Hello and welcome to Weekend Coffee Share #52! I’m glad you’re here. Please come on in, help yourself to a cup of coffee, or tea, or hot chocolate at my coffee station and let’s chat.
Week 2/ 52
I hope you’ve had a good second week in January. Today I’d like to share some beautiful public art with you.
There is a string of nice parks along Toronto’s waterfront. Back in Fall 2021, I discovered colourful murals in some of these parks. The murals were painted on rectangular storage buildings by professional artists. I watched one artist painting over several days to complete her murals.
The storage buildings with locked doors look like utility sheds or tool sheds for Parks employees to store their tools for park maintenance. They vary in size. Each has four sides and the paintings are all different so it’s actually four murals per building.
Here are the murals on three storage buildings in Budapest Park at 1575 Lake Shore Blvd West.
Dinosaur Murals
- Location: West end of Budapest Park
- Artist: Morgan Groombridge @ Miss Morgan Illustration
- These fun murals seem to illustrate a dinosaur life cycle: Birth, Youth, Maturity and Death
Little Dinosaur Murals
- Location: Budapest Park playground
- Artist: Kseniya Tsoy @al.fergani
Whale/ Deep Blue Murals
- Location: East end of Budapest Park
- Artist: Rene (or Ren) Lonechild
The Medicine Wheel symbol is an emblem of North American Indigenous cultural values, tradition and spirituality. Its four colours symbolize:
- Yellow: spring, time of renewal
- Red: summer, time of youth
- Black: fall, time of maturity
- White: winter, time of death
Budapest Park is a very nice park with big trees, picnic tables, a playground, and a long boardwalk along the shore of Lake Ontario. These murals add more beauty and visual interests to the park.
Which mural is your favourite?
Shared with #ThursdayDoors, #PPAC31.
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Natalie the Explorer 
I love street art and murals Natalie and this was quite an eclectic collection. The kiddie-like dinosaurs were so fresh and cute. I think my favourite though was the superwoman on the West Wall.
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Great choice, Leanne. The detailed artwork on the ‘superwoman’ mural is amazing IRL. The dinosaur murals are very popular with children and young families.
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Oh my! These are wonderful, Natalie. I think my favorite are the dinosaur murals. I love the colors and the various activities. What a great place to take children. Thanks for sharing! Enjoy your weekend, Natalie!
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Hi Jill, The dinosaur murals look cheerful, fun and friendly. I love how the artist included various activities that promote healthy living. Quite appropriate for a building next to a playground in a park. Have a wonderful weekend!
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Natalie, this is such a great way to make something utilitarian interesting. I like all of the active little dinosaurs. We would all be friends!
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Suzanne, I love the active little dinsosaurs, too. I think this is a win-win for the artists to have large surfaces to express their creative ideas and for park visitors to have something interesting to see. The murals would likely bring more visitors to the parks and indirectly promote healthy living.
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Love the west wall, thanks for sharing. I find it amazing how you find something new every week!
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Toronto’s art scene is very active. It continues to pleasantly surprise me and I’m out exploring almost every day.
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I love that you share it. You should be a tourist ambassador!
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What I share is from the lens of a longtime local resident who loves living in downtown Toronto. I appreciate your interest and kind comments.
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I love your image descriptions, thanks for sharing.
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Thank you Astrid. Have a nice weekend!
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Natalie, first of all congratulations on reaching #52 of 52 weeks in a year of Weekend Coffee Shares! That’s a real milestone. Secondly, I love your containers. This is a perfect share for PPAC. One more reason to visit Toronto. I think you should apply to be on the Chamber of Commerce. You’d be a real asset.
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Thank you Marsha. I had a two-week break at the end of 2021 and it recharged me for more weekend coffee shares 🙂 I know you know the work involved to write a post with photos and host a blog link-up. Toronto has amazing public art, both in quality and quantity. I love my freedom too much to apply for any job. I just share what I love on my blog.
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You are lucky to be in a position to be able to have that freedom. Enjoy it.
