The sleepy beach town of San Juan del Sur Nicaragua has some awesome outdoor murals.
The murals are thirty meters in length,
And depict sea creatures native to Nicaragua.
The artist who painted them is Jose Mariano Quintero.
He also contributed murals to Nicaragua’s National Assembly.
The artist’s purpose in painting these murals was to depict the beauty of the ocean’s creatures,
And the need to protect their fragile home.
We are home at The Holler now, but it is cheers to you from peaceful San Juan del Sur~
Thanks for sharing these Cindy. How gorgeous!😍
Murals like this would be wonderful on grade school walls in struggling areas.
I had that Sam thought.
and pediatric hospitals and clinics……Kind minds think alike <3
And library children’s rooms…🤗
Yes. Especially in children’s libraries people forget to care about. Thank you for knowing.
Such wonderful photos! Thank you. 🙂
Thank you more for your kind appreciation!
These are wonderful murals !!
Thank you Gwennie. I think so too.
Amazing where you find them sometimes, Cindy. These are beautiful 🙂 🙂 Have a great weekend!
It’s good to be restless. We see more this way!
How incredible! I love the first one but they’re all absolutely gorgeous 💕
Thank you. I love them and the artist too <3
These murals are absolutely stunning, Cindy. So vivid and painted with such skill. So glad you shared them with us.
They’re probably the best I have ever seen in clarity and colour alone. What great subjects the artist chose too.
I agree with you Vicki. They are filled with love, passion and talent. Thank you my friend & cheers <3
WOW
WOW was not anonymous – it was Derrick
The anonymous comments confused me. At first I thought it was one person and became confused when the comments which were always kind, suddenly turned markedly nasty. It took me awhile to learn that these comments can be from different people, and even from friends when WP logs you out for some reason. Still confusing, but at least I know a bit more.
I didn’t realise there were other anonymous ones. How awful.
Sometimes a person who is not enrolled in WP can comment anonymously. Sometimes WP glitches turn a member into anonymous. So when you see an anonymous comment it could be from anyone.
Ah. I’m pleased I followed mine up, then.
Thank you Derrick.
My little boy enjoyed these pictures, thank you! One of his favourite tv shows is set in the sea (Octonauts) so he was able to correctly identify most of the creatures.
This comment makes me smile. Tell your son I am impressed with his love of the sea <3
A labor of love! Beautiful!
Thanks much & happy weekend!
Wonderful series.
Very happy you enjoyed!
Mural mural on the wall! Oh wow! I’ve never seen such awesome paintings before. ♡{´◕ ◡ ◕｀}♡
You’re the fairest on the walls! Thanks my friend <3
₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡
🐬₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡🐬
wie immer, sehr schön, danke, mache es gut und genieße das Wochenende, Klaus
Danke mein Freund und Frohe Wochenende <3
Reblogging this to my readers at sister site Timeless Wisdoms
Pingback: Murals of San Juan del Sur – Timeless Wisdoms
Your thoughtfulness is much appreciated Ana. Thank you.
Cute sea animals on the murals. They look almost real at first I see but their vibrant colors gave that away.
Yes, hyper-realism which makes an impact.
Vibrant, alive and full of energy…..Thank you 🙂
You are most welcome & thank you!
Perfectly painted, they look real, really beautiful and so colourful. Love it , surely makes the town really special.
They are truly wonderful and I am happy you see them as I do. Cheers to you~
Murales maravillosos.
Stellar photos!
Thank you, Cindy!
You are very kind. Thank you Isabel <3
A fun, vibrant tribute to those whose home is the sea.
Thanks Frank & cheers.
His work reminds one of Wyland.
In the twenty years or so that we have done extensive traveling, it has been wonderful to see how popular murals have become. These are great.
They are reminiscent of Wyland and I hear you. Outdoor mural art has become a beautiful international language.
These are gorgeous shots, Cindy. 🙂
Thanks my friend and hope you are well <3
These are great. Impossible to resist those startling blues.
Aren’t they wonderful. Kudos to Nicaragua for showcasing this artist.
These are amazing Cindy. Beautifully colored and really make you stop and appreciate what we do have and need to protect 😀
Exactly. Thank you Mark.
I love murals anyway, Cindy — but these are particularly spectacular! Wow. Thanks for sharing them with us. Hugs on the wing!
Hugs back to you Teagan & cheers my friend <3
Such vibrant colors! Do you know if the sun fades them over time? (Outdoor murals in New England take a beating from the weather after a couple of years.)
I would imagine the answer is yes and these will fade a bit over time.
I often wonder what happens next when street art is damaged by the weather. Does someone restore it, is it allowed to fade, or is it painted over with something else?
