Paintings inspired by landscapes, nature and life.

Mariela
Restrepo

Selected works

  • Jardín Monet, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Jardín Monet

    Oil on canvas

  • Un Final Un Comienzo, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Un Final Un Comienzo

    Oil on canvas

  • Volcán Soufrière, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Volcán Soufrière

    Oil on canvas

  • Saludo al Sol, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Saludo al Sol

    Oil on canvas

  • Volando hacia la Luz, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Volando hacia la Luz

    Oil on canvas

  • Despedida, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Despedida

    Oil on canvas

  • Eclipse Lunar, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Eclipse Lunar

    Oil on canvas

  • Tormenta en la Noche, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Tormenta en la Noche

    Oil on canvas

  • Sequía en Salinas, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Sequía en Salinas

    Oil on canvas

  • Coqueteo Cristalino, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Coqueteo Cristalino

    Oil on canvas

  • La Perla, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    La Perla

    Oil on canvas

  • Flamboyán y Mar, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Flamboyán y Mar

    Oil on canvas

  • Tormenta en el Mar, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Tormenta en el Mar

    Oil on canvas

  • Una Mañana Lluviosa en Cidra, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Una Mañana Lluviosa en Cidra

    Oil on canvas

  • Lotus Pond, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Lotus Pond

    Oil on canvas

  • Amiga Fiel, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Amiga Fiel

    Oil on canvas

  • Nacimiento del Tinglar, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Nacimiento del Tinglar

    Oil on canvas

  • Jardín Botánico, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Jardín Botánico

    Oil on canvas

  • Aroma de la Montaña, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Aroma de la Montaña

    Oil on canvas

  • Cerro Tuza, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Cerro Tuza

    Oil on canvas

  • La Ceiba de Ponce, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    La Ceiba de Ponce

    Oil on canvas

  • Lago Loíza, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Lago Loíza

    Oil on canvas

  • Montañas Azules, oil on canvas, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Montañas Azules

    Oil on canvas

  • Flamboyán Favio, acrylic, painting by Mariela Restrepo

    Flamboyán Favio

    Acrylic

It is in nature that I find my greatest lessons.

Mariela Restrepo was born in Cúcuta, Colombia. She currently lives in Puerto Rico. She studied painting at the University of Puerto Rico and at La Liga de Arte in San Juan, Puerto Rico; marble sculpture at the University of Turabo in Caguas, Puerto Rico; stained glass at the University of the Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico; and painting at the School of Art and Design in Altos de Chavón (affiliated with the Parsons School of Design in New York), Dominican Republic.

She has always preferred to explore different artistic disciplines freely, without influences that might distort her perception and execution. It is in nature that she finds her greatest lessons, as nature is her everlasting teacher.

"I tend to paint only what conveys a feeling of love, peace, or reflection to me. I believe that the artist has a mission to fulfill through their work. I feel that mine is to honor NATURE. When I observe a mangrove with its intertwined roots reaching into the water and another gazing toward the sky, stripped of its greenery, it saddens me. It awakens my ecological consciousness and the desire to protect it. The plea for us to protect them remains latent."

Portrait of the painter Mariela Restrepo

Library of Artists of the European Communities

Essays

The Earth seen from space

A Pale Blue Dot

That is where I exist. My entire world is concentrated in that tiny blue dot—who I am and everything that defines me as a human being. It captures my emotions, envelops me in the web of love, in the roles that fate has placed in my path, and teaches me, through its wisdom, to find my place in my cosmic reality.

Get in touch

For inquiries about available work, exhibitions or collaborations, please contact me.

Contact

© 2026 Mariela Restrepo • All rights reserved

The Earth seen from space

A Pale Blue Dot

That is where I exist. My entire world is concentrated in that tiny blue dot—who I am and everything that defines me as a human being. It captures my emotions, envelops me in the web of love, in the roles that fate has placed in my path, and teaches me, through its wisdom, to find my place in my cosmic reality.

A tiny blue dot in the vastness of the universe—that is our home. There, the light and darkness of humanity converge; it jealously guards all our goodness, generosity, honesty, and those great values that define us as human beings capable of the greatest expressions of love for the benefit of others. It also holds all the darkness and negativity we can create against ourselves.

So many things happen on that tiny blue dot. It is home to wars, where the means used to achieve ends matter little. Conflicts born of unbridled ambition, where the powerful subjugate the weak. It is home to all beings created by God in all their forms. How can we imagine that, as a minuscule particle in that cosmic immensity, within that dot there are oceans, beautiful sunsets, and sunrises that gift us a varied palette of colors—and we don't have to pay to enjoy them? An exuberant Nature that offers us all its riches in exchange for respect and protection.

Our home brings together races, creeds, triumphs, failures, hopes, and realities that slap us in the face almost daily when we cast our gaze upon the world: the poverty of our brothers and sisters, famine, and epidemics that are wiping out millions of defenseless beings. All of this takes place on a tiny blue dot, barely perceptible in the vastness of the cosmos.

How I wish I could believe that we are all aware of just how fortunate we are to be part of the universe within a tiny blue dot that harbors a reality that, up to this moment, belongs only to us.

Although the vastness of the cosmos presents itself to us as teeming with stellar wonders, nothing can compare to the privilege enjoyed by all of us who inhabit this tiny dot, for it is the only place where life has been found so far. That is our planet, our Mother Earth… she is our speck of cosmic dust, visible as a blazing ray of sunlight in the vastness of the universe.

We have contributed to damaging it by depleting our ozone layer, cutting down our forests, and polluting our waters; waste at every level has sounded the alarm. Our planet is already gravely wounded; like a wild beast, it tries to defend itself against our mistreatment, unleashing its fury upon us in the form of floods, wildfires, hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes. At the same time, this brings death, hunger, and social and economic problems; it engulfs all of humanity, which feels as if it has been jolted awake from a dream, and confronts us with a hopeless future from which there is no turning back.

Let us set aside our arrogance and accept that, regardless of our social, cultural, and economic status, we are all part of a whole, and we are the only ones fortunate enough, up to this point, to have this beautiful blue planet—full of life and, though tiny in this marvelous universe, the greatest and most important, or at least it should be so for each of us who inhabit it. No matter your status, no matter your blue blood—even the humblest among us—we all need to live, and only here can we do so.

I offer this reflection as a reminder that, when we gaze at the sky on a starry night, we should not forget that that barely perceptible speck in that sea of stars is how one of the probes—Voyager 1—saw us on February 14, 1990, after leaving Neptune behind. Before leaving our solar system, it turned around and took a photograph of our planet from 6 billion kilometers away, in which we appear as a tiny blue dot suspended in space.