Tag: Alley Art

Mandala – Mandala-ish

On By ResaIn Guests113 Comments

Check out this Spectacular Mandala by Graham Stephen of Mandala Vihara!

Mandala – a geometric figure representing the universe in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism.

Vihara – a Buddhist monastery and place of religious education.

For many years I have been a fan of Graham’s mandala art. Every so often on my art hunts, I’ll find something that is not a full mandala, but mandala-ish, and I think of Graham.

It was upon finding this mandala-ish paste-up with eyes in the centre, that I considered a mandala theme post, and dedicating it to Graham.

Better, why not involve him?

I asked, he agreed and said “Looking forward to seeing your collection of street mandalishes + 1 gowndala.”

Wait until you see this “Gowndala”! 

Mandala-ishes Collection

We chat with Graham as the collection is shown.

Resa – What drew you into making your gorgeous mandalas?

Graham – The intricately beautiful sand mandalas created by Tibetan Buddhist monks have long fascinated me.  After spending days laboriously creating those wonderful designs, with great non-attachment the monks sweep away the sand in an act symbolic of Impermanence.  

Resa – That is of keen interest to me, as the ephemerality of street art is what drives me to it.

Graham – So, about seven years ago when I happened to come across some mandalas online created from digital photographs, the thought arose that that could be a fun thing to try.  The best part turned out to be being able to lose yourself in the creative process. 

Graham – That applying orders of rotational symmetry to various real-life scenes of nature, architecture, and so on, should give rise to such an endless variety of outcomes is also rather satisfying.  And then there is the aspect of pareidolia — it can be fun looking for unexpected forms such as faces created by the new alignments of the rearranged slices of reality.

Graham – Digital mandalas may seem to be more durable than their Tibetan sand counterparts, but at some stage they too will, inevitably, be long forgotten.  At another level, and as with any image on the web, their existence is only fleeting — being reborn each time the page is viewed and then dissolving back into emptiness when the viewer clicks away…

Resa – You pair quotes with your mandalas. Are the quotes you pair with your mandalas inspired by the mandala?  ie: you have the mandala then search for a quote that works, OR do you have a quote and then are inspired to make the mandala to go with it?

Graham – Actually, neither!  This part of the process is surrendered to chance.  When it comes to drafting a post, the mandala just gets paired up with the next unused item from my collection of quotes.  Sometimes they complement each other, sometimes they contrast, and at other times there may seem to be no apparent connection — the unpredictability of the random juxtaposition is a bit of fun, with echoes of the “cut-up” technique of Dadaism.

Resa – Oooo, I love that!

Resa – Do you purposely take a photo of something because it will make a fab mandala?

Graham – Rarely.  In practice I tend to review all the shots afterwards when editing a series of photographs and select one or two of any that might be suitable.

I began looking for mandala-ishes everywhere, indoors and outdoors.

I have unfortunately been visiting a friend at the Toronto General Hospital over the last couple of weeks. In the hallway is a Mosaic Mural made from 10,000 tabs, lids, pins, levers, screws and connectors collected over 28 years by nurse Tilda Shalof.

Within the mosaic are several mandala-ishes . Those, and information on the mosaic can be seen in the slide show above. Below is the entire piece.

Très ish mandala-ish

Colour Swirl – Acrylic on Canvas – 1968

The above work of art by Gordon Rayner was hanging in a random hallway, in a converted warehouse/factory filled with artsy retailers.

The Most Beautiful Mandala … Ever!

Lilac Fan Dance is Thunder’s (aka Dale) dedicated Art Gown.

Thinking the texture and colours would make a cool Mandala, I sent 3 pics of her to Graham.

He chose the first one saying,

Graham – “as that one had a nice bit of plain background to the left to create a bit of negative space around the result.”

OMG! LOVE THIS!

Thank You Graham!

Visit Graham from MANDALA VIHARA! It’s a beautiful place.

Street art and indoor art pics taken by Resa – 2025-2026

Toronto, Canada

Cats – The Big Ones

On By ResaIn Cats, Murals143 Comments

For Cat Lovers (& all animal lovers).

I was in a area by the tracks, and not expecting to find anything.

There was an alley across from the front of the building with the word GEARY.

One garage was painted, with big cats.

  • Too cute for just 1 pic!

Talk about a thrilling find!

Yet another mural I was loathe to leave.

It looked new. A passerby told me it was a year old.

  • Hard to pick just 1 shot!

This lion breaks my heart.

What a sweet old soul the artist captured. Humans are not nice enough to animals.

Hmm, I think these may all be endangered cats?

I searched endangered cats and cats on the edge of extinction.

Seems almost every cat, except house cats, are on the list.

Pics taken by Resa – November 18, 2025

Toronto, Canada

The Artist:

A Work of Art & Thank You!

On By ResaIn Reblogs, Thank You's250 Comments

For Yvette

It was a lovely honour to be the focus of a Mini-Interview on Yvette’s Priorhouse blog.

I sent this to Yvette, so she could see the image I was using to say Thank You to her.

Resa @ Graffiti Lux & Murals PRIORHOUSE INTERVIEW 26 January2026

Resa – That image is like me & many …blogging, trying to keep up.

Yvette – That really could apply to blogging, and keeping up during a busy season.

Yvette – I also think it could apply to life – and just enduring a challenging season. There is a certain contentment I feel in that art – with a certain suffering or enduring and I think in another way there might be a hint of performance burnout – ?

Resa – I also think it can apply to life.

Yvette – Especially when you see the full photo – or is that part of the contentment feel- the balancing on one arm and the placement of that other arm is a bit athletic, sure, strong, poised, and in motion – and that adds to it. 

Yvette – Oh and the other elements/principles in that photo street art – we have the soft blue going across the body into the green – giving us this horizontal split that syncs with the body – other line designs stand out – like the hair being in sync with the background and other line design.

Yvette – And you know, the legs stood out on the third look – that is a strong pose – to be sideways – are those “eagle” legs? either way – that is why this feels strong and poised and enduring – 

Resa – Thank you, Yvette! What a wonderful interpretation of this piece of art.

Pics taken by Resa – June 27, 2025

Toronto, Canada

The Artist:

Karen Roberts

JOY

On By ResaIn Murals, Music, Tributes177 Comments

Celebrating the Life of Trent P. McDonald

“Any moron can destroy, let’s create!” – Trent P. McDonald

That is a quote from our email exchange on September 18, 2025. We were working on a collaboration: his new song, some street art and a chat.

From Trent’s description on Youtube – The rainbow can mean whatever you want, but it is not about “Gay Pride” or anything, unless that fits you personally. I just think of rainbows as being the opposite of boxes.

We couldn’t quite settle on any of the samples I sent. Then I found a quadriptych in an alley in Cabbagetown. The colours were perfect for the rainbow he was using in his video.

Trent – I really love the dancers!  I followed the link you sent and also the link that they have, to more info about the mural.  It is all great.

Resa – It sounds like we should go with the Dancers. I’ve been thinking about it, too, and it does fit with your song and vice versa.

Trent – There is the freedom of the styles – from the kid’s drawings of buildings to the Matisse inspired abstract dancers, The color palette is great.  It is very dynamic; the sense of movement is fantastic – not being boxed in at all!  Free expression.

Trent – I am not sure if you want to get into the music nerd side of it, but some questions can centre around the time being in 7-4, 6-4 and 5-4 while most pop/rock music is 4-4 with a very occasional 3-4 (waltz-like).  

Moving Elevation is the official title

Resa – The quadriptych was painted indoors on canvas. They were coated and moved outdoors onto an alley wall of a dance school.

Trent – There is a lot to be said about street art vs “traditional” art.  It is interesting to have “indoor street art”.

Resa – I was thinking that, too!

Children worked with the artists and created the backgrounds.

Citadel & Companie is the dance company that commissioned this quadriptych.

Part of their program offers dance lessons to children.

“It is lit from the blue sky above, even if the sky is covered in clouds.”

The above words are Trent’s, from one of our mails. We were talking about why a pic he took, of a drawing of a trumpet he had done, tuned blue.

That sentence applies to much more than just a photograph. I see it as a philosophic metaphor. Music, in Trent’s life, was always a light from above.

Trent – “For the most part I try to be a very positive person – i.e., my Weekly Smile.  Although I have written some “protest” songs lately and will continue to do so, I want to do it from a positive angle.”

Ghosts

The last panel of the quadriptych seemed somewhat apart from the other 3, because of the figures. My initial thoughts were of dancing ghosts. They now haunt.

Fiyero, one of his dogs had just died.

Trent – And thanks, Resa.  Even though I drove down to the Cape yesterday so should be in a “happy place,” I’ll admit I am a little depressed today.