I have seen it fade. In Valparaiso, which was one the first cities in the world to declare street art an ‘Open Air Museum,’ the old art which is now a UNESCO world site is fading. But artists continue to paint up other parts of the city.
Gorgeous artwork – such talent!
Yes, quite impressive.
Wow, just wow. I do love a nice mural, and these are stunning. How can their message fail to impact?
Yes. I feel just as you do. Thank you!
Wow and WOW! Thanks for brining such brightness and beautiful artwork into our day Cindy 💕
Thank you more for your thoughtful appreciation Val.
These are beautiful murals; so vibrant and full of life. I love them and that he painted them to help highlight and protect them. Thanks for sharing Cindy.
Positively impactful art with a <3
Indeed.
<3
I, too, love seeing these murals. The colors are so vivid!!! Hurrah for a town which respects the lives of their neighbors who live in the ocean enough to commission this terrific artwork. Thank you for sharing these images with the rest of us.
Yes I share your thoughts. The impact of this art is powerful and I respect Nicaragua for commissioning it.
Fascinating and beautiful. Love this work!
So glad you do!
These are so realistic and beautiful!
I love them too <3
Murals? Not! Alive!
Amazingly realistic looking aren’t they.
They really pop!! I love them.
Yes the colors and expressions are wonderful.
An amazing artist, Cindy. xxx
I agree, incredibly talented.
We’ve been fortunate enough to be about 1m away from orcas in the wild. The photographs capture the vibrancy of the murals of the orcas, and the beauty of sea life: thank you for sharing that!
The photos of murals are impeccable and beautiful. Thank you for sharing…
There’s very little more I can add to all the amazing responses to the murals captured by your amazing photos. Such murals should not only capture our attention, but also remind us of the immense diversity and beauty of our mostly unseen aquatic life forms whose lives are now at risk because of human behavior.
You said this beautifully. Thank you Rosaliene for your support and eloquence.
That artist is quite talented. You can actually feel the joy in his work. Some of those animals are smiling. Thank you for sharing!
Exactly. I suspect he watched animals in order to paint these. You can tell when animals are happy, angry or sad, and he captured that which must be very hard to do.
I love, love, love your shares…showing me things I would never get to see on my own. ❤❤❤
I love your kind comment even more. Be well <3
🤗❤❤❤
Beautiful art, Cindy 😀
Thank you Irene. We are blessed to have a world full of talented people willing to share their gifts with us.
Very professionally and beautifully executed. Not what you expect to run into while strolling through a town!
Exactly. I was taken by them and wanted to try and capture how wonderful they are. Hope all is well with you and Marion <3
Brilliant colours and remarkable artists who hold our stories and preserve our humanity. Hugs coming your ways!
Hugs back to you Rebecca and thank you my friend. I wish I could beam us over right now to Hudson Bay. The polars are clustering, getting ready to go out on the ice. It would be wonderful to see them.
I adore these shots, Cindy. I believe artists help raise awareness, and that the more public the art is, the more people it reaches.
Beautiful post! In my top 15!
Yep, I agree with you. Artists, like you are a force for change, and always have been, and they make the world more beautiful whilst doing so. Artists rock <3
<3
What beautiful murals! Thanks for sharing your photos of them.
Thank you for your thoughtful appreciation.
Wonderful and beautiful artwork. Fabulous.
I love talented artists who share their work, like you! <3
Fabulous! Really wonderful.
These are exquisite examples of marine murals, Cindy. Wow!
Thanks for sharing these murals. I’m going to share them with friends!
Please do, and thank you. This artist studied the creatures he painted. I have seen smiling dolphins……I want all dolphins to smile <3
These are so cool! Bright, colorful, and fun. Thank you for sharing, Cindy!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder Amy, and you are a good beholder, because this is a talented artist <3
💖💗
These murals are fabulous, Cindy!
They are! Thank you Sheila <3
The colours of the murals are rich and fully saturated. The images include an incredible realism. The ocean’s creatures appear alive and ready to jump out their murals on to the unsuspecting spectator. Great photos, Cindy!
I love the way you describe the art and the subjects. Thank you Peter.
Beautiful! We visited San Juan del Sur last year and saw some of those.
Oh how nice. It is a special place. We were here twice, the first time about 15 years ago, it already has started to change, as places often do, but its good for them. They are getting more tourists and Nicaragua is a beautiful country.
Just plain WOW
Yes. Imagine artists like this who create pure goodness.
Gorgeous!
Alison
Love to you Alison <3
Beautiful murals, so joyous!
Yes, they capture in paint and concrete, truly happy living creatures.
He certainly succeeded in his aim to show the beauty of these creatures.
