Poets

For HOLLY – HOUSE OF HEART – Poet & Muse

“Don’t tell me what the poets are doing”
“Don’t tell me that they’re talking tough”
“Don’t tell me that they’re anti-social“
“Somehow not anti-social enough, that’s right”

Since discovering Holly and her poetry, years ago, I keep finding her & her poems painted on walls, in alleys, on garage doors, in the market and Graffiti Alley.

This bleak alley went on for a mile, at least. Suddenly … beauty, like a Holly poem.

"Don't tell me what the poets are doing
Those Himalayas of the mind
Don't tell me what the poets been doing
In the long grasses over time"


But my heart can thank Holly, and all the wonderful poets I have found on WP.

Cats – The Big Ones

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.

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.

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!

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 – 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

Tattoo Artist Art

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?

Cameo Blue

This reminds me of an antique coral & white cameo ring I have.

I like it in blue, too.

The profile is characteristic of a cameo carving.

The face, set in a circle, is cameo-like.

They were wildly popular with the Victorians, a renaissance from the Renaissance,

… in a Victorian garden.

Pics taken by Resa – June 27, 2025

Toronto, Canada

The Artist:

So, you might ask outside of the fact that the band’s name is Cameo and that there is a blue hue to much of the video, what it has to do with Victorian or Renaissance cameos?

Nothing, but it’s got a great beat you can dance to and Larry Blackmon’s red cod piece is outstandingly hilarious!

A Cat for Gigi

Years ago, I was looking for cat street art for Gigi – Rethinking Life.

Someone told me about this new garage door with a tiger on it, in an alley near Kensington Market.

It took about 3 hours of alley grid walking, but I found it!

Unfortunately, it had already been severely defaced with tags. No cat for Gigi!

A few days ago, I was in the area, and went through the alley as a long cut to the streetcar stop.

OMG! The Tiger had been restored!

Pics taken by Resa – June 13, 2025

Toronto, Canada

The Artist:

Butterfly Poetess

I find poetry in art, and poetry finds art in me.

Poets paint pictures with their words.

Emotions are drawn.

There’s art in the alleys. Sometimes paintings that remind me of my muse, a poetess, are found.

… and then I’m “Laughing to the sky, up to the sky”

Flirting around, one view than another

Holly, poetess muse, thank you for letting me use your poem!

Pics taken by Resa – April 9, 2025

Toronto, Canada

The Artist: