Crisp street art and found inspiration

Still sick but armed with a fully charged baby camera battery I headed back to the Exchange and on the edge of Chinatown to find the Crisp street art mural. I passed by the new event center that is being built across from the hockey rink

I love this building but for my whole life it has mostly been empty. A few failed attempts at a some restaurants and a bar but nothing ever stays for very long, it must be haunted.

Cool light thingy that one could interpret as an alien or a light saber

An Anne Frank stencil and I didn't see the reflection of the building behind me until I uploaded the pictures because it was so freaking sunny

I love graffiti or art on "Hello" stickers

This shot turned out amazingly and I am proud of it since it required some fiddling around to get it right. I only wanted that building in the shot, not anything else and that blue ombre from left to right is quite lovely *golf clap*

Building from previous shot has tons of these iron star rivets on the exterior of the building

This building is entirely filled with antiques. Like 6 floors of everything from bathtubs, to sewing machines, desks, filing cabinets, door frames, locks, china cabinets...you name it. It is fucking fantastic in there and I all of a sudden want to go take a billion pictures in there

The Exchange is full of all the hip cool design, architecture, marketing and graphics places with stuff like this on the windows. I sometimes fantasize about having a hip cool career where I would work in some converted warehouse with other cool, hip people

Walking along I saw a small piece of paper barely taped to a rusty light pole. I flipped it up because I have an innate sense of curiosity and I found this!!! FOLLOW YOUR HEART!

After all that lovely inspiration this message was scrawled on a wall

But then juxtaposed right beside the angry Sharpie wrath filled rant was a small cluster of soft faded hearts

I cupped my hands around a dusty window to capture the interior of this fucking gorgeous space. My hypothetical hip cool design firm lives in this space...just sayin'

 A bike! Not just a bike! A bike with a story. I know who owns this bike because she (yes she!) was at the Sister Cycle bike workshop that K.P and I went to. She was also at yoga in the park on Saturday. I then happened upon her bike (which is pretty distinct) locked up downtown. I was half tempted to leave her a little note saying we should go for a ride together since the universe keeps showing her and her bike to me, but if that is the case, I will indeed see them again. Her boyfriend built this bike for her...awwww!

I was still headed towards my destination of the Crisp mural. I passed the RRC downtown campus. They saved the facade of those 4 old buildings and held them up with huge steel braces while they built the rest of the campus. This should basically be mandatory for anything in the Exchange because the look is awesome

As I kept walking I spied another perfect square of paper and I got curious. Low and behold....PAY IT FORWARD!

I arrived at the mural only to discover that it was blocked by a bunch of vehicles during the day, ugly bummers!

There were a few small painted wooden block arts around the mural that have most likely been there awhile judging from nail rust

The man himself, Crisp

This piece was a colabo with another what I am assuming is a local artist called "Singlespeed"

 Another painted block

Love this one, drippy paint is awesome

Painted block cluster

 I plan on heading back in the evening when there are no cars to obstruct its beauty

How very post-Soviet era Eastern Europe

This person again! I travel in similar patterns to other people

I like the clarity of the black spray paint and the old peely white paint on the brick

On my way back from visiting the mural I shifted my attention. I knew what I was looking for now...LIVE THE LIFE YOU LOVE, LOVE THE LIFE YOU LIVE...How eerily similar to the "do what you love, love what you do" decal from earlier

LIVE FOR A REASON

Once I shifted my focus they were coming fast and furious and I was squatted down every couple yards...DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

THOSE WHO MIND DON'T MATTER, THOSE WHO MATTER DON'T MIND

I saw this doorway from further back and I just knew there would be one in there...there were 2!

YOU'RE HANDSOME....why thank you and I like that the person who did this tried to be gender inclusive as to who they thought might find the little notes

There was a wasp buzzing protectively around a hollowed out grasshopper carcass 

TELL SOMEONE YOU LOVE THEM...I think that was what the wasp was doing to the grasshopper right?

This one had been stepped on more than a few times. Most if not all the papers I found were face down probably just due to the curve of the paper

YOU'RE CUTE....non-gender specific and I had to weigh it down with that pebble and stick because it was windy and I approve of the grammatical appropriate use of "you're"

Gross garbage and lots of intense spider burrows behind some raw wood that wrapped the lower part of a swank diner called "deer+almond"

I love fire escapes and old buildings

 I passed by this then had to double back once my brain had processed what it had seen

A crusty shoe in an old light housing on top of what appears to be a cue ball?...sure!

New benches which are replacing the old benches. These are not really wide enough for 2 people comfortably if it's hot but it could be done. My guess is that these are designed to discouraged homeless people from sleeping on them like the benches that they put in all the new bus shacks

I love this shot and I have a similar one that I took last summer

Stalkers indeed!