Artists who make their living painting murals for public buildings, in restaurants, and on outdoor walls are among the most under-appreciated but beloved artists around. Hamilton artist Lester Coloma started his career over 30 years ago while studying at OCAD, becoming a street artist in the evenings, while pursuing a day job as a scenic painter for film and prop companies.

Coloma’s works are now prominent in such places as the Art Gallery of Hamilton (top of post), the federal office of Foreign Affairs Canada (above), and many other spaces. The design and execution of these two sides of a Hamilton building (below) were done by Coloma and his brother, Norman.

Coloma also hand paints murals for numerous corporate clients, including Whole Foods and Busch Gardens.

Lester Coloma is a first-generation, Canadian-born artist raised in Hamilton by Filipino immigrant parents. Prior to graduating from OCAD University in Illustration, he studied drawing and painting in Florence, Italy. Coloma’s extensive mural work has garnered him multiple local and international awards.

This process video from the Art Gallery of Hamilton is a time-lapse of Coloma painting Masquerade.

Lester Coloma’s website, here.

His Instagram, here.

Want more street art? Check out Graffiti Lux And Murals, a blog I follow:

NOTE: If you are interested in more murals and street art, I strongly suggest checking out Graffiti Lux And Murals here on Word Press for an endless flow of top rate examples found and curated by Resa McConaghey.

Mixed media artist Fabio Corruzi is a long-time favourite on Canadian Art Junkie, most recently because he now blends writing with his art in what he calls “poetry boxes,” like this one.

Dinner Time, Gardena

Night get cosy

and tiny

lights are never enough

tables stay flat in darkness

sounds in wide distance 

night and blue clouds

slim sad lights 

across the street

lost and happy

just outside the door

the boy run to the car

the girl standing

under hot bulb

Day stopped”

©2023

Born in Italy (1975), Fabio Corruzi is based in Los Angeles.

His Facebook, here.

On Saatchi Art, here

Alberta-based Steve Coffey represents the full scale of a multidisciplinary artist. He’s been an integral part of the Canadian art and music scene for many years. He has curated travelling exhibitions, created large-scale public sculptures, taught college, and conducted workshops and art residencies. 

Coffey originally practiced metal sculpture but eventually gave in to his love of drawing and representation and was seduced by the immediacy and challenges of oil paint, which he began exploring full time in 1995. His music has received critical acclaim over the course of ten albums to date.

“I have always thought of the prairies as a place loaded with visual intricacies resulting in what has become this lifelong exploration to capture its power on canvas and in song,” Coffey says.

“My paintings are mental snapshots,” Coffey says. “I don’t paint from photographs and I seldom paint plein air. Essentially I’ll see something that strikes me, file it away in my head and draw on it in my studio. These mental files I call ‘Memory Polaroids’.” – from his artist statement, here.

” My work is elemental, with a focus on nature and the forces with which humanity has to contend. I search for a distinctive atmosphere from the immensity and grandeur of the plains to the human mark etched upon it.”

Steve Coffey has a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Regina (1990), a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Calgary (1988) and a Diploma in Art & Design from Red Deer College (1985). 

Steve Coffey’s website, here.

Galleries that represent his work, here.

His music site, here.

Images: Coursey of the artist

This 480 sq ft drawing room and studio combination is described by the owner as Victorian greenhouse meets southern farmhouse. Located in rural Harpersville, AL, It has 48 salvaged windows and lounging space (more here)

Studio sheds by Ocean East Construction in New Jersey (above) have a modern vibe. (See more examples here)

The lower floor of this 500 sq ft backyard mini cottage in Aspen, Colorado (above) has storage and an office with a library. The lofted studio is open to the ground floor with railings along the side to allow air to flow freely between floors.

This unit was designed by Grey Griffiths Architects for a ceramicist in North London (photo by Adam Scott). It’s been named The Potting Shed. See more pictures here.

Australian artist Tina Dinte (above) “got kicked out of the house,” to a studio created by her architect/builder husband from a recycled shipping container.

In Avalon, Australia, Olaf von Sperl and artist Cindy Goode Milman designed a shed for the corner of Milman’s backyard with a green roof.  Milman wanted a space that would work as both a functional studio and a place of respite.

This 12 x 12′ backyard shed in Tampa, Florida, works as an artist studio or writer’s retreat. From the Historic Shed Company.

A Seattle artist found an affordable studio option with Modern Shed, a structure with metal panels cladding the exterior. Natural light pours in through glazed double doors and clerestory windows.

This project in San Diego, designed by Safdie Rabines Architects, is a studio for two artists seeking a new workspace that would minimize the impact of new construction on the natural landscape of their property. It’s larger than a tiny house, at 800 square metres, but reflects the same economy of space and back yard location of the other studios featured.

The studio was conceived as a “bridge” spanning a small arroyo adjacent to the house, enabling the owners to experience the canyon from the best of all possible locations.  The bridge is supported by two concrete piers on either side of the canyon, and is spanned with two trusses made of top and bottom glulam chords with steel cross members.

See some beautiful traditional studios on a previous Art Junkie post, Studio Envy here.

Canadian photographer Joseph Hartman’s stunning series, The Artist’s Studio here.

Famous artists’ ‘What the Studio Tells,’ here.

Vancouver studio with link to Hyperallergic’s fascinating View from the Easel series, here.