Chella Gonsalves, Modesto Branch, California
Twin Creek Vineyard, oil,  9×12 inches

Known mainly as a plein air artist, Chella Gonsalves portrays rural landmarks, rivers, architectural structures, and historical homesteads with oil paints, emphasizing light and dark contrast.

“California’s Central Valley provides many inspiring vistas, including vineyards, orchards, rivers, parks, and mountains. This particular vineyard is located near Lodi, California, at the Robert Mondavi Winery. The composition of the old oak, the colors of the vines, the light and shadow, and the distant scene all attracted me to this location for a plein air painting.” — Chella Gonsalves

Susan Crave Rosen, Chesapeake Bay Branch
“Echo #3,” acrylic and collage on paper, 23×27 inches

“I have been painting for over 25 years, beginning when my husband and I retired to Virginia. Starting with watercolor, as many artists do, I wanted a more opaque, sturdy medium and moved to acrylic about 15 years ago. I have added collage of my own painted papers to layered acrylic, often embellished with line.” —Susan Crave Rosen

Doris Mady, Greenwich Branch, Connecticut
“Billowing In,” 20×10 oil

Doris Mady considers herself a plein air painter. When asked, “Why plein air?” she answered, “because I feel alive when I’m outside and the world has so many messages to give us.”

A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, Mady also studied at the School of Visual Arts, Westchester Community and Skidmore Colleges. Following a long, successful advertising career as creative director and graphic designer in some of advertising’s Top Twenty advertising agencies, she decided to pursue her first love: oil painting.

“The Watchkeepers,” photograph by Jane E. Allen, Huntstville Branch (Alabama)

One day, Jane and her husband traveled down a dusty country road in Weumpka, Alabama. As they neared Lake Martin, they discovered an isolated burial site near a church. 

The inscription and poignant epitaph engraved on the granite included the words “A Child of Innocence.” The words “Our Angel” were tucked inside a heart in one corner of the stone. Praying hands and a kneeling angel were in other corners. 

A ceramic Dalmatian, bear, deer, a stonewashed cherub, and a wrought-iron nymph were scatted about the surface of the grave, as if keeping watch over the site. Allen, captivated, photographed the unusual array of compelling objects.

Allen became a letters member in 1984 after winning writing contests sponsored by the Montgomery Branch. She added the art qualification to her membership after several of her photos won awards and were published.

“After retiring in 1994, I finally had the time to enjoy the outside world and its fascinating subjects, she says. “Sometimes, I write a poem and snap a photo; at other times, I capture a subject with my camera and then write the poem.”

Carol Nipomnich Dixon, Connecticut Pioneer Branch  

Gallery Hopping, embroidered assemblage on felt, 13-inch square, framed

Statement from Carol Nipomnich Dixon: I have been drawing, painting, photographing, and experimenting with mixed media collages since I was a child. I like to think that the child in me still appears in the art I do, along with more mature “soul”, feeling, intelligence and wit, expressed through color, texture, shape and composition. For me, art needs to convey a personal, original point of view, along with strong visual elements and well-executed techniques. My inspiration comes from my own experiences and emotions, nature, varied cultures, historical eras, and art over the ages, ranging from Ming Dynasty squares to paintings by Klimt, Kandinsky and Krasner and collages by Schwitters. My most distinctive works are my small embroidered collages, which often incorporate contemporary papers, original photos, and found objects into traditional stitchery. I also owe a debt to my Russian-born paternal grandparents, my grandmother who taught me to embroider and my tailor grandfather who gave me fabric remnants from his shop.