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‘If These Walls Could Talk’: Local artist wants to take her painting talents from windows to walls

Catalina Zamarripa first honed skills under guidance of muralist uncle

SAN ANTONIO – Whenever Catalina Zamarripa picks up a paintbrush, she expects most people to look right through her art work.

Most of what she paints are decorations on the windows of businesses all across San Antonio.

RELATED: ‘If These Walls Could Talk’: Organization’s name is synonymous with murals in San Antonio

It’s a way that the recent graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art came up with to earn money and continue refining her talents.

Zamarripa has been painting windows since December as a way to earn money and keep her skills sharpened. (KSAT 12 News)

“Windows are great. It’s great money, but I want to pursue something a little bigger for myself,” she said.

What the San Antonio native has in mind actually is a lot bigger.

She dreams of painting murals on walls all over the Alamo City.

Zamarripa first discovered this passion as a child when she would paint under the guidance of an uncle who is a muralist.

Recently, she got a chance to try her hand at it on her own.

Zamarripa recently completed this mural of fruit on the side of a produce company's building. (KSAT 12 News)

She painted giant pictures of fruit on the outside of a produce business, and a zig zag design on the outer walls of another shop.

The experience, she says, was both rewarding and full of new challenges.

“Painting a mural is--you can’t scrape it off. If you mess up, you’ve got to paint over it,” she said, laughing. “With a window you can just, scoop with a little razor.”

A fine arts graduate, Zamarripa prefers to use traditional paint and brushes, as opposed to spray paint, to create her artwork. (KSAT 12 News)

Those walls paintings, she hopes, are just the first of many to come.

Zamarripa currently is working to make in-roads into San Antonio’s growing mural painting community.

“I know that I’m in a city that will provide me work and will support me in everything that I do,” she said.

For the time being, she will continue painting windows until she is able to open a door to success.


About the Authors
Katrina Webber headshot

Katrina Webber joined KSAT 12 in December 2009. She reports for Good Morning San Antonio. Katrina was born and raised in Queens, NY, but after living in Gulf Coast states for the past decade, she feels right at home in Texas. It's not unusual to find her singing karaoke or leading a song with her church choir when she's not on-air.

Tim Stewart headshot

Tim has been a photojournalist and video editor at KSAT since 1998. He came to San Antonio from Lubbock, where he worked in TV and earned his bachelor's degree in Electronic Media and Communication from Texas Tech University. Tim has won a handful of awards and has earned a master's in Strategic Communication and Innovation from Tech as well.

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