February 16, 2014

Don DeLlamas San Diego Memorial


                                                                                                                 
Don on a San Diego visit in 1999.

Don was a painter of note.  His abstracts are much appreciated by his wide range of collectors.  His portraits always caught the soul of the personality of his sitter.  How cold that all sounds.  There was nothing cold about Don at all.  He became family.

I met him in 1966.

After a tour hanging out of the door of a gunship in Vietnam, he enrolled in art classes at Southwestern College.  Our GI Bills didn’t arrive.  In response, he started the Veterans Organization there, and soon we had our pittances in the bank once again.  His friends became our friends, and we were a tight bunch of artists and artisans.

He had a series of increasinly successful shows, and a couple of very good galleries, and a pair of really interesting studios.  Part time jobs such as hours at Mad Jacks and Radio Shack kept him going between shows.  He met a wonderful woman in the 1990’s, and he moved to Bellingham Washington with Georges help.

We have had sporadic contact since then, but it didn’t matter.  He was engraved on our hearts with love.

1983 at his studio in Spanish Village, Balboa Park.

1985, June.  San Diego bay aboard the Meg-A-Bob.


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7 comments:

  1. I remember him from another of your posts. Each time you speak of him, I feel more of how great a presence he was.

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  2. Beautiful work. I really like his 'dolphin waves.'

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  3. He looks like 4 different people!

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  4. What amazing riches you have in your life.

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  5. He sounds like a very special man.

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  6. My Mom and I just found