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Even though I worked and saved hard to achieve my freedom, I enjoy it with gratitude.
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it is a blessing no matter how hard we’ve worked. It’s still amazing. 🙂 You do a lot with your freedom.
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What fun! Love the little dinosaurs – so cute. You’ve really managed to capture the feel of these containers.
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Thank you Barbara. I hope the little dinosaurs made you smile 🙂
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Those are so cool! It’s hard to pick a favorite, but if I must, I’ll go with the one with the stego and t-rex.
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Excellent choice, Janet. The wall with the T-Rex and the stego has a bumpy surface which is hard to paint. I think the artist did an amazing job there.
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I adore how cheerful it all looks. The dinosaurs are delightful. What a fun place to visit.
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Ally, I hope the dinosaurs made you smile 🙂 Have a great weekend!
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What a bright and wonderful way to make use of important but otherwise dull buildings (and doors). I love the little kid dinosaur. It struck me that their tiny little “arms” would be perfect for riding a scooter.
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Dan, The little dinosaurs look cheerful, fun and friendly. I was hoping one of the doors would be opened so I could take a peek but they were all locked.
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This is some lovely artwork, Natalie. I especially like the first set of dinasaurs. Have a good week!
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Thank you Susanne. The first set of dinosaurs is an excellent choice. Have a great week!
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These are all beautiful Natalie. In particular the cute dinosaurs 🦕 🦖
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Thank you Teresa. The cute dinosaurs look so cheerful, fun and friendly.
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These murals are so cute, Natalie. My grandsons would love to see these. Have a lovely week and thanks for the #weekendcoffeeshare xx
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Hi Sue, Your grandsons would love these dinosaurs. There are also two dinosaur figures in the playground for children to climb on and play with them. Have a great week ahead!
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The dinosaurs are all fabulous, Natalie. Especially the first sequence. I always struggle with attribution when it comes to street art. How do you manage that?
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Excellent question, Jo. I always look for the artist’s name and/ or signature on the artwork, and look them up online to learn more about them and their portfolios. Some artists do not have a clear signature and muralists tend to go by another name, other than their real name, which make it a little more challenging. Fortunately, the artists who painted the above murals have signed their names clearly and they’re active on social media so I could confirm my attribution.
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Thanks, Natalie. I imagined that was the process. I’m usually too busy getting the shot and think about it afterwards.
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I love these murals Natalie. You have amazing art in your city. If I had to choose a favourite it would be Young Dinosaurs at Play. It’s very cute.
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Thank you, Jennifer. Toronto’s art scene is very active. The young dinosaurs at play are hard to resist. I love them too.
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Hi Natalie, I really enjoyed the cute dinosaur murals, they were all very clever and brought a smile to my face 🙂
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Hi Debbie, The young dinosaurs are cute and lovable. They made me smile, too 🙂
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Cheerful murals.
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They made me smile.
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Those are some very cool, happy murals!
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They made me smile and the art details are amazing to see IRL.
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I imagine they are very cool in real life.
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Very cool. I think the entire Deep Blue Building is my favorite, though I like them all.
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The whale is one of my favourite whale murals. I like the deep blue colour, too.
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These murals certainly cheer the walk – especially during winter. No favourites, but I do like the colours in the first one.
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The colours and story painted in the first one are beautiful. I think the artist did an amazing job.
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The work that must go into those murals! It must have been interesting to sit and watch the artist at work. Great coffee post Natalie, thank you for sharing.
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Each building took the artist several days to complete, not only because of the workload but also the weather conditions. I stopped by the park a few times to see the work in progress.
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wow natalie! what beautiful art! xo
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The artists did an amazing job with their murals.
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These murals are absolutely stunning, Natalie. You make me long to visit Toronto again soon!
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I hope you visit Toronto again and when you do, please let me know. We can go to this park together.
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Oh my grandson would LOVE those murals. He is really into dinosaurs!!!
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There are also two dinosaur figures at the playground for children to climb on and play. I’m sure your grandson would love this park.
