Tag Archives: portraits

Tattersall and Stevenson Lanes

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below: Step Right ….. and Follow along!

pink spray paint arrow pointing right

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.

stevenson alley, lots of graffiti and street art, trash bins, metal kegs stack against one wall,

below: Spiderman likes taking pictures

graffiti in an alley, an image of spiderman with a camera, a pair of red underpants with waistband words going going gone, also a sticker with words end medical weight stigma

below: The Street Art Hunters (aka SAH) are dressed in hot pink!

graffiti poster by the street art hunters, group of three dressed in bright pink coveralls with black masks, psychadelic colours background

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)

graffiti poster by Ryan Callisto, a purple Frankenstein, along with a purple bride of Frankenstein, on a wall behind green metal bars, in an alley

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”.

Frankenstein and his bride, both in green, looking at each other, paper paste up graffiti in an alley

below: A third poster by Ryan Callisto. This time Frankenstein is just a tattoo on her arm.

below: “You’ve got to love Melbourne!”

graffiti with words, you got to love melbourne, with lots of hearts as well

below: Fall in love, not in line

paper paste up graffiti, with words fall in love

below: “Sending you love because wow! what a shithow” and Love is Hell.

graffiti

below: “What if we kissed in the smouldering ruins of capitalism?”

small sticker graffiti in an alley, with cursive writing that says,

below: Little beaded diamond shapes like these have appeared all over downtown Melbourne.

graffiti, little diamond shapes covered in beads to make designs

below: Every deck of cards needs a Joker

playing card with large face the Joker, from the Batman series

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.

paper paste up graffiti, two pieces, in an alley, top is a portrait of a woman, and lower is playing card style, on black, h of hearts,

Graffiti paste up image, playing card style, I of hearts

below: Prince, in purple, becomes the P of Hearts in this playing card style image.

graffiti paste-up image of Prince singing, in purple, P of hearts,

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?

painted street art on a brick wall, blue and yellow striped snake like creature with one big eye and a small mouth with yellow teeth, looks to be smiling
In an alley, wall and shared street zone signs are covered with stickers and spray paint graffiti

below: Two megaphones… and a very determined look on her face

black and white paste up a woman holding up a megaphone in each hand, partially obscured with pink spray paint

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.

old remnants of paste ups on a wall, one is a rabbit with long ears, eyes cast downwards. the other is a woman in profile with a very large hat

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

wall in an alley, some junky projects recycled cans 3D artworks

below: Button-eyed face

faded and weathered paper paste up in an alley

Paper paste ups on a dark wall in Stevenson alley

a section of wall in an alley completely covered with stickers

sticker graffiti with three male faces, on a painted wall, with hand painted hearts

below: What is a Lost Form?

black and white stickers on a pole in an alley, both about Lost Forms,

below: Door covered with posters, street art images

door covered with about 12 posters, all images, graffiti, in an alley, Stevenson Alley

below: Closer view of the posters on the bottom half – SAH, Tweet

about 6 pasteups on a door in an alley, all images

below: top half

about 6 pasteups on a door in an alley, all images

below: Scrawny alien-like character with big yellow eyes and spikey hair. Is there a pop culture reference for this guy?

graffiti, image of skinny alien-like character with big yellow eyes, spikey hair, wearing headphones

below: The Postman and David Bowie

graffiti paste up by artist known as the postman, image of david bowie on a spray paint can

below: A blue Care Bear sticking out his tongue, and Robbo-T times two wandering in the forest.

stickers and graffiti on an alley wall, small blue care bear sticking out its tongue, a robbo-t paste-up of two little robots in a forest

below: Pink hair and blue eyes, times two

below: “Praise be the form eaters”. Any ideas as to what this means?

below: Looking a little closer… Still not sure….

below: Red eyes burning small but intense.

below: Parrot

street art painting of a parrot

street art painting, poster, of a woman's portrait, with red spray paint defacing it


below: Little yellow LEGO guys from Street Art Hunters, one with a gun and the other holding what looks like a container? a camera?

stickers and paste ups on an alley wall, above a door, one is yellow lego characters by street art hunters

below: That’s probably Michael Jackson in the middle.

older graffiti portraits painted in an alley

below: Dried flowers.

graffiti paste up, detailed black and white drawing of dried flowers, on a black wall,

below: “Woman with Feathers”, a collaboration between Adnate and Shida, 2012

portrait of a woman, surround by wispy feathers, high on a brick wall, by adnate and shida

paper paste up graffiti, a realistic image of a hand holding a marker, and a drawing of a blue scooter with an orange balloon

below: “How cool are you in the hot city?” – and more ‘messiness’ in Stevenson Alley.


spray paint covers most of a black and white sticker of a face so only the eyes show

abstract formed by close up of graffiti scrawls and spray paint in various colours

Photos taken March 2025

Beaney Lane

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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.

blue lady portrait, street art, in beaney place,

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.

street art, part of a mural, woman's green eyes peak out from under a head scarf and partial face covering, by matt adnate

Presumably his name is Unger

street art, part of a mural, man in orange sunglasses, a revolver in each hand, yellow jacket with name Unger written on it.

street art mural in beaney lane in melbourne cbd, by matt adnate and heesco

Mission District – Lilac Street

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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

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

stores, on a corner,

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

street art painting of a black panther with mouth open showing large white fangs

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

railway tracks, bridge over carlisle street,

below: Praying. Painted by Pawtl

mural of a man with hands closed in prayer

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

street art painting of two woman, stylize, with short tops, exposed middles, and long skirts with hearts on them. Saturn and a white cat in the background

below: Come Alive Melbourne

cars parked in front of a mural

below:  A rainbow lorikeet

street art painting of a rainbow lorikeet bird, on a tree branch

below: Owls by the door

a door in the middle of a street art painting of owls including two small baby owls

below: More owls

street art painting of three owl faces,

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

weathered black and white stencil of a pigeon, on a red brick wall

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?

