quite different from the first.

street art painting by kram on a concrete post, cars parked behind, painting is sliced stacks of patterns

below: Two pandas

street art, 2 pandas, small one above is a paste up, lower one is painted and is more stylized

below: A brush to clean the toilet bowl. Not your average painting subject matter.

street art painting of a toilet bowl cleaning brush

realistic street art painting of a man in a white shirt

below: A few pillars are decorated with these red and blue guys – stylized yet anatomically correct – painted by Boris Hoppek

pineapple and face, street art

Photos taken in early March 2023

NYC Love on the Highline

Posted on August 30, 2023 by Mary C

This large mural was painted along the Highline Park by Nina Chanel Abney in 2022. It is titled “NYC Love”

large mural painted on an exterior wall that faces the Highline, an elevated park in New York City. Pink background with stylized drawings of pizza slices, pigeons, hands, faces, the pizza slices have faces, blue waves, large N and Y letters, red hearts,

Prescott’s people

Posted on July 27, 2023 by Mary C

As part of the town’s Bicenntenial (200 years!) celebration, a large mural was created for the side of a building in downtown Prescott Ontario.

mural made of 3000 photographs, that looks like an image of two old buildings, on an outdoor wall in Prescott Ontario

closer look at town hall featured in mural made of 3000 photographs, that looks like an image of two old buildings, on an outdoor wall in Prescott Ontario

some of the 3000 photographs of people from Prescott Ontario that were included in a large mural

plaque in front of a mural describing the history of the town hall and clock tower in Prescott that is pictured in a mural composed of 3000 photographs.

The Prescott People’s Place
Commissioned by the Prescott Bicentennial Committee and dedicated
December 18th, 2010
The Prescott People’s Place is composed of over 3000 pictures from Prescott people. This mural was created by Chuck Street and made in Prescott at MD Signs.
Made possible by federal Canadian Heritage funding and the generous Prescott People.
Victoria Hall and St. John’s Market
The cornerstone for the Old Town Hall was laid on August 13th 1874 and the Market Building built in 1876. Both were demolished in 1960. The clock tower was added to the Town Hall in 1927. The orginal clock works were restored in 1980 and housed in the Rotary Clock Tower which still marks time today on the same corner. The building pictured on the left of the Town Hall is still standing and is home to the Forwarders Museum and Visitor Centre.

Rouen graffiti tunnel

Posted on July 23, 2023 by Mary C

below: Railway bridge over rue Rouen. One side is being repainted.

looking down rue Rouen in Montreal towards railway bridge, people painting the walls under the bridge

below: Diamond shine bright in my all consuming light. Let every goal glow. Very recently painted by Indiana Brierly.

street art painting under a railway bridge in blues and greens

below: One side of the bridge was being repainted this morning.

a man is using a roller brush to paint over graffiti on a wall

below: He’s ready to paint…. by Sino ( or Sino Duc)

below: A white happy three eyed fish swimming among the scribbles.

graffiti on a wall including a funny looking three eyed fish

below: A curly haired woman, or an old lady with a cane, and a monkey face. It looks like someone has a roller ready to paint over this section of wall…

below: Hummingbird and calla lily, by Judith Boily Valois.

below: Too cool dragon wearing blue shades and a jacket with the Montreal Expos logo on it. It’s been almost 20 years since the Expos played in Montreal.

Photos taken 23 July 2023

rue Ourcq in the 19th

Posted on June 11, 2023 by Mary C

On rue Ourcq there is a large building covered with multicoloured faces all painted by DA Cruz. So many eyes!

two women walking on the sidewalk pavement along rue Ourcq in Paris, on the left is a large building covered with street art painting of many stylized faces in many colours painted by d a cruz.

close up of part of mural by d a cruz of bright coloured faces and eyes

There is then a whole wall/fence painted by many different artists including these blue and gold faces by Un Kolor Distinto.

mural by un kolor distinto of two faces in blue and gold

mural with word sadio in it, tribute in memorium moral

below: In grey tones, a mural by American artist BK Foxx. This is the left half, a girl pushing against a wall.

street art mural of a young girl pushing against a wall, in black and white

below: The righthand side of the Foxx mural,

portrait of a young boy in shades of grey, street art mural, with his eyes closed, side view, very realistic

people waiting for a bus at a bus stop on rue ourcq, a large mural with bright pink background is by the bus stop

below:

mural on bright pink background, portrait of a black woman with long pink, orange, and green hair

below: “Can’t stop; won’t stop. Hip Hop” and Yellows. Decipher as you will.

street art painting of a man with back foreward, wearing jacket with word yellows written in yellow, also wearing a red hat with letter Z on it, mural has text can't stop won't stop hip hop

below: More Cruz faces – this time it looks like a happy couple.

two very stylized faces, a street art painting by d a cruz

below: A lovely portrait with a panda along for the ride, by Doudou Style.

street art portrait of an older black woman, smiling, with a small panda on her back

below: A spray paint can in her hand?

a street art painting of a woman squatting on the ground, with a spray paint can in her hand

below: Signed by Kaidea – a portrait in lilac and lavendar with long flowing hair.

street art portrait of a woman with lavendar colour hair

below: Baseball ptcher

below: A book reader who can’t stop dreaming, by FKDL aka Franck Duval.

part of a street art painting of a person holding an open book in front of their face, the word dream written many times

below: Blue faces peaking out from behind the mask

close upp of street art mural of a mask with white straw hair and two blue faces peaking out from the straw

two people walking past a wall with street art on it

below: Rue Ourcq ends at Av. Jean Jaures at the same time that the railway passes overhead. The end section is also covered with DA Cruz faces.

street art murals on rue ourcq as it ends under railway overpass, street art by d a cruz as well as one piece with text french kiss

Photos taken March 2023

on the funeral home wall

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Mary C

In the Byward Market area of Ottawa, you can find a collection of large mural as you look across a parking lot on Dalhousie Street. They stretch along the wall of a funeral home on St. Patrick Street.

below: The darker end of the murals is signed by three. They are Juan Carlos Noria, The Laporte Brothers (Phil and Dom Laporte) and the Higher Ups.

car parked in front of a large mural on the side of a funeral home, two storey brick building, on left side of mural is man in uniform cap hands to mouth as if calling, over one of the double garage doors are two men's faces side by side, one pink and one black, on far right is the start of another mural with birds

close up view of mural, man with hands by mouth as he is calling, paint peeling on the concrete and wood

below: Apples and currants in the corner

mural on an exterior wall, blue background, two large red apples with two bunches of yellow currants,

below: The other part of the wall is for the birds so to speak. The blackbird (raven?) on the left was painted by DRPN (Drippin’ Soul).

mural on side of beige brick wall, painted by two people, on the left is realistic raven head, on right side is a bird with many feathers in yellows, pinks, and blues,

below: This is a closer look at the head of the bird on the righthand side. It is the work of Mique Michelle, an artist who work often features feathery birds (or other animals)

street art on Dalhousie street in Byward market of Ottawa, on the side of funeral home, a man looking like a train conductor calling out with hand beside mouth, two faces close together, one pink and one black. Also a Drippin' soul black bird head with beak pointing upward, some triangles in the background

Carrer Petritxol (aka Chocolate Street)

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Mary C

Carrer Petritxol is a narrow street in the Gothic Quarter (Bari Gotic) section of Barcelona. It dates from the 15th century when it was a shortcut through the backyard of a local property owner. It runs from Portaferissa to Plaça del Pi. Today it has many small unnique stores including chocolate stores.

below: Catalan text: “Donatiu de la ceramista M. Guivernau en la reconstruccio dels gegantons del pi segons progecte de Evarist Mora.” Translation from Catalan: “Donation of the ceramist M. Guivernau in the reconstruction of the “Giants of Pi” according to Evarist Mora’s project.
Note: The Giants of Pi – On display at the parish church of Santa Maria del Pi are two wearable puppet costumes, one male and one female, known as the Giants of Pi. They have a long history but the part most relevant to this blog post is the fact that they were restored in 1960 by the artist Evarist Mora. In 1985 they were named Mustafa and Elisenda. They are two of the many “gegants” that are brought out for special events in Barcelona such as the Corpus Christi procession and the Santa Eulalia festival.

picture made from ceramic tiles of two giant figures, the giants of pi, one male and one female

