Sandra Delong

About the Artist
SANDRA DELONG is a Contemporary California Impressionist. With light as the subject she explores the full spectrum of color which permeates every object or scene. She paints with oils in the style of impressionist Claude Monet; his full-color seeing method helps her create radiant, glowing images. This means the paintings are rendered in a manner that creates the illusion of reality through color as opposed to precise drawing. Painting en plein air enhances this method and using a palette knife keeps the colors clean and helps project movement. She explains, “Being an artist is a journey, an evolution. Every painting is a step toward that elusive masterpiece”.

Because of her love of nature and the outdoors, she prefers to paint landscapes or outdoor still-life. She said, “I am inspired by travel and paint to record my visual and emotional responses to the images I see”. She travels extensively in the States and Europe painting en plein air whenever possible. Besides the beauty of objects and negative/positive shapes, she gets excited about color and contrasts and records it to take home with her and share with others.

Since Sandra was not exposed to fine art in her youth she never understood why she created three dimensional miniature landscapes. She arranged rocks, wood, leaves, oriental figurines and other materials into scenes she loved rather than sketching or painting which was not familiar to her.

Helpful to her art growth were classes at Sierra College with Sandra Miller, workshops; in Canada with Bill Alexander, Cresent City with Don Ricks, Auburn with Juan Pena, Fair Oaks, Colorado, France & Italy with Susan Sarback, France with CW Mundy, Canada with Ian Roberts, and various locations with current mentor, master artist Kevin Macpherson.

Sandra is the sole proprietor of a business as a professional tax preparer (Enrolled Agent). She specializes in individual and small business tax returns. She is also a founder and principal member of Chroma Gallery, an artist-owned gallery in Fair Oaks. She is a member of the Placer Arts League in Auburn, Pioneer Art Club in Grass Valley, Nevada County Plein Air Painters, Oil Painters of America and American Impressionist Society. She has won numerous awards and has been juried into local and regional shows.

Her participation in the Placer County Autumn Art Studios Tour, opening her studio to the public for three days in November, has been an excellent exposure for her art.