Summer Newsletter from Sally Delap-John, former Art Stand Gallery member

(And here is Sally's Summer Newsletter)

2011 Summer Newsletter      
Sally Delap-John

        It’s May 24, 2011 and snowing in Truchas, New Mexico. There has been at least one snow day per week since our move here at the end of April. The stormy days are providing dramatic scenery and light effects, however, and also making it possible to paint a snow scene at this time of year. Maybe that’s not so unusual - I’ll be finding that out in the years to come.
          I haven’t seen much wild life, except in town!!, but last Friday on the way home from Taos, we saw a small herd of deer, and later, an elk. Thankfully all were safely off the road. My dog Freckles, is an unending source of story material. Cattle guards freak her out and the drive to Santa Fe has five of them before you get to the junction at Pojoaque. After cattle guard #4, Freckles jumped up and suddenly we were stopping with the horn blowing. I pulled off and saw that she had pushed the gear shift(on the tree) to reverse. I put it in "park" and we surveyed the situation. All was fine, but it was startling.
          I’ve been out painting recently, but am still trying to sort through all that we moved.. The gallery is open most days. I’m planning a workshop for August 10 and 11. This workshop is open to all media, though I’ll be demonstrating oil. The date is close to Indian Market, as always, so that visitors may enjoy that event too.
          I’ll be updating my website to reflect gallery changes. I have completely left the Door Gallery in Fresno - missing all my gallery-mates and especially missing the class that I’ve enjoyed teaching these past several years. I still have a very few paintings at the Art Stand until the middle of July. Again, a separation from friends and fellow artists that all worked so hard to make our co-op a success, and it continues to go on. I remain the gallery artist for Cedar View Winery, where I’m showing watercolors reflecting the Central Valley of California and grapes and vineyards.
          I’ll be participating in the High Road Art Tour here at my gallery/studio the last two weekends of September - 17,18, and 24,25. I continue to have work at the High Road Market Place, here in Truchas.
          Biggest news is having work accepted at Manitou Galleries new site on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. The Grand Opening is June 24 if any of you are in the area, come and say hello.


From Truchas:

Sally

Early Spring 2011 Newsletter from Sally Delap John

(I'm running behind on many things--here is Sally Delap-John's first newsletter to post, written just before she moved to New Mexico)

2011 Early Spring Newsletter                                                                                                                                  
Sally Delap-John                                                                                                                                                                                                                                My yard is filling with all the beautiful flowers I have planted over the years. So far we have poppies, lupine, calendula, scarlet flax and all the lavender. Sweet peas are filling in and will be blooming soon. What a great send-off it will be when I move to New Mexico at the end of April.

          As the official move is nearing, we made a week over and back at the end of March - just missing the last big storm, and close enough to dodge snow over Tehachapi and around Flagstaff. Past that, it was lovely weather for the overnight in Truchas.

          I’m nearing the last of teaching watercolors to a wonderful group at the Door Gallery. Seeing the growth in them makes it bittersweet. Also have one more demo to do for Alliance of California Artists. I was a charter board member when this group split to have it’s own identity. As a watercolorist I’ve been before this group several times, this will be a first in oil. I’ll also be leaving the Art Stand, a co-op where I was a primary founder. What a joy to see it continuing and broadening in scope. I will remain the tasting room artist for Cedar View Winery.

          I am looking forward to a new, even more art-centric life in New Mexico. Look for me in the Essential Guide, a far-reaching publication. The June issue of Southwest Art Magazine will have a spread on Plein Air Painters of New Mexico and I’ll be included.

News from Sally Delap-John, January 8th Oil Painting Class teacher

Sally is one of our founding members, now spending time in Sanger and Trucas, New Mexico.
She writes:

We are wintering over in California before the big move next spring. Meanwhile, my imagination runs the gamut of the beauties and perils of Truchas living.



Watercolor class continues at the Door Gallery in Fresno, CA. We continue to explore the depths of warm/cool, dark/light like a mantra.
                            

                                                      

January 8, I’m offering an oil workshop during the winter recess at the Art Stand. We’ll be indoors for a still-life study conveying warm/cool, dark/light through creamy application of oil paint. It is open to all levels.


Wishing you the best NewYear,
Sally

Summer 2010/Sally Delap-John/Newsletter from New Mexico

For the past three years, I've returned to Truchas, New Mexico to live, breathe, and create art.  My work there is in oils, on location.  The intriguing hill towns between Santa Fe and Taos offer haunting images for the intrepid painter.  Accompanied by my faithful dog, Freckles, we roam the hills scouting for the perfect painting scene.  Come and stay in the "land of enchantment", check out my gallery in Truchas, and feel the indescribable mystique.

If you paint, bring your stuff and join me or sign up for my annual August Workshop.  The workshop is August 14 & 15.  Contact me for information on where to stay, eat, etc.
 