Resa – Take it easy out there, and be careful. We are not at our sharpest when grieving, or even just blue.

Trent –  Some could be an after effect of losing Fiyero – Some could be just going from being on 100% of the time to being off.  I have had some stomach issues that have nothing to do with stress that isn’t helping.  The news and what is happening in my country is catching up to me as I sit here.

I suggested posting on the 16th of October, or just after. That would give us time to finish the Q&A!

Trent – Oh, the date sounds good.  I will be off line from the afternoon of October 9 until maybe the morning of October 13.  The 16th is perfect.

Resa -Write me tomorrow, or anytime! It doesn’t have to be about the post. Anything you want to say is okay by me.

Music Maker

Trent and I found our palship because of music. Oddly, inasmuch as we both love music and had a special spot for John Lennon, it was equipment, the hardware that instigated out first chats.

As my hubs is a musician/composer/producer, I’ve watched music equipment come and go: evolve from analog to digital, from the McLeyvier (ahead of its time & developed by a friend of ours) to the Synclavier (of which Trent had one).

Trent – Hi Resa, So, I decided to go ahead and do the cover of “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.” I just sketched it all out in a notation program (writing the notes, etc.) and have started to play around with it on the guitar.  I changed keys again from what I do with my instructor to make the guitar part easier.  I bumped it a little higher, but still not what CCR did – John Fogerty had a very high voice!

Anyway, thought you’d be interested to know that I am doing this.  Most likely I will record over the weekend and put it out early next week.

This is what would have been our 5th post together. If you’d like to see the other 4, just click on the banner below. Trent did the drawing of John Lennon.

Pics taken by Resa – September 18, 2025

Toronto, Canada

The Artists:

& the children

Click on the children dancing on the left to go to Eden Remme Watt’s website

Click on the guy dancing by the CN Tower, (on the left), to read about Rebecca Remme.

Click pic to view obit and well wishes

Tattoo Artist Art

On By ResaIn Faces, Garage Doors153 Comments

Le Gasp when I found this garage door.

The colours pierced my side vision from a half block away.

I should have known, even before I got to the door that it was painted by…

…tattoo artist extraordinaire, The Half Decent.

Just another piece of alley art I had to TEAR myself away from.

In real life, it appears black, white, red and silver. The pics weren’t capturing this, so I tried a slower shutter speed, which made the rest too, dark. Below is the comparison.

Normal shutter speed on the left. Slowest I can get on iPhone on the right.

Pano setting created a bluish overtone.

Pics taken by Resa – September 21, 2025

Toronto, Canada

The Artist:

The above fab song, Tattoo, was exhilaratingly performed by Loreen at 2023’s GNTM (Germany’s Next Top Model). Of the 5 finalists presented here, who do you think won?

Fado

On By ResaIn Garage Doors, Music Stars134 Comments

Portuguese Blues

That was how Fado was described to me by a musician. Yet, looking into it, it is that and so much more. It is a proud history of folk song.

The stencil art on this garage door features 2 of the greatest Fado singers, Amalia Rodriguez and Mariza.

Amalia Rodriguez

1920- – 1999

She is the Queen of Fado – Rainha do Fado. To this day she remains the best-selling Portuguese artist in the history of recorded music.

Link to more info about Amalia

In 2021 I found a stunning mural of Amalia.

The Queen of Fado

Mariza

1973 – Present

Internationally beloved icon, Mozambique-born Portuguese singer Mariza has become the currently reigning Rainha do Fado.

Visit Mariza’s official website.

I adore both of the songs, by these Rainhas!!

Pics taken by Resa – April 30, 2025

Toronto, Canada

Stencil Art by:

The Unicorn & the Sprite

On By ResaIn Fantasy Alley131 Comments

Fantasy Alley

Here comes one with a camera!

I see her. Okay, look into the lens this time!

Gotcha!

But remember, you stay on the fence, and I’ll stay on the door until just the right moment!

Where should we take her? Avalon or Arcadia?

I say Arcadia! Dryads, nymphs and other spirits are there.

Good idea, but we’ll have to watch out for Pan and Hermes. They’re roaming around Peloponnesus.

True, but Atalanta will be there, and she’s the King’s daughter. She’ll protect us!

Good point! Here she comes. NAB HER!

AAAAAaaaRRRRRRRGGGGGgggggggGGGGGHHHHHhhhh

Pics taken by Resa – June 27, 2025

Toronto, Canada

The Artists: