Sally Delap-John

After 20 years as a watercolorist, I changed to oils when I moved to Truchas, New Mexico in 2007. Where I had painted agricultural themes of California's Central Valley with watercolors, I now had the High Road to Taos to paint in oils. I had painted en plein air all this time and now am doing more studio work with larger pieces. All the principles I've learned through the years are applied to this high desert environment. I still complete a painting in one session, starting with darkest darks, then lightest lights and finish with the middle values. I pre-mix my colors to have three values of each of my 17 colors on a small palette. I still work as though I'm in the field, on location: prepare ahead, follow my process and finish. This allows me to stay in the moment, to catch the sun angles and their light effects on the subjects at hand and keep the comparative values correct within the painting. It is high energy from start to finish.

I grew up in California's Central Valley. We had a creek to swim in, a mountain to climb and country roads to ride our bicycles. I attended local schools: two elementary schools had only three teachers for all grades. I went on to Fresno State. My junior year was life-changing as a year in Florence, Italy. Besides soaking up Renaissance history, art and and architecture I was able to travel during school breaks and went to: Sicily, Greece, Israel, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, France, Spain, Portugal, England Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. I went back to Fresno State to complete my B.A. and M.A. in Geography and Art. I was hired directly after that to teach in Australia and stayed for 3 years, seeing all of the continent that I could. I returned to California and had various jobs as a single earning my living. I worked with pottery for 10 years then changed to painting. I was in a good gallery in Fresno, the Door Art Gallery, was on the board of the local art associations, established a co-op gallery and entered local competitions, culminating with the National Watercolor Show. Life changed in 2007 with the move to New Mexico. I specifically came to have an art career. I got into galleries, and major shows. I have been an artist at La Posada de Santa Fe since 2013, and had my own studio/gallery since 2007.

2-D, Painting (all materials)