M. Guinervau signed the above plaque but there are many other ceramic pictures on this street, all unsigned. They tell stories about the street including famous residents or visitors. What follows here are photos and a few details about some of them.

below: “Aci la mare de Déu ens diu que el temps passa lleu” , translation: “Here the mother of God tells us that time passes easily (or easily)”

on a throne, mother and child on lap, wearing gold crowns, 8 stars shining around them, with text in Catalan, "aci la mare de deu ens diu que el temps passa lleu"

below: “Amb capa i barret llue cada nit “peius” gener”, translation: “With cape and hat, shine every night “Peius” Gener”. This image shows the Spanish writer, journalist and playwright, Babot Gener Pompey (1848-1920), often known as Peius wandering the streets after dark.

ceramic plaque with painting on it, man in long black cloak out on narrow street at night, dark sky, lanterns and lamps are glowing yellow.

below: “Hi anaven a menjar nata ensaimada xocolata”, translation: “They were going there to eat chocolate cream” Carrer Petritxol has been a destination for chocolate for many years; there are at least 4 stores specializing in chocolate on this short street, two of which have a long history – Granja La Pallaresa and Granja Dulcinea. Granjas (Granges) were once shops specializing in dairy products.

ceramic plaque on concrete wall, picture, interior of a restaurant with two round tables, people sitting at tables with cups of chocolate

below: Upper “De quant encara era nou i romantic el dinou”. The translation could be either “how new and romantic the nineteenth was still”, or “From when the nineteenth was still new and romantic”
Lower: “De llavent ide ponent tot el da hi passa gent”, translation: “From dawn to dusk, people pass by all day”. This presumably refers to people walking along this street.

two cermaic plaques on an exterior wall, in small street in Barcelona, one picture above the other. upper picture is three people sitting on a sofa in a room with mirrors, large picture on wall, and two other chais. two women, both in long dresses and one holds a fan. Bottom picture is people out walking in the street in period clothering, top hats and long dresses, boy with a hoop, lady with a yellow basket

below: Catalan text: “Pel balco veus tremolar l’ombra d’angel Guimera”, translation: “On the balcony you see the shadow of Angel Guimera trembling”. Note: Angel Guimera (1847-1924) was a Catalan playwright.

small ceramic picture on a wall, with catalan text Pel balco veus tremolar l'ombra d'Angel Guimera, picture is of two men standing on a balcony, blue shutters beside window,

below: “En un pis no sabem quin hi va viure Moratin” translation: “We don’t know which apartment Moratin lived in” . Note: Probably the writer Leandro Fernandez Moratin, (1760-1828) who lived in a hostel on this street in July 1814.

cermaic plaque on an exterior wall, a painting on it, of a writer at a desk writing with a feather quill pen, book case and window also in the room, above it is a small sign saying number 3 at Petritxol

below: “I la gorra ja no hi es… que duia el Senyor Pares”. Transation: “And the cap is no longer there… that Mr. Pares wore” In other words, Sr Pares took off his hat when he and his family were at the art gallery.

20 ceramic tiles together, with a painting on them, picture of man, woman & girl in pink dress looking at pictures on the wall of an art gallery while the owner looks on.

below: “El bateig i el casament”. Translation: “The baptism and the wedding.” That’s a rather short looking groom? The cutout of the man in the blue and white shirt with the funnel on his head is an added bonus!

top part of a large cutout of a man with a blue and white striped shirt and a grey funnel upside down on his head, he stands in front of a small wall with two ceramic plaques on them. the lower picture is of a bride and a groom.

Photos taken March 2023

‘Out and About’ in Weston

Posted on February 4, 2023 by Mary C

‘Out and About – Windows of Time’ is a large mural by Christiano De Araujo that features scenes from the social history of Weston village. Unfortunately, the (painted) young man who is sitting on the sidewalk and playing a guitar is hidden by the (real) car parked in front of the mural.

Lansdowne underpass

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Mary C

There is a railway bridge that crosses Lansdowne Ave just south of Dundas West. Along the concrete wall on the east side of the underpass is a long stretch of murals painted last year by a group of muralists and street artists. This is “Community Built”.

below: At the south end of paintings…. Ducks and loons in the water; ducks in flight by Nick Sweetman. Most people will recognize the green-headed mallard; the duck with the big black and white head is a male hooded merganser. A female merganser has a similar crest on her head except that it is brown.