paste up of a group of people, very small

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

below: Dana’s Patisserie

upper level, exterior, of Danas Patisserie on Carlisle street, with painting of a woman with a potted cactus and a black and white flower in a pot.

below: Many hands

paintings of three hands on upper level of a storefront, carlisle street, melbourne

below: Flowers and faces

paintings on the upper level of two adjacent stores, one with flowers on a green background and one with four portraits

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

store on Carlisle street beside ramp up to balaclava station, with large orange mural on one side of the building. the word take is above the mural large orange mural

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

platform at Balaclava station, with building behind, has text graffiti that says 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.

stripes forming gradients in blues and oranges along the side of a building including the door to a garage

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

throw up calligraphy type street art,

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

little blue and white graffiti sticker, man walking while holding a cup with steam coming off of it

Photos taken March 2025

Louden Place

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…

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.

mural by vexta and lisa king, woman lying down on a rainbow of bright colours, on her back, eyes closed, hand outstretched with object in hand, in two sections, woman is in shades of grey

mural by vexta and lisa king, woman lying down on a rainbow of bright colours, on her back, eyes closed, hand outstretched with object in hand, in two sections, woman is in shades of grey

… and a little bird stands on her forehead.part of a mural by vexta and lis king, of a black and white bird, black back, black head, and white tummy,

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.

part of a mural by minna leunig, black stylized kangaroos and birds on a white background

part of a mural by minna leunig, black stylized kangaroos and birds on a white background

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.

at the end of Louden Place, high up on a tall brick building, a mural by Cam Scale, a man's portrait done in black paint

at the end of Louden Place, high up on a tall brick building, a mural by Cam Scale, a man's portrait done in black paint

portraits on Little Bourke

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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

large mural by Fintan Magee, a couple on a bed, fully clothed,

a small red car is parked in front of a building with two large murals on it, directly behind the car is a large portrait of an old man with beard and mustache by smug. beside it is a painting of a woman who looks like she is looking at the car

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

portrait of an older man with beard and mustache by street artist smug, also known as Sam Bates,

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

large mural portraits on Little Bourke street in Melbourne including one with two women's portraits 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).

large mural of a young man's portrait by adnate

below: Photos taken March 2025

Ignite, Create, Connect

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

9 close ups of people, raw art works portrait project in lynn massachusetts, many portraits hanging under an overpass,

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

raw art works portrait project in lynn massachusetts, many portraits hanging under an overpass

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 art works portrait project in lynn massachusetts, many portraits hanging under an overpass

15 of the portraits, raw art works portrait project in lynn massachusetts, many portraits hanging under an overpass

raw art works portrait project in lynn massachusetts, many portraits hanging under an overpass

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.
raw art works portrait project in lynn massachusetts, many portraits hanging under an overpass, panel explaining the project, all text

Photos were taken in July 2024

skateboard portraits

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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.

two men's portraits painted each on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alley. one is black line drawing on natural wood colour, and the other is very red

two women's portraits on a skateboard. Top one is turquoise and the bottom one is pink

below: A man with a mustache

man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alley

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.

portraits painted on half skateboards, 3 different men, one in red, one in orange, and one in pink, all on the same pole in graffiti alley, work of positive creations

man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, in red, shaggy hair, and wearing light blue glasses, attached to a pole in graffiti alley

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

pink man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alleyPhotos taken January 2025

walking around Bari

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….. 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

blub graffiti that was a portrait wearing a diving mask, but has been torn so face is gone

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

street art by LeDieSis, Virgin Mary in white robes with blue scarf or coat over shoulders, wearing baby carrier on her front, with baby, superman symbol on baby's back

two pieces of graffiti on a wall, one is frida kahlo with superman t shirt and others is gals are strong as hell sticker

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)

street art by 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.

small graffiti by Miss Quark of a fairy like female figure, nude, long red flowing hair, multi coloured wings, investigating some large flowers

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

gu tang gang graffti

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
graffiti street art portrait of a woman
sticker graffiti, little blue ghost

sticker graffiti, one with 2 motorcycles and one with man in wolf mask

Photos taken February 2024

downtown Worcester

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clock tower in downtown worcester on old stone building, with newer glass skyscrapers behind it

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.

close up of lower right corner of large mural by wrdsmth that is the letters of the alphabet, this photo shows letters V, W, X, and Z, as well as the typewriter and text large mural by wrdsmth that is the letters of the alphabet, with a typewriter in the lower right corner, and the words: This is my palette.  A mere twenty-six deep, yet the possibilities are infinite

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.

marka27 mural of 3 women forming a tower, younger girl on bottom, older woman on topmarka27, or Victor Quinonez, mural of 3 women forming a tower, younger girl on bottom, older woman on top

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

christena angelina mural of a woman in profile, long hair, waterychristena_angelina_vertical-2

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

mural with cartoon like characters, mouse from Tom and Jerry, the word smile, a tiger with long front teeth, an owl with big eyes

close up of mouse and word smile from greg mike mural in downtown worcester

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

old fade blue trucks, mural by Jason Eatherly on the side of a red brick buiding with exterior metal fire escape stairs

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

caleb_neelon_trafficlights-2

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

part of calligraphy type mural by nepalese artist sneha shresta, in reds and oranges on blue background

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

blue portrait of young woman on red backgroundblue portrait of young woman on red background
below: Keep on smiling!

street art painting of a helium filled balloon that is yellow with big black happy face on it

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)

damien mitchell mural in worcester, large portrait of white woman

*****

caleb neelon mural on wall in downtown worcester