He did, didn’t he.
pass auf, dass du dich nicht erkältest, Klaus
Danke. Ich versuche warm zu bleiben.
Zeitumstellung gut überstanden, hoffe, du hattest einen guten Start in die Woche, Klaus
Unsere Zeit andert sich nicht bis Sonntag. Sei gut mein Freund und danke.
Those murals are amazing! Thanks for sharing !!
Those murals are amazing! Thanks for sharing !!
Thank you Gary and be well my friend.
ah.. beautiful colour… do you get “colour” in the holler? ie. in your fashion
I do get colour in The Holler. It changes by season. Now winter is coming. The creek will run faster and more furious, the hills and valleys will be carpeted in green, but the old oaks will lose their leaves.
STUNNING! I love his colors.
There is a talented exuberance here that packs a big wallop.
I can see it!
I know. You see very well.
🙂 you help with the vision.
Good <3
These murals are magnificent!
Thank you. They are amazing <3
Those are great. Like being immersed in an aquarium.
Yes it is, thank you, but these creatures are obviously still fully free.
Good point.
<3
Oh my, Cindy!!! To see this first hand must have been breath taking. They are stunning but I wonder do they help? When are we going to figure out we are the reason everything is endangered? I don’t want to live in a world where they are only a painting on the wall and no longer alive in the oceans. Thanks for sharing the beauty of this with us. Wow!!
Well, you know there might be a reason why we feel connected in this big wide digital world Marlene. It seems we think and feel the same. Love to you.
At first glance, those murals look so real, Cindy! I had to look closely to discern but wow they are stunning! Thanks for sharing these with us!
Love to you Terri <3
Wowwwwww this is really impressive!!!!!!
Yes. It is a testament to an amazing artist and to a country who stands by his compassion.
Love these!
So happy you do <3
Talented artists!
Yes. Compassionate careful artistry.
Those are amazing!
Yes, thank you, they are!
Incredible murals! The top one especially caught my attention, since it’s long been a dream of mine to see a wild orca.
I know. Thank you Josh. Seeing wild orcas is an amazing privilege. Be well my friend.
What stunning colors! What a talented artist! Thank you, Cindy, for showing us these beautiful murals. They look like paintings in a museum.
Thank you Debbie. Talented artists who share their art outdoors for everyone to see without a fee are impressive.
Reblogged this on SUSANNE LEIST and commented:
So beautiful, I had to share.
The sleepy beach town of San Juan del Sur Nicaragua has some awesome outdoor murals.
The murals are thirty meters in length,
And depict sea creatures native to Nicaragua.
The artist who painted them is Jose Mariano Quintero.
He also contributed murals to Nicaragua’s National Assembly.
The artist’s purpose in painting these murals was to depict the beauty of the ocean’s creatures,
And the need to protect their fragile home.
We are home at The Holler now, but it is cheers to you from peaceful San Juan del Sur~
People like you my friend are why I so love blogging.
The murals are wonderful. And the last photo? Is that in your place? Beautiful.
Thank you Lakshmi for your kind appreciation. That last photo is of San Juan del Sur Nicaragua. I am sorry I did not make things more clear. Be well my friend <3
Beautiful, Cindy. What an artist! 😺Pawkisses for a Happy Monday🐾😽💞
Herbert the cat, and I, send the same, visa versa 2ux2 <3
What a beautiful vivid handcrafted reminder to us to become more attentive to our environment, and especially so to the oceans of our world, – which seemingly we use as dumping grounds for our waste !! Plastics being one of the many enemies to our Sea Life. May his message reach far and wide, and urge us to take little steps toward – no more plastics – to save our oceans ! Thanks for sharing with us. ❤
He especially focuses on plastics, because of course, they are so detrimental to sea creatures. His art has this wonderful way of drawing you and helping you realize how precious our world really is. And he does it so gently. I am a fan. Thank you for appreciating his complexity.
Re blogged on caresafoundation.Wordpress.com
Pingback: Murals of San Juan del Sur~ — – CareSA
These are so gorgeous! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Thank you more for appreciating them.
Beautiful artwork. He gives the mammals character and personalizes them with the happy and gentle like expressions and the beautiful colors blended in, too.
Yes he does. I know he watched them closely, because I have watched so many wild creatures, and I just came back from hanging out with all these smiling belugas. Be well Joyce <3
What a treat to see this talented artists’ work…the colours are bright and breathtaking…how could we not want to preserve their fragile world?
Yes! Thank you. The fact that the artist makes so many viewers think this is remarkable, isn’t it.
Beautiful, vibrant street art, Cindy. Where are you going next??
Death Valley. Laughing, but it’s true.
