Lisa Kelly turns seawall into work of art

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif.-Mural artist Lisa Kelly is turning a seawall south of Solimar along the old Pacific coast highway into a work of art..

 “I was pleasantly surprised when Jeri sent me a text asking if I was interested in painting the wall and well yeah, hang out at the beach everyday and paint pictures on the wall, it is fun," said Kelly.

Jeri Armstrong Cooper is the Ventura County Parks Manager who helped come up with the art project.

“The parks director and I were brainstorming on the best way to keep the wall out here on the Rincon from getting graffitied and one of the bright ideas was to have a local artist come and do a beautiful mural because artists respect other artists,” said Cooper.

Passersby respect Kelly’s art, too.

A beachgoer who likes watching her work said, “I am very much surprised that is just shifted from graffiti to true talent."

There is a Wyland-like portion of the wall with images of whales and dolphin and there are scenes inspired by real people including the late Mary Jane Centeno who was struck and killed by the driver of a pickup truck.

The likeness of surfer and surf instructor Mary Osborne is also in the mural.

Kelly said, “Being here has been an inspiration, all of the people on here I have seen do what they do here, some of them, I have actually taken pictures of people on the sly while they are hanging out on the beach.“

Kelly doesn’t mind when people stop to watch her work or to enjoy the view and that includes dolphin.

"Dolphins go by every morning when you are here, " said Kelly, "It is just a beautiful spot."

The mural is beautiful, too.