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Those are so very beautiful. So very cool. Loved them all. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
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I’m glad you liked these murals. Thank you for joining Weekend coffee share link-up. Have a great week!
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Those small dinosaurs are just so cute! I wouldn’t have wanted to miss them. Thanks so much, Natalie! Lovely murals!
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You’re welcome, Lizl. I’m glad you liked the murals. The young dinosaurs look cute and lovable.
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My favorite is the beautiful whale on the door and second favorite is the dinosaurs! So cute!! Thank you Natalie for the coffee and for sharing this location with us as this is a beautiful park. Have a great week ahead!! ❤️🤠🐴❤️
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Diana, The whale is now one of my favourite whale murals. The young dinosaurs are cute and they make me smile. I’m glad you liked them, too. Thank you for dropping by. Have a wonderful week!
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I like the East wall the best. I think it’s interesting white is the colour of death. Isn’t it funny how we assume associations? In chinese opera masks, the white one is the evil one, and the black one is the good….
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I didn’t know about the Chinese opera mask colours. Different cultures seem to have different meanings for colours.
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The dinosaur mural is my favorite. The art is so cute! I also love the medicine wheel and its meaning.
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The young dinosaur murals are cute and lovable. They make me smile when I see them.
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Delightful series of murals! What a fabulous way to beautify storage sheds!
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I’m glad you liked the murals. More to see in my next post.
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Wow! They’re all great and it’s been such a long time since I’ve been able to get out and check street art out for myself. I’ve been doing more walks away from people and going to the beach and bushwalking. My favourite is the wonder woman.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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Excellent choice, Rowena. The ‘wonder woman’ mural has amazing details IRL. These murals are outdoors in big open space with no one near them when I was there so I was able to take my time and enjoy them all.
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The murals are lovely! I especially love the last one
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Thank you for your visit and comment. I hope you return to see more beautiful murals in my next post this Friday.
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I am struck by the sheer numbers of murals and public art Toronto has, Natalie (I may have said this before!), such a treasure trove. What a great use of old storage buildings, and there is no graffiti to mar their beauty. You are lucky to have such a wonderful city in which to see this. When our snow melts more, I need to go back to downtown Spokane and check things out–thank you for the motivation 🙂
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Hi Terri, Toronto’s art scene, especially street art is very active. The local government organizes programs for artists to create art and have designated places for graffiti. As a result, the city attracts many international artists, too. I go outside exploring almost every day and have been pleasantly surprised to discover new artwork just about every outing. These murals were done last Fall. I love living in downtown Toronto. I look forward to seeing downtown Spokane once you have time to check things out.
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Natalie, there is such creativity and education in these murals and what a great idea to adorn rather bland containers with these vivid and vibrant designs. Oh, if we have to choose a favourite I think mine would be the dinosaur egg one … and I think partly because my son as young would have loved it too! Thanks for sharing here and lovely to join you for a walk around the park! xx
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Thank you Annika for joining me for a walk virtually. I also like the dinosaur egg mural. I think the artist did a beautiful job with her choices of colours and designs. Have a wonderful week!
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Hi Natalie, I didn’t realize it was quite that late in Toronto. I missed the party, but I think you’ll enjoy my post anyway. https://alwayswrite.blog/2022/01/23/late-night-sunday-stills-wild-eyed-coffee-share-of-one-of-my-memorable-vacations-for-lapc/ Sorry I was so pokey. 🙂
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Hi Marsha, You’re not late to my January 21 weekend party. The link-up is open until midnight EST on Sunday. You just linked to my January 14 post (the week before). I’ll read your post as always 🙂
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oops! I’ll go back and add it. I knew I’d already been to that post, but I missed the date! COVID has gone to my brain!
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Thank you, Marsha. I hope you’re feeling much better. I’ll be over to your blog shortly.
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Thanks, Natalie. 🙂
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I love the deep blues and the humpback whale is my favorite. Still, it would be fun to hang out with the dinosaurs.
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Excellent choice, JoAnna. The Whale mural seems more pensive while the dinosaur murals are fun. They’re quite amazing to see IRL.
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