03 Jan ARTIST SPOTLIGHTS: CHRISTY STALLOP

Christy Stallop focuses on depicting Central Texas icons in vivid oil paintings that combine eye-catching realism and good humor. Take, for instance, Feathered Vigilante, from her series featuring the unofficial bird of Austin, where she lives 20 minutes west of downtown. “Grackles are everywhere here,” she says with a laugh. “They’re loud, obnoxious, funny, and quirky. I fell in love with them. And the males have a sheen, a flash of color around their ruffs, that’s exciting to paint.” While Stallop accurately portrays the birds, she adds surreal touches that perfectly distill their personalities: avian twists on elaborate Mexican lucha libre wrestler masks.

She bases these paintings on her own bird photographs and human mask images she finds mostly online. Then, she sketches the birds onto her primed canvas and paints them in meticulous detail against backgrounds like colorful serapes, starry skies, or textured walls. Collectors often find themselves drawn in first by the birds’ riveting gazes. “I paint the eyes early, layering the paint to reflect the light, so a bird starts to feel real to me,” she says.

A lifetime of talent, love, study, and teaching informs Stallop’s work. From earliest childhood in El Paso, she says, “I filled my time drawing and coloring.” She excelled, winning awards and eventually serving as president of the high school art club. Her art-loving father encouraged her to channel that passion toward a more practical direction, and she graduated from Austin’s St. Edwards University with a degree focusing on art education. While her two sons were in school, Stallop did children’s book illustration and then taught art for about 11 years to pre-kindergarten through 8th-grade students at a local charter school. “When my youngest went off to college about eight years ago, I took a sabbatical to paint all these ideas I had brewing,” she says.

Success came swiftly: The first painting she ever posted on Facebook, depicting an iconic Austin lakeside burger joint, sold immediately. Other works were snapped up just as quickly. Just over six years ago, she gained an even greater following after showing in the Austin Studio Tour held each November. “I never returned to teaching,” she says.

Rust | Oil on Wood Panel | 40 x 30 inches | 2023

Gradually, Stallop added other Western symbols to her repertoire. Bandanas, both old and new, in a wide array of colors and prints, proved ideal, presented hanging on the wall as if just lifted off a cowboy’s neck. “There’s nothing more iconic than a bandana,” she says. “I felt fascinated by the folds and subtle color shifts.” By now, she estimates she owns about 50 that she’s painted, with another 50 still waiting their turns. “My husband says that when we retire, we’re just going to open up a bandana shop.”

Siesta Time | Oil on Wood Panel | 40 x 30 inches | 2024

As if Western neckwear wasn’t challenging enough, Stallop recently posed herself an even greater one: tumbleweeds. “There’s something magical about the way they roll over the land. They seem to have personalities. And they’re so intricate to paint against a white backdrop; they create moody landscapes for the imagination.”

Tumbleweed 1 | Oil on Canvas | 24 x 48 inches | 2023

Stallop’s work is represented by Gallery Wild in Jackson, Wyoming, where she has a solo show through February 1; Gallery Wild in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Commerce Gallery in Lockhart, Texas, where she’ll be in a group show from May 2 to June 6; Get Lucky Gallery in Lockhart, Texas; and Western Gallery in Dallas, Texas.

Based in Marin County, California, Norman Kolpas is the author of more than 40 books and hundreds of articles. He also teaches nonfiction writing in The Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension.