A collection of faces that I saw as I walked around Collingwood one summer day.
below: She looks down on the parking lot.
below: Artist LING painted this image of Patrick Coyle on the side of the Albion Hotel. Coyle was the original owner of that hotel.
below: mmm
below: An older portrait by Adnate graces a small brick wall.
below: There is another, much larger, Adnate mural nearby. This apartment building on Wellington Street was painted in 2018. I wrote a blog post about it a few years ago – Four Adnate Faces, Dec 2018
below: On the left, is a portrait by Vince Moloney. Three little yellow characters by dscreet are on the door to the right.
below: Another portrait by LING, this time it’s Alf Stewart who stars in ‘Home and Away’, an Australian soap opera.
below: Michelangelo on a wood fence.
below: It almost looks like someone is playing “Peek a Boo” although I am sure that the two faces were not painted at the same time, or by the same person.
below: Drew in bright colours
below: One of the uglier faces that you will see today…
below: With visions of palm trees in front of his face – a blue skull by Callum Preston
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.
….Yet another lane in the Central Business District in Melbourne that has street art on its walls.
below: Two bald men, two pink robots.
below: Two different men. On the right, Julian Assange, of WikiLeaks fame, is painted on a roller door. On the left is a portrait of a different man, Ethan Joker, by Lushsux.
below: Bob Marley
“You say you love rain But you use an umbrella to walk under it. You say you love sun But you seek shelter when it is shining. You say you love wind But when it comes you close your windows. That’s why I’m scared when you say you love me.”
below: A mix of different paste-ups and stencils including an astronaut’s proclamation that “We are the Chosen Few” and a UFO with an enormous brain.
below: A closer look at “We are the Chosen Few”
below: Catwoman on the run with a blue bag from DeliveryBunny.
below: Bad Habits – Riots not diets!
below: The Breaking Bad LEGO guys are in Higson Lane too. There is also a little Robbo-T guy with crossed wrenches – a skull and crossbones motif!
below: Cute penguins and a big fuzzy penguin, by Lukas Kasper
below: On the left, another Lukas Kasper painting – this time a lizard. On the right, a brilliantly coloured falcon’s head by Silly Sully
below: Melbourne Moments
below: Revolution on the Television Head, or something like that. A women’s revolution? It’s the work of Salvo, aka Matthew Domenic Salvo.
below: “It’s okay to change your mind” written on orange beside a Tinkerstrumpf paste-up of a young woman and her guns. She has appeared in London and Cologne as well here in Melbourne.
below: On the right, a sort of portrait of a woman, or at least the skull of one.. with sunglasses.. and then overlaid with yellow, orange, and red stripes (by v-Is_4_vasso) The one in the middle is either a restaurant menu or an artwork meant to look like a menu – whichever the case, she has a red octopus on her head. Last, the very pink face on the left looks a lot like Princess Leia.
below: Ronald McDonald is saving a seat for you.
below:Robbo-T has ripped his heart out but the two young ladies haven’t noticed.
below: Black and white photos of somewhere in Melbourne.
A previous post, ‘stencils on a blue fence‘ featured art in San Francisco’s Balmy Alley. This post contains a lot more street art from the same location! Although the alley is only one block long, there is a lot to look at! Most of the art depicts Mexican or Hispanic history and culture; there is a strong reoccurring theme of social justice as well.
below: Street art paintings have been a part of Balmy Alley since the early 1970s. it is now home to numerous brightly colored murals.
below: Part of “Five Sacred Colors of Corn” at the entrance to Balmy Alley. Prior to 2021 these panels were at Mercy Housing.
below: A Day of the Dead image – a holiday to remember and honor those who have died.
below: Max from “Where the Wild Things Are”
below: This photo, and the following two, are from an older mural by Hector Escarraman. It was painted on a wood fence in the alley back in 1995. The colours have faded and the vines have started to encroach on the top of some of the heads but enough of the image remains that you can get a good idea of what the original painting looked like. All of the people in the mural are icons of Mexican art.
below: A lonely red heart has been added.
below: One of the figures in blue is Frida Kahlo.
below: Three generations of women working in Nepal are depicted in this mural by Martin Travers. “Naya Bhinana” (A New Dawn) was painted in 2002.
below: These stairs were decorated by Precita Eyes Muralists with a mural titled “Dragon Eyes”. It was painted way back in 1998. For more than forty years Precita Eyes has used murals to enrich communities in San Francisco – murals that focus on positive images about such topics as culture, nature, unity, and history
below: Zigzags and triangles in bright colours with a couple of hummingbirds flying around.
below: There’s a lot of religious and cultural symbolism in this mural and it shows how much the two are entwined.
below: On the left, Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti with a few origami birds added to the scene.
below: Mother and child
below: At 50A
below: Women of the Resistance, 38 women’s portraits in a group, painted in 2018 by Lucía González Ippolito aka Cia Lu Art
below: Ruby throated hummingbird resting on a very blue finger.
below: There is a dragon here too!
below: The other half of the mural… It as painted by Carla Wojczuk in 2011 and is titled “56 Lu the Wanderer”.
below: “The Mission District is for Everyone” is the text on the sign that the little blue bear is holding. The mural is “Victorion” by Sirron Norris
below: A tribute to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who gave his life fighting for social and economic and ecological justice. He was murdered by the CIA (or at least by CIA-backed assassins) on 24th March 1980, the day after he he urged Salvadoran soldiers to disobey their superiors. A few days later, more than 30 people were killed at his funeral. In all, at least 75,000 people lost their lives during the 12 years that the civil war lasted in El Salvador.
below: Un Pasado Que Aún Vive (A Past That Still Lives Here) by Joel Bergner, from 2004
below: Standing in a barrel is El Chavo from a Mexican television sitcom from the 1970s and 1980s. He is standing beside a mural from 2001 of a butterfly and a palm tree in “Memorias Primas” by Marta Ayala. The butterfly has been covered up for some reason.
below: Happy singing tree? Scared yelling tree? Enchanted and magical forest? Haunted and creepy forest?
below: Another tree/human mix. This time there is a contrast to the hot colours of the desert on one side and the cooler colours of the city on the other. It is titled “Love and Compassion” and it is in memory of Father Richard Purcell (1938-2011), a Franciscan friar who ran a homeless shelter nearby for men with AIDS. The mural was painted by Laura Campos, a Precita Eyes member.
below: Parrots and toucans and other details, mural by Dallas Hyatt
below: “Tu doy una Cancion como un Disparo como un libro, una Palabra, una Guerrilla, Como Doy el Amor. I give you a Song Like a Tribute, like a Book, a Word, a Freedom fighter, like a I give Love.” Silvio Rodriguez.
below: Day and night. The man in the moon reflects on the water below. The sun shines in a blue sky.
below: In the Belgian Quarter of Cologne, where the streets are named after Belgian cities, there is a barber shop (and hair salon) where the exterior wall is covered with paper.
below: Blue hair, purple hair, and a fat yellow bumble bee.
below: These are Angry Amily drawings on brown paper
below: Another section of the wall – The portrait, lower left, is probably about Sophie Scholl and the white rose movement. Scholl (1921-1943) was a German student who was active in the White Rose Movement, an anti-Nazi organization at the time of Hitler’s rule. She was executed on 22 Feb 1943.
below:Evyrein’s Elon Musk/Mask is in the middle. Notice the little Hitler mustache. Also, the placement of Elon’s body over the stiletto heels is marvelous! To the right of Elon is a little pink octopus hanging onto a red heart by 8arms2hug, a maker of octopus-themed street art.
below: Cats and rappers. Garfield is on his phone while under a three-eyed cat. The three men are Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell of the hip hop group RUN-DMC. The group was formed in 1983.
below: The images of people on cans of spray paint is the work of The Postman. Much of his art focuses on celebrities, many of whom, such as Grace Jones and Sid Vicious pictured here, have appeared on these spray paint cans. Tweet cat (now sporting a German fedora) sneaks into the photo too.
below: Many little things can be seen up near the top of the wall.
below: “The tide is high; my love is low” by Behind Green Eyes, is reminiscent of lyrics from song by Blondie, “The tide is high but I’m holdin’ on, I’m gonna be your number one.”
below: A series of cartoonish characters in various colours form a column beside a window. Lots of merde there too but I am not sure if that is part of the original drawings or if they were added after.
below: A large blue cat by Metraeda prowls beneath a portrait in shades of brown.
below: Pope with a gun. Pope Benedict XVI in fact. The hat in this picture is the same as the hat worn by Benedict XVI in the picture used by Wikipedia. It is an image of Jesus holding a cross while he sits with two sheep.
below:Zoologne, aka Marcel Kreutzer is the creator of the small round sticker with the oval yellow happy face standing beside a plant. There are quite a few similar stickers all over Cologne. As for the fiddler, I have no idea who produced that image.
below: The signature seems to be RUDE and might be your opinion of the image as well.
below: An unhappy green bomb with a microphone. Or at least it looks like a comic drawing of a bomb – that way I can say that it’s unhappy because it’s bombing on stage.
below: Reading cross-legged on the floor.
below: Bee nice or buzz off, as well as Support your local Antifa.
below: Diskettenlaufwerk is actaully the name of an Ultimate Frisbee team. NanE (or Nanelife)
below: Clint Eastwood is portrayed as The Savior in this paste-up. Actually there is quite a bit here – a very small pink Ghostcat, a yellow smiley face, a NanE slice of bread, “Love knows no conditions” text by BehindGreenEyes, as well as a pink and black portrait by Pixmen… and more
below: A cute little girl and an even cuter little red block with googly eyes.
below: More paper.
below: Skulls and more
below: It looks like a chicken in orange and blue as well as an anatomical heart with slight modifications. Perhaps that’s where his heart lies, or where it longs to be.
below: A big hug for Mopsy! Lots of love for an amazing character!
below: Encouraging words by Luna in a white circle with an Australian themed sticker by Tweet below it (kangaroo, emu and balloons!). On the other pipe are two creatures. The one on the bottom is a collaboration between MyCuteCreatures and Joiny.
“Sei doch mal – Nicht so streng mit dir – Du hast die wahl – immer, jetzt und hier” br>
Don’t be so hard on yourself. You have a choice, always, now and here.
Lynn is a town in Massachusetts just outside of Boston. It is also one of the towns that participate in Beyond Walls, a non-profit organization that believes that art can build better cities. There is a lot of street art here! This isn’t the first post about Lynn – it is a look at some of the painting along the railway line near the station in central Lynn.
below: As the railway passes through Lynn, it is above grade. The sections underneath along the parking lot on Mt Vernon Street have been decorated with street art murals. The large building in the background is on the other side of the tracks and is featured in another blog post, Behind a building on Union Street
below: At one end of the parking lot is a large mural that is a collaboration between Yu-Baba and Key Detail.
below: On the other side of the tracks there is more art.
below: A canine-like critter (dog? wolf?) with a black shiny nose and sharp white teeth by Ghost Beard
below: Nead2‘s rendition of Bart Simpson as a graffiti artist.
below: It seems to rise like a plume of smoke – a painting on one of the pillars supporting the railway bridge, painted by Yuknow K Lou
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below: Also by the tracks…
below: Ruben Ubiera painted this mural on Silsbee Street close to the railway tracks and station. There are words on the black band on the gorilla’s shoulder that say “Entering Lynn”.
below: Lastly, just across from the tracks Kevin Ledo has painted “Do you realize” on the side of one of the small apartment buildings.
Artist Alley and Maiden Lane, between Ouellete and Pellisier Streets, has provided a canvas for many street artists. Free 4 All Walls is an organization that has helped turn the alley into the art gallery that it has become. This blog post is a look at some of the murals that have been painted here.
below: A man in shorts, all in red, by Jarus.
below: A PURE Maple Syrup can makes an appearance in this mural. If you see any painting, or other form of graffiti featuring this can, you can assume that it is the work of Canadian artist ‘WhatisAdam’ aka WIA
below: Spy vs Spy, cartoon sharacters wearing wide brimmed hats. Black Spy vs White Spy, both with long pointy noses. These characters originally appeared in Mad magazine as early as 1961.
below:Nychos painted this strange cowboy. Weirdly realistic but very anatomical. I’m not sure how his hands stay in place.
below: Peace sign with bones
below: Now adding a green peace symbol beside the peace sign with bones
below: Another peace symbol
below: No guns, No war zone, Keep the mayor happy at all costs. More protest signs.
below: More Peace and Love
below: According to an Instagram post by the artist, Jason Garcia, this image was inspired by an aerial view of the Windsor/Detroit area. The cities in pink with the river between them.
below: It’s not Spiderman in that red costume… and that skull is rather creepy. The artist for this mural was Matt Gondek.
below: “.. And then things got better” in a mural by Denial.
below: “Denial loves you”.
below: Luigi! But he’s behind bars…..
below: Piccachu makes an appearance too (that’s a lot of cameras on his body!). This image bothers me a bit – the look on her face is not nice. Mind you, with a chipmunk stuffed in there she’s got to be uncomfortable. Ick. There is text on the mural (not in the photo) that says Graffiti Zombie
Last summer, Chatham Ontario held its first mural festival event, Can Jam, and these are some of the murals that are now on some downtown walls.
below:Meghan Kehoe (aka MCK Studio) and Sarah Steele painted this very large woman behind the Capitol Theatre in downtown Chatham. Most of her hair is a bird’s nest with three shiny pink eggs. A small black and yellow bird stands on the nest.
below: A version of the Tooth Fairy, by Fel3000ft. Winged teeth and butterflies.
below: Rather plump, and very bright – blue, red, and purple birds sitting together on a red branch, by Crz Prz (aka Caesar Perez)
below:Sarah Steele also painted this musician duo.
below: Sunflowers, daisies, and a bee on a purple background in a mural by local artist, Sarah M. Robbins
below: In Melbourne’s CBD, Tattersall and Stevenson alleys are connected. They are also covered with a lot of paint and paper! As I wandered through these lanes I tried to capture some of the more interesting things, both big and small.
below: Spiderman likes taking pictures
below: The Street Art Hunters (aka SAH) are dressed in hot pink!
below: A purple Frankenstein along with his bride, also in purple, hanging out together behind bars. Artwork by Moon of Jupiter Art (aka Ryan Callisto)
below: Now in green. A small Complimentary Nuts paste-up is immediately below this version of Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein, “7 out of 10 dentists say that your teeth are awesome. The other three need your cash”.
below: A third poster by Ryan Callisto. This time Frankenstein is just a tattoo on her arm.
below: “You’ve got to love Melbourne!”
below: Fall in love, not in line
below: “Sending you love because wow! what a shithow” and Love is Hell.
below: “What if we kissed in the smouldering ruins of capitalism?”
below: Little beaded diamond shapes like these have appeared all over downtown Melbourne.
below: Every deck of cards needs a Joker
below: Two artworks, paper paste-ups. A woman’s portrait on top and a playing card style image of Jimmy Hendrix, the H of Hearts, below.
below: Prince, in purple, becomes the P of Hearts in this playing card style image.
below: When someone came along with a can or two of spray paint, the little girl with the “Just doubt Fascism” sign survived. The bug on the right is probably not too happy with the situation.
below: A musical bluebird by Lukas Kasper.
below: Is it smiling? or smirking?
below: Two megaphones… and a very determined look on her face
below: It’s always fascinating to see how some bits of graffiti last so much longer than others. Even if they are left untouched, they slowly weather and fade away until almost ghost-like.
below: While we are on the subject of “vintage” graffiti, there are four pieces on this wall by Junky (aka Daniel Lynch) They are looking a little rusty and forlorn. I first encountered ‘recycled’ cans like these when I was in Melbourne in 2016. See post, Junky Recyles
below: Button-eyed face
below: What is a Lost Form?
below: Door covered with posters, street art images
below: Closer view of the posters on the bottom half – SAH, Tweet
below: top half
below: Scrawny alien-like character with big yellow eyes and spikey hair. Is there a pop culture reference for this guy?
Beaney Lane is a small lane in downtown Melbourne. Once it was nondescript, now it has colour. Along one wall there is a large street art painting with a portrait of a blue lady at one end. The words “Inner Dream” are written beside her head. Her hair is covered with a net-like cap; a waterdrop shaped jewel rests between her eyes. She was painted by Mongolian born artist, Heesco.
Australian artist Matt Adnate was also involved in the making of this mural. A pair of green eyes peers out from behind a head covering.
“Sei doch mal – Nicht so streng mit dir – Du hast die wahl – immer, jetzt und hier” br>
Don’t be so hard on yourself. You have a choice, always, now and here.
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Eyes on the Streets 