Image Above - Fall Stroll, oil on canvas, 24 x 36

Sally Delap-John

Colorist

     The enchantment of New Mexico is deep for SALLY DELAP-JOHN.  After many years of seeking new horizons, the mountain villages of northern New Mexico have become home.  
   "The plein air experience always presents a battle.  It starts off nice enough, but then...The sun is beating down on you, so an umbrella is necessary.  This requires ingenuity to rig as the wind inevitably kicks up.  Wind will flop your canvas on it's face, while tying you in knots with the umbrella, and dog leash, in my case.  Insects... need I say more?"  
   At the early age of five, Sally literally "pedaled" (on tricycle)  her small pencil sketches to the neighborhood in rural Minkler, California.  Her affinity for art smoldered through early years and began to blossom during a year's study in Florence, Italy.  Completing a B.A.and M.A. at Fresno State University, she took a teaching position in Australia.  The fields of study during college of geography and art found ground for the next few years.  Several years after returning to the U.S. she found the combination of teaching at the local community college and teaching students on independent study allowed time to take a few more classes in watercolor and later oils.  
The wealth of instructors in California's Central Valley was very deep:  Sam Rae, James Soares, Gay McCline, Millie Pepper, and Paul Buxman.  New Mexico artists that have inspired Sally are:  Walt Gonske, Luisa McElwain, and Robert Daughters among others
   As a fledgling artist Sally joined and served on the boards of many local  art associations:  Society of Western Artists, Alliance of California Artists, Kingsburg Art Council, Kings River Arts Council, Sanger Art Guild.  She served as the gallery co-ordinator in Kingsburg and also for The Art Stand, a co-op near Minkler, that she co-founded.  She is a former member of the Door Art Gallery in Fresno; and the gallery artist for Cedar View Winery.  In New Mexico, she served as president of the High Road Art Tour, 2014 - 2016.  She is a past artist for Manitou Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Currently she is a gallery artist at "The Art Hotel", La Posada de Santa Fe and  The Madelaine in Telluride, Colorado.
    Sally has earned many awards and has been asked to judge her peers.   Special honors include: acceptance in California Watercolor Association National show; a 40-piece one- woman show at  Fresno City Hall; participating in two select shows honoring Fresno history; being published in The Vernacular Architechture of Fresno County; and being acknowledged as a contibutor for the Scenic Highway Proposal for Highway 180 in eastern Fresno County. In 2009 pieces were accepted with Taos Gallery, International Show, Taos, NM.  In 2016 her first New Mexico solo show featured 17 vibrant oils of New Mexico.  2016 also saw the purchase of a major piece, Sangre de Cristo Chapel, through the Art in Public Places program of New Mexico.
   She has produced four small booklets of art featuring the surrounding beauty in Fresno County:  Recipes Along the Blossom Trail - a collection of sketches plus recipes; Savoring Minkler - full-color of Sally's paintings and a light history.  Truchas Tales, parts 1 and 2, are now available, stories and paintings of life on the High Road to Taos.   The latest book, Seasonal Colors Along the High Road is also now available.  
   Sally has been a featured artist in the following magazines:  New Mexico, Southwest Art , Western Art Collector.   
 
SHOWS:  PAPNM Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM, October 4 - November 4, 2013, Mountain Oyster Club, Tucson, AZ, November 23, 2013 to January 4, 2014, Cowgirl Up, Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ, March 21 to May 4, 2014, 2016 Solo Show, Northern New Mexico College. 

Her studio/home is in the heart of Sangre de Cristo village of Truchas, #87 on New Mexico on highway 75. 
Websites: www.SallyDelap-John.com,  www.HighRoadNewMexico.com, theartstandgallery.blogspot.com