2023 Mural retrospective

In October of 2021 the awesome and talented Jieun Kim mentored me in my first aerosol mural and I fell head over heels in love. I loved the new challenge of spray painting, as well as how fast and decisive I had to be with that medium, and I loved the community aspect of painting in public. In the spring and summer of 2022 I had the rare opportunity to use an abandoned building as my aerosol practice space/three-dimensional sketchbook in which I was able to hone my new skills and figure out the styles I wanted to paint in (with permission, even!) - a project for which I received a skill development grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2023 I hit the mural road running! I designed/painted sixteen of my own murals, four of which were international, assisted on some friends murals and live-painted at multiple festivals! Not too shabby. I can’t wait to see what 2024 brings. Until then, let’s take a look back at the murals of 2023.

Raccoon Pals, a collaboration with the kick-ass Emily May Rose

Just a regular unicorn, folks.

Be Kind, an interactive paint-by-number mural for the Boys and Girls Club/Hershey’s Canada.

Cruise Week, a charming as all heck mural that ran along all the windows of a corridor at a retirement home in Port Hope.

Do West Fest is one of my favourite summer street festivals so I was thrilled to live paint there. Such good energy!

I love cycling and I love painting and I loved combining the two for this bike lane barrier!

Jieun Kim, aka my original aerosol mentor, invited me to Munich to assist her at the Hands Off The Wall Mural festival. They had a wall to spare so I got to paint my own mural as well!

After the Hands Off The Wall festival Jieun and I had fun painting up a legal wall in central Munich.

My first (of hopefully many) utility box mural.

I’m ridiculously proud of this garage door mural, painted for the KJBit laneway jam. I had a really ambitious idea, pushed myself to try something new, and am so happy with the result.

I love my blobby raccoons! They represent the 2 rambunctious kids who live here (in the house, not the shed).

There was a last minute opening at this laneway jam and I was thrilled to swoop in and paint this garage.

Underpass? More like FUNderpass, with Jieun Kim and Andre Kan.

I went to jolly England for a wedding and met up with a couple muralists from the Hands Off The Wall Festival. They took me on a Brighton art adventure!

In London I reached out to Global Street Art, a rad mural/street art company, and they set me up with this wall. You can’t tell from the photo but, in proper London style, it was painting in the pouring rain.

Liquid Assets, painted on a Bank of Montreal for the Junction’s Window Wonderland mural festival, has an animated component! If you’re on a computer you can use the Artvive app on your phone to activate it.

Just when I thought mural season was over we had one last warm day and I got to paint a mural in Kensington Market!

What a year! It’s bananas to see how much my skills have improved since that first mural in 2021. That’s what happens when you’re determined and tenacious as all get out. I can’t wait to see where muraling takes me in 2024.