June  ended without the "usual" monsoonal daily showers.  July began with several nights of fireworks over the high llanos and clear night skies.  Now the rain is coming in strong.  Truchas received so much snow in winter, that the irrigation acequias are flowing full and fast.  One of the older churches that served as a gallery was flooded and the artists had to relocate.

Most of my painting in June has been of Truchas.  During two sessions in Taos we went to original Taos Artist Colony painters dwellings: Blumenshein and Couse.  Both locations are open to the public and have lovely gardens adjacent to them. Last week we went to Dixon.  Apricots were ripening and small irrigation ditches were flowing everywhere.


Happy painting!
Sally

The Madera Ag Show Reception last night, September 17th

Not only was last night Art Hop at the Art Stand Gallery, it was also the reception for the 2009 Madera Ag Show. At the Ag Show, the Art Stand Gallery was very well represented. Artists Kay Owens (featured artist at the Art Hop in Minkler last night), Chieko Delgado, Kathleen Mattox, Suzie Stach, Sally Delap-John, and Deanna Bristow had work accepted and awarded.

Congratulations to Suzie Stach for a first place in the Vines category with a beautiful pastel of grapes on the vine and to Kathleen Mattox for a second in the same category with a 3D mannequin named "Sherry".  Kathleen also received a 3rd place in the citrus category with another mannequin named "Clementine". Hopefully, I haven't forgotten to mention an artist or an award. I'll check the catalogue later and update this post. In any case, the Art Stand Gallery members are a busy group of actively involved artists!

If you haven't attended the show, be sure that you do. The Circle Gallery is in Madera on Schnoor Avenue. If you are traveling from Fresno, take the Cleveland Avenue exit at the north end of Madera. Go over the freeway (west) to the 3rd stoplight. Turn left onto Schnoor and then take the second left you can make into the parking area for the gallery and other shops. Park, browse, and enjoy!

A post in late June from Sally in New Mexico

"May was a wet month, rain almost daily and now we are in the "monsoon season" - more rain. We even had snow on the near by Truchas Peaks (13,000+ ft) in June. Lilacs were blooming all over Truchas and up to Taos for entire month of May. There are pink, fragrant wild roses and yellow climbing roses scattered along the hand-dug waterways - acequias. Now white daisies are covering all the surrounding hills and particularly line the acequia edges."

(Post and photo of beautiful New Mexico painting both submitted by Sally Delap-John. Thank you, Sally!)

Guest Post by Art Stand artist, Sally Delap-John

Truchas Tales:  Pilar

Sally Delap-John has been writing of her painting adventures in New Mexico, where she has bought a home to also serve as studio and gallery.

To paint the church at Pilar requires parking up a little, bitty non-road and then hiking with gear farther uphill. There was supposed to be a group going. The skies looked threatening, but I didn't want to be the light-weight, so off I went. When I arrived, I missed the little road/path to the sight. Took many tries backing up to get about ten feet. I took the even smaller, steeper track up the hill, backed in and parked.   I was just getting things out when Freckles stealthily got out and disappeared over a ridge.  I called and whistled, but no sign of her.  I carried stuff up to the spot, kept looking for her, set up and started painting. I had upset a nest of very large ants, ones that you could see all of the parts of their bodies while standing. Slight adjustment in location.  Later as I was into the painting I saw her on a road below, called and whistled and she kept going.  I saw other dogs, so was just waiting for the snarling sound of a meeting.  Later, she came quietly up and I took her to the van.  It was then I saw that I was parked in part of a rock wall and cactus.  The van sliding door would not close all the way.  I tried and tried, but it wouldn't budge either forward or backward. I went back up and completed my painting - three hours total. Packed up and got out of there. I stopped at the Rio Grande, just a little way on. Tried the door again - no luck. Where the road meets the road to Taos, I got out and gave it one last heave and finally, it moved so I could close it. Did I mention I was the only one there to paint?   That night at dinner I reached down to pet her and pulled out an inch and an half cactus thorn from her side. 

Watercolor Class on Sunday, January 25th. by Sally Delap-John

Sally Delap-John works in her studio at the base of the Sierra Nevada.  Her work reflects her years of studying various forms of art, her joy in creating it, and love of the world around her. She enjoys representing the local landscape in her work and often works en plein air.  Sally Delap-John finds excitement in pure pigments and the endless, beautiful combinations they create.  She enjoys the immediacy of watercolor to capture a scene, a mood, or the light at a particular moment as it illuminates a subject.

Her work is displayed year round in her studio, which is open to the public by appointment.  She regularly displays with Door Art Gallery, the Alliance of California Artists and the Art Stand.  She is a co-founder of the Art Stand, a cooperative of a dozen or so artists who have converted a former fruit stand to accommodate their art.  For many years, she has shown in the Reedley Fiesta, Fresno District Fair, and Madera Art Council Celebrate Agriculture with Art.  Her work can also be found in the Sequoia View Bed and Breakfast/Winery.

You can view her website here for more information and images.