By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
“He is amazing. I am addicted, I have a tattoo artist for my building!” exclaimed Sherry Smith, owner of Millers Seawall Grill in Galveston.
Justin Lopez is trending as a muralist in Galveston County and his signature, that includes a social media symbol on each of his murals, is his calling card.
Potential customers see his work and reach out to him.
“I want him to come to my house and paint my propane tank,” Sherry added.
She first hired Justin to paint sharks on the restaurant’s outdoor patio wall, where children are often captured in photos standing next to the sea creatures.
When it came time for Sherry to cover up the dull and drab north-facing brick wall that customers see as they pull up to park, she knew Justin was her artist.
“I said, ‘I want something different that no one else has.’ I’m also a shark freak, so I wanted sharks,”
Sherry continued to tell her story of working with Justin, conveying sheer delight at the creative expression of his mural work for her.
“For her parking lot wall, I came up with an oyster and, of course, a shark, since she loves sharks,” Justin shared as he discussed the thought process that went into his mural.
It just so happens that Justin loves painting sharks.
Turtles, sharks, coral, pelicans, oil rigs, puppies, jellyfish, children fishing, cows, barns, Longhorns, flags, flowers and people — all that is visible in our Texas coastal surroundings has been captured in Justin’s murals. His work can be seen on garage doors, wood fences, brick walls, interior walls of restaurants and homes. Just about any surface that a client might select, Justin will cover with a mural.
Though his main body of work is all about the seascapes or other landscapes and is very realistic, he does venture to design and paint work that is less realistic and open for interpretation.
On the south-facing wall of Halls’ Liquor at 2121 45th St. in Galveston, with an artist grant from the city, Justin had the freedom to express a different artistic vision than some of his other work does.
“This is what I consider a representation of the imagination of children,” Justin said.
The scene features a child on each end of the mural sitting in the great outdoors near the sea.
The viewer is invited inside the child’s imagination with the little boy imagining the ocean and sea life, while the little girl is looking upwards, imagining herself as a part of the sky.
If you look closely under the little boy’s arm, you will find a sunken ship.
Justin reported that while he worked on the mural, a woman stopped by and expressed her praise for his work and its therapeutic sense of helping people like her who experienced childhood trauma.
Born in Galveston, Justin Lopez has never wandered too far away from the Upper Texas Gulf Coast, which he so vividly captures in his murals.
Both he and his wife are Ball High School graduates and reside with their children in La Marque. Their youngest is just about two and keeps the young couple busy with all the usual two-year-old antics.
His career choices have been varied.
“I worked at a plant for a couple years and worked as an overall handyman/contractor,” Justin said.
He also worked at the liquor store in Galveston that now displays his mural.
“I started stocking shelves at Halls’ and moved up to managing the store,” Justin shared. ”It was one of my favorite jobs. Everyone in the neighborhood stopped by, and I got to know their stories.”
Though he’s worked at a variety of jobs, he’s felt called to be an artist since he was a young child.
“I’ve been an artist since I was a kid,” Justin shared. “I was always drawing or doodling something when I was young. I got into paints later in life, but I felt like I lost touch with life while I was just working.”
To get back in touch with life and his artistic expression, Justin enrolled in courses at Galveston College where he studied drawing, painting and composition and other needed art skills.
“The classes were helpful with learning skills, but also I feel like it helped give me deadlines with my artistic projects,” explained Justin.
Before taking college classes, Justin admits he might start an art project and never really have an end date in mind.
When he ventured into creating art for a living, he applied practices he developed during his time working as a contractor to his interactions with each client. These practices include establishing a timeline for the project and giving attention to the practical details of what would be needed to create the client’s vision on a particular surface.
“Each surface is different. Sometimes, I’m painting on corrugated metal, or sometimes it’s a brick wall,” Justin said.
The type of surface affects the time the project will take and what technique he will use. But the surface type never stops the creative expression.
As a muralist, he incorporates all the intrusions on a wall, such as light fixtures and protruding poles or changes in the surface from brick to wood, into the overall design of his mural.
Making a living as an artist didn’t happen over night. He started by donating his artistic talents, but once the word got out that Justin was in town, clients began calling, and mural painting has grown to be a full-time job for Justin.
Justin said he sees his future filled with more murals and hopes to be able to paint on larger walls. He also plans to keep building his skills and developing his individual artistic style.
“My ultimate objective is to have my own style, so when people drive by and see my work, they know that’s a Justin Lopez mural,” Justin shared.
If you would like to see more of Justin’s work or would like to reach out to him for a mural of your own, you can find him at: https://www.facebook.com/artwrkjlopez.