Next to the ducks there are people fishing and wading in a creek. This portion was painted by Elicser Elliott.

below: Under the tracks, abstract flowers in yellows and oranges by Chris Perez

below: Black hands and white hands reaching out, by Rowell Soller

below: Kedre Brown (left) and Artchild (right)

below: Scenes on light green by Andrea Manica – a dog, a bee, and a couple of strawberries – walking in heels with coat and hat – sitting on a yellow blanket – a tent, mushrooms, and playing ball.

below: As the years go by we’ll be able to date the artworks of 2020 to 2022 by the presence of masks. That’s assuming that we won’t be wearing them again…..

below: Under a rainbow where nature thrives in a collaboration between Shawn Howe and Mo Thunder.

below: Que Rock

below: A few artists from Red Urban Nation Artists Collective had a section of the wall to paint

below: Part of the RUN Collective, is Ren Lonechild who painted the mother sasquatch with her little ones at the bottom of the stairs. Swooping and swirling around the apes and the stairs are ghostly creatures that are the work of Cedar Eve Peters

below: The view from the top of the stairs from Shirley Avenue

below: by Danielle Hyde

below: A mural with a message that the willow tree is nature’s aspirin. Willow bark contains salicin which is chemically similar to aspirin which also known as acetylsalicylic acid. The salicin chemical structure is shown in this mural by Keitha Keeshing-Tobias.

below: This project incorporated a previous public art installation on this site. Back in 1989 a number of small sculptures, or forms, by Dyan Marie were embedded into the wall of the underpass.

below: This is Leone McComas’s contribution to the ‘Community Built’ project

below: Alex Bacon painted dancers in hazy flowing shades of pink and orange.

below: Two murals.

below: Close up of the cyclist painted by Curtia Wright

below: Two brown figures by kaya joan

below: On the right – a blue woman reclines by a cluster of colourful houses. She’s got one hand on a pink lawn and her feet on a red lawn under a white-leafed tree. This mural was painted by Yasaman Mehrsa.

below: Close up view of the big regal cat by Planta Muisca as it sits on a blue mat by a bowl of papaya and a slice of lemon.

below: Welcome to Little Tibet … standing beside a white chicken by Caitlin Taguibao

below: People from the Little Tibet mural, by Kalsang Wangyal,

below: A mural by Tenzin Tsering on the right – a bonfire where “the flames of the bonfire represent the tradition of oral storytelling and act as a homage to the diverse and unique stories/voices of the people in Tkaronto.” (from her instagram page)

below: And what’s a Toronto mural if it doesn’t have a raccoon?

In the mural two pictures above, the painting on the left is the work of Jordan McKie (aka trip2thetop) The next few images are from that mural.

below: A dragon’s head at the north end of the underpass by June Kim.

below: Looking south

A Mural Routes project from 2021

June, Jordan McKie, Tenzin Tsering, Kalsang Wangyal (waz_graphics), Caitlin Taguibao, Planta Muisca, Yasaman Mehrsa, kaya joan, Curtia Wright, Alex Bacon, Leone McComas, Keitha Keeshig-Tobias Biizindam, Red Urban Nation Artists Collective (Drew Rickard, Danielle Hyde, Cedar Eve Peters, Ren Lonechild and Que Rock), Mo Thunder and Shawn Howe, Andrea Manica, Kedre Brown, ARTCHILD, Rowell Soller, Chris Perez, Elicser Elliott, Nick Sweetman.

Curator and community engagement facilitator: Bareket Kezwer

Elicser and Sweetman at West Lodge

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Mary C

Along a wall beside the playground at 103 and 105 West Lodge is a mural painted by Elicser Elliot and Nick Sweetman a couple of years ago. It’s theme is the outdoors and it includes scenes like kids playing baseball, people reading and sitting outside enjoying themselves, as well as people planting gardens and admiring the flowers. There are also lots of animals – a large dragonfly shows off its wings, bees fly by, squirrels hoard nuts, a robin pulls a pink worm out of the ground, and a very large hedgehog sniffs the flowers.

below: Hedgehog covered with thousands of protective spikes.