Tucumcari, NM -- If you have not spent time in Tucumcari the past few years, you have a surprise coming.

There is more to this town than The Blue Swallow, La Cita, and Tee-Pee Curios. Much more. Tucumcari is now graced by 31 murals painted by Doug and Sharon Quarles on buildings all over town, including three at Conchas Lake.

Doug and Sharon moved to Tucumcari in 2002 from Louisiana. The Southwest is a far cry from the Cypress trees and bayous of their native land, but after falling for each other, they fell under the spell of the “Land of Enchantment” while visiting Sharon’s Mother in Taos and Albuquerque.

Doug made his living as a sign painter, but the business was changing, so he started doing what he had always dreamed about -- painting murals. His first ones were in Deritter, La. and Jasper, Tex. They only whetted his appetite.

Why Tucumcari? There were just too many blank walls that needed something on them, Doug said.

Doug and Sharon are visionaries, and when you gaze at their murals, you will understand. Both display wide smiles and their eyes light up when they talk about their dreams, that “bolt out of the blue” and the leap of faith that brought them where they are today.

The first mural painted in Tucumcari is on the East side of Lowe’s Super Market located on Route 66 and 2nd Street, and is named “The Legendary Road.” It is 114 feet long, and 20 feet tall, and looking into it, one can see Bob Waldmire’s VW Van heading West on 66.

A favorite is on the smoke shop one block west on the south side. “Where’s My Horse” #1 and #2. A cowboy is looking for his horse through a Jackson Pollock looking abstract painting. On the West wall, the horse is hiding behind the painting. Spend some time looking, as there are hidden features in most of the murals.

For more “normal size” paintings, be sure to visit Gallery 111, at 111 Second St. The building their gallery is in was built in 1905, and is on a 1937 alignment of Route 66. It is full of eye-catching paintings and sculptures.

Doug has a fantastic sense of linear perspective, and a keen sense of atmosphere, which you can see in the murals. Most look as if you could walk into them. Doug and Sharon teach art lessons to both youngsters and senior citizens.

Some of the murals are inside buildings, so do not miss those in McDonalds and the split-screen black and white one in the rear dining room of Dean’s Café, at the intersection of Highways 54 and 66.

You can pick up a map at their gallery or at the chamber of commerce showing the locations of some of the murals, but to find out what they are about, check out their website at: www.quarlesart.com, or better still, go by the gallery and meet them.