Kearny Mesa will be home to a new Padres mural that the Friar Faithful can enjoy. NBC 7’s Allie Raffa speaks to the artists.
The Friar fandom around San Diego won’t quit: Soon, fans will be able to enjoy another public mural inspired by the Padres, this time in the Kearny Mesa area.
Muralists Paul Jimenez and Signe Ditona – the duo behind a local company called Ground Floor Murals – have been commissioned by the San Diego Padres to create Friars-inspired murals around town. Their latest project is underway this way – the fourth in a series.
This time, the mural is on a wall in the parking lot of Convoy Plaza, a shopping center located in the 4600 block of Convoy Street in the Convoy District.
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Jimenez and Ditona began working on the mural in Kearny Mesa bright early Tuesday and did the same Wednesday. By midday Wednesday, the art was starting to take shape. The official unveiling is expected next week.
Ground Floor Murals has already created three other artworks across San Diego County:
- ‘No No’ Joe Musgrove at his alma mater, Grossmont High School, in San Diego’s East County
- Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. doing his iconic bat flip, in Ocean Beach
- San Diego standout Manny Machado, in Chula Vista
For the duo, creating larger-than-life murals inspired by the Padres in San Diego is a labor of love – and feels like a dream.
“It’s honestly pretty surreal, you know?” Jimenez told NBC 7. “It’s crazy to be recognized for it; it means a lot because, you know, me and Signe, we love to paint. We love to make art, so to be recognized for helping our community means a lot.
Jimenez and Ditona were laid off from their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic and began making murals for their friends and family. They were able to turn their art into a career and sync up with the Padres.
“To think we started doing this for fun and it’s become such a big deal to San Diego is really, really crazy,” Ditona said Wednesday. “It feels really fulfilling.”
The muralists said the location of each Padres mural in San Diego has a unique connection to the player depicted in the artwork.
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Who do you think the new mural will turn out to be? Yu Darvish? Jake Cronenworth?
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