Mission District – Lilac Street

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Mary C

The Mission District in San Francisco is full of street art of all types from messy graffiti to fabulous murals. Back in February I had the opportunity to walk around the area with my camera. This is the first of many posts that should result from my walks.

houses on either side of entrance to Lilac Street, Mission District, San Francisco, two storey clapboard houses, with mural on the side of one of them

The first sign that Lilac Street might be an interesting street to wander down is this San Francisco mural on the side of a house.

mural featuring golden gate bridge, text says San Francisco

below: Mother with a child looking over her shoulder

black and white shades of grey mural of mother and child, mother's back is shown, child looking over her shoulder

below: Norm on a black garage

four large letters painted on a black garage door, N O R and M. Spells norm

below: A portrait in blue.

mural on a garage door, woman's portrait in blue

below: A tribute to Sharon Jacobs (1982-2019).

woman's portrait on a garage door

below: Anti Skateboarding Hero.

torn sticker, or paste up, on a utility pole, text says anti skateboarding hero, pole is painted black and red with graffiti

below: Higher up, a purple rhino and a yellow bird by chilovia – a pair of South Americans, Pancho Pescador and Pablo (aka Raiz)

below: Contrasts – the empty, graffiti covered old building beside the newer redevelopment. A common urban theme found in most cities as they age and re-new.

abandoned building with vacant lot in front, behind a fence, building is covered with graffiti

below: A wish for peace in Palestine.

palestine protest street art mural of woman with two fingers raised in peace symbol

below: This street certainly has its scruffy and neglected looking sections. In small doses, streets like this have their charm, especially from a photogenic perspective.

chainlink fence

below: Walking past number 133, frowning and grumpy.

man, street art, many colours, at number 133

below: There is a strong resemblance here to Olaf from “Frozen” – but this guy looks a little more deranged….

crazy Olaf from Frozen

below: Praying

street art mural of a woman praying, wearing green shawl that also covers her head, garbage bins in front of the mural

below: Dancers, front of the house.

bent nail in wood utility pole, spray painted pole in blues and green, graffiti gate painted with bright colours, with metal grille in front of it

Photos taken February 2025

near Balaclava train station

Posted on March 6, 2025 by Mary C

below: On the corner of Nelson and Carlisle streets, near Balaclava station in St. Kilda East.

below: Black panther roaring with mouth open wide, fangs and teeth ready….

below: The railway crosses over Carlisle street at the north end of Balaclava station

below: Praying. Painted by Pawtl

below: Two women hanging out with a white rabbit and a white cat, by Deb.

below: Come Alive Melbourne

below: A rainbow lorikeet

below: Owls by the door

below: More owls

below: Continuing the bird theme – a very old and weathered stencil of a pigeon

below: Another oldie, a paste-up of many people. One person in a red and white striped shirt, holding a toddler. A girl with long hair wearing a checkered red and white dress; she’s holding something like a brown box in her hands. Beside her is a girl who is wearing a white top and a blue skirt. Who else can you see?

The next few pictures are a selection of paintings on the upper level of some of the stores on Carlisle.

below: Dana’s Patisserie

below: Many hands

below: Flowers and faces

below: “TAKE” or perhaps “TAK E” above a painting beside the walkway to Balaclava station, southbound trains.

below: On the platform, Balaclava station, “Shake was here”

below: Gradients in blue and orange cover the ground floor level of a new development beside the station – seen from the station platform.

below: Also seen from the platform, street art on the back of a building by the tracks.

below: Raise a steaming cup to the coffee culture that is strong here in Melbourne! Cheers!

Photos taken March 2025

Louden Place

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Mary C

…

below: On one side of the alley is this long mural that comes in two sections – a sleeping woman with an outstretched hand is a collaboration between Vexta and Lisa King.

… and a little bird stands on her forehead.

below: The wall of the other alley is covered by a black and white painting of kangaroos, birds, and other animals… along with some plants. A few red feathers brighten the image. It was painted by Minna Leunig, an Australian artist from Darwin.

below: It’s easy to miss because of its location, but if you go to the end of the lane and look way up, you’ll catch a glimpse of this mural by Cam Scale.

portraits on Little Bourke

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Mary C

Near the west end of Little Bourke Street are 4 large murals that feature people.

below: First there is this couple whose bed is high above the street – painted by Fintan Magee

below: The old man, pictured above as well as here, was painted by Smug, aka Sam Bates.

below: Next to the old man are two women in blue painted by Rone.

below: Last, is this portrait of a young man looking skyward, by Adnate (whose portrait of a mother and child is featured in a mural seen in Albany Alley that was shown here in a previous post).

below: Photos taken March 2025

Ignite, Create, Connect

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Mary C

A portrait project from 2014 – 10 years on and still looking great

A total of 528 portraits line the side of a walkway under the railway tracks in Lynn.

They are the product of a Raw Art Works project – Young artists took photos of various people in Lynn and then made portraits from those photos. The portraits also include ones that the artists made of themselves.

Raw Artworks – whose mission statement includes the words; “to ignite the desire to create and confidence to succeed”. It’s a program for youth that has been running in Lynn since 1994.

Photos were taken in July 2024

skateboard portraits

Posted on January 23, 2025 by Mary C

Toronto’s Graffiti Alley is still an interesting place to explore. Unlike some street art locations that have succumbed to the scrawls and tags of the less well-intentioned, good art and ideas can still be found here. At present, adding to the eclectic nature of the graffiti in Graffiti Alley are a few interesting portraits done on half skateboards (or at least on wood in the shape of a skateboard). All are screwed onto wooden utility poles.

below: One on natural wood colour and the other in vibrant red. The sticker says Positive Creations.

below: A man with a mustache

below: Three on the same pole in Graffiti Alley – A red person with shaggy hair and light blue glasses as well someone with very long orange hair.

below: At the bottom, a quizzical look on a pink face.

Photos taken January 2025

walking around Bari

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Mary C

….. looking for (and finding!) graffiti and interesting bits of street art.

There were a few pieces by artist Blub who has used well known faces of famous figures or images from art history and placed them underwater wearing a diving mask. These are part of his series, “L’Arte Sa Nuotare” (underwater art)

below: Little angel

street art by blub, his underwater series, famous little angel with arms crossed in front of him, now blue and wearing diving mask

below: The Madonna. In some versions she is with baby Jesus who has been cut out of this image (as you can see the bubbles floating upward from his mask even though he is not in this picture)

street art by blub, his underwater series, famous woman's face now blue and wearing diving mask, virgin mary, or the madonna

Taken from Gustav Klimt’s, “The Kiss”, the kissing couple are now underwater too.

Another artist with a presence in Bari is LeDieSis and her/their Superwomen series

below: Barbie’s been shopping. She’s winking at you.

street art by LeDieSis, image of Barbie wearing blue dress with superman symbol

below: Pink and purple and another wink. Does she realize that someone is looking over her shoulder?

in pink and purple tones, street art by LeDieSis, woman with hair tied back, and superman symbol on front of t shirt

below: Another winking superwoman. I suspect that the official looking notice has been taped over her Superman symbol.

graffiti by LeDieSis, blond woman, other graffiti around her

below: The Virgin Mary is also in Bari, also winking, as she carries her baby daughter

below: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo superwoman graffiti by LeDieSis

below: “Gals are as strong as hell” by unknown artist.

sticker that says gals are strong as hell

Mopsi, by so schoen immer wieder, can be seen in many European cities including Bari. He (she?) usually has something to say.

below: Equality has no gender. The black scrawl covers the word “no” which can totally change the message if you’re not looking closely.

below: Rizek (aka Kris Rizek)

I saw two small female figues by Miss Quark

below: One woman bares it all

graffiti sticker of a naked woman with back turned and arms covering breasts, bare bum,

below: And the other has flowing red hair and colourful wings.

There were also Gu Tang Clan posters on the walls in Bari.

Zooming in to highlight some of the stickers – a blue shark in pink waters, a flaming sandal, and Ind–? Jam?.

And last, a selection of work by “Unknown Artists”

There are two large paste up figures in black and white which may or may not be by the same artist. The top one is Mona Lisa is a man’s suit. She’s been leaning on this wall since at least 2019 so although she’s looking a little rough, she’s doing well for her age.

life size black and white paste up of Mona Lisa's head on a man's body wearing a suit, on a stone wall, graffiti

large paste up of a man in blue trousers, on a box on sidewalk, in front a womans clothing store

Photos taken February 2024

downtown Worcester

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Mary C

below: Wrdsmth – “This is my palette. A mere twenty-six deep, yet the possibilities are infinite.” … Plus his typewriter that appears in all his graffiti and street art. The mural also credits PowWow Worcester which was an annual arts festival (for a few years prior to 2021) that was responsible for bringing a number of murals to the city.

below: A tower of women, by Marka27, aka Victor Quinonez, 2016, a very vertical mural on the side of the parking garage at Federal Plaza.

below: A painting by Christina Angelina, another parking garage mural at Federal Plaza

below: Another mural that was painted during a PowWow Worcester is this cartoon-like painting by Greg Mike (2016).

below: Jason Eatherly’s trucks parked beside the old brick building.

below: One of the first murals painted in Worcester is this now slightly faded creation by Caleb Neelon

below: Calligraphy type design, part of a larger mural by Imagine, aka Sneha Shresta.

below: At the YWCA, two young girls in shades of blue on a red background.

below: Keep on smiling!

Photos taken July 2024

There were also murals by Damien Mitchell (below) and Insane that I saw in downtown Worcester but they have already been featured in a prior blog post, (Insane + One)

*****

walking along the Seine

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Mary C

Graffiti and street art seen while walking along the Seine in Paris.

below: Woof woof! Yes Paris!

below: Multi-coloured by Tremos, Peruvian artist living in France

below: At Voie sur Berge (Passerelle Léopold Sedar Senghor), in the 7ème, is this long mural by Michael Beerens titled “Plastique” – it is a comment on the state of our oceans.

large mural in blues on a wall beside the River Seine

The title is French but the word in the mural is English, “plastic”.

part of Plastique, a long blue mural by Michael Beerens along the banks of the river Seine

below: Honey bear by fnnch. There are quite a few of these around Paris and I blogged about them in June of 2022, Honey Bears.

Swallows in flight; swallows with little white halos.

graffiti, painting of a swallow (bird) in flight, with a small white halo over its head

graffiti, painting of a swallow (bird) in flight, with a small white halo over its head. also words that say forever child and joja

below: A “My dog sighs” sticker beside a portrait of a woman with very orange hair.

stickers and pasteups on a metal box, outside, including a painting of a woman in turquoise dress with orange hair

below: A small black and white cat by Copycat, an “anonymeows streetartist” who has painted hundreds of cats.

below: Another Copycat cat…

below: ….. and yet another, on a multi coloured background

below: Another Copycat cat… this time it has a companion, another orange headed woman. She is surrounded by an intricate design and is the work of OJA.

two paste ups, paper, on metal boxes outside. One is a loose-skinned hairless cat by copycat and the other is a woman, surrounded by intricate detailed border by o j a

below: Two faded OJA pieces

below: Re-using many, many can lids – beer cans, pop cans, drink cans.

3 d art, large plywood board with circle made of pop can tops which are circular

below: Are three heads better than one?

below: A sassy blue monkey with a pink heart bum.

below: Mr. Djoul is an artist who creates mosaics, especially of this little green-eyed alien creature

below: Invader mosaic? And in the lower left corner, bright red hair and words that say “My weariness in longing”

below: From the description beside the photo: “Ho–[torn] made a famous photograph of a dying soldier which became anti war icon since 1930s. Later it was proven to be a staged image on which nobody really died… From Russian diaries of Krapiva Netleva” [krapiva is the Russian word for nettle]

faded large black and white photo mounted on an outside wall

below: Four photographs on a wall

4 small colour photos, framed, on a wall

below: On a post overlooking the river.

two stickers on a pole, river seine behind, buildings on the far side of the river in the background

below: This guy gets around! Nourf, by Pimax

below: More slaps and stickers. A Mohawk-type hair style with A2, Natreel (a clothing brand), Tom Azria (faded), and Venus in a witch’s hat.

below: Abstract shapes and colours. Trying to look 3-dimensional.

Photos taken March 2023

another Stornara selection

Posted on March 11, 2024 by Mary C

With over 130 murals in Stornara, it would be a bit daunting to show them all in one blog post so I have been spreading them out a bit. My previous post showed some murals on Via Don Enrico Tazzoli, ‘A Stornara wall’. The first few pieces in this post is just around the corner from those.

below: Five faces looking at you, by Chekos

mural in black and white, with pattern covering, five female faces, painted by chekos

below: A closer look at the pattern of lines that the artist uses.

close up of part of checkos mural, black and white with line texture, woman's face

below: A skull with geometric shapes, by Manomatic

manomatic painted mural of a skull with geometric shapes and patterns of different colours on the forehead

below: Beside the skull, a child looks out the window.

image of child looking out a window, painted on a wall, beside mural by manomatic of a skull

below: Giovanni Castro’s artwork of seedlings and new plant life.

mural, slightly abstract, of new seedlings growing, showing roots and new leaves, a red line runs randomly across part of it

closer look at the seedlings in Giovanni Castro's mural

below: “Never invisible again”

two children walking together, back to viewer, image in a mural, along with text that says never invisible again

below: “Lupin e Jigen” by The Gaetan, a tribute to gay love. Both are characters from a manga series, Lupin III, first written by Monkey Punch (aka Kazuhiko Katō) in the 1960s. Lupin is a thief and Jigen is one of several of his gang members. Throughout the series, Jigen remains Lupin’s loyal and reliable partner to the end.

mural in pinks and blues of two men, one in a yellow hat who is saying i love you

below: Are those words written across his face in place of his eyes?

closer view of faces in The Gaeten's mural of two men

below: There are a number of pop culture references in Toni Espinar’s ‘Mondo Patetico’ that was panted during el Festival COMIXSTREET de Stornara in 2022

large mural with many figures and elements by Toni Espinar, title is Mondo Patetico which translates to pathetic world

part of mondo patetico mural, clown similar to the one on The Simpsons TV program, also a child with the words Stop War on a bandage across its forehead, and a label on the hair saying victim. Krusty the Clown is saying tutto e controllato which means everything is checked

below: Nearby, there are a few more walls that were (or could have been) painted during Comixstreet such as this image – she wears Wonder Woman’s clothes but carried Captain America’s shield. It was also painted by The Gaetan.

two buildings across the street from each other in Stornara Italy, both with murals painted on them

below: A couple of “comic book” type illustrations by Devil Art Design

mural by Devil Art Design, painted for comix street festival, comic book characters, man holding woman who has fainted

below: by Kris Rizek “Donatrix (The great red riding hood)” – she carries a basket of spray paint cans to grandma’s house and no wolf is going to stop her!

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Tag Archives: portraits