☺️☺️
Wow! The colors of these murals are fantastic! What a great find, Cindy! I’ve heard good things ‘bout San Juan there (never been); closest I’ve gotten was a one time trip to Costa Rica & actually met some folks from Nicaragua there (rescued me on a jungle mountain where I’d gotten lost – too many trail options, lol!) 😊
Grazie Felipe. Costa Rica is not a good place to get lost, it’s jungle out there! 😉
Ahhhahaha, so true! And deceptively so! We were Airbnb’ing ‘bout 1/4 or 1/3 way up the mountain from the beaches and the host had shown us the main trail. Only thing was I found lots of side trails, took one, and that was that, lol! 😊
You had a great adventure!
Big smile 😊
Dear Cindy
absolutely amazing. What a great way to make us aware of the beauty of marine life.
Thanks for sharing 🙂 🙂
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
How lovely to hear from you Klaus and thank you kindly. I am heading over now to see what you Fab Four have been up to.
Dear Cindy,
you are VERY welcome.
With warm greetings from the sunny but cold sea
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
You made me smile <3 I love all seas, cold and warm.
We as well
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Once again, Cindy–your photography is stunning and beautiful!
Reblogged this on charles french words reading and writing and commented:
Here are more beautiful photographs from Cindy Knoke!
The best thing, hands down, about blogging, is the impactful people you get to meet and eventually know, people who are both preternaturally talented, and uniquely kind. These are my kind of people. You are this kind of person Charles, and it is a true gift to know you.
Love the boldness!
Thank you. I do too.
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord Blog Magazine and commented:
A special treat for you courtesy of the amazing blog of Cindy Knoke, whose images are always stunning, inspiring and uplifting.. Here is a perfect example as Cindy shares the artist Jose Mariano Quintero’s work in San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua. I am sure you will agree and please head over to Cindy’s blog to view all the images and to add your own comment.. thanks Sally
Someday I hope to meet you Sally. You are a gift in my life, and in the life of so many others, who you touch with your kindness. Thank you my friend <3
That would be lovely Cindy and I have so much to ask you…♥
Visa versa 2Ux2 <3
♥
These murals are so amazing, Cindy. I thought i was looking into an aquarium. 🙂
Yes, thank you and I hear you, but these creatures are happy like this because they are free <3
😀
Magnificent artistry. Beautiful captures of these stunning murals Cindy, <3
Thanks much my friend. They have <3 and joy.
Yes! <3
<3
Stunning! Are they set up all over town?
No, but it is a small sleepy town, so they have a big impact.
Really impressive! I wondered about the size, and whether they are on outside walls open to everyone . (I didn’t read all the comments, so in case you already explained that I’ll look back through them.)
They are thirty meters long, as tall as the sides of a one story building, and they are outside, in the elements, open for all to walk close to and admire. Thanks for caring.
Beautiful. <3
Thank you, and it is lovely to meet you.
Such awesome pics ❤️ Cindy, you are a talented photographer 👌
I am humbled. Thank you.
Wonderful. It looks like painted under water. Thank you for the deep diving, Cindy. 😉 Best wishes,Michael
The way the artist used building walls to create a visual perception of the freedom of the seas, is one of the most remarkable things about this artist.
How beautiful, and perfectly photographed! Those murals are somehow similiar to those the Hawaiian artist Robert Wyland painted in the Eighties.
Yes, they are similar, but this artist paints murals in Nicaragua which has a different recent history, which makes me respect him even more.
Stunning art from a brilliant artist in a stunning location! <3 You don't think he can come paint a mural in my house, do you? 😉 Hope you're having a wonderful week, Cindy!
Those murals are fabulous. Hopefully, the graffiti “artists” will respect them.
I hear you and know exactly what you are saying.
So vibrant and beautiful!
So pretty and colorful. He is a very talented artist!
I agree with you. He captures the feelings of the creatures beautifully.
😀
I love, love murals! I never seem to be in the right place to photograph the super-fantastic ones, but I’m happy to enjoy them through the camera lens of others. These are amazing. Thanks–again!
Hugs to you my friend & thank you too!
You visit the most marvelous places 💗 I love seeing the sights through your eyes 🙂
Traveling with you makes each trip much richer. Thank you.
🙂💗
Beautiful murals – just gorgeous!
There are such good people in this world, and they often aren’t celebrities, politicians, or CEO’s.
Wow the colors are so bright!
They are full of wild joy aren’t they!
Awesome!
Thank you.
What wonderful paintings and a great way to highlight the beauty of oceans.
There are a wonderful celebration of life aren’t they.
Those colours are so wonderfully rich!
I love going to visit countries that are not afraid of vibrant color!
Freundliche Grüsse, Wolfgang.
Viele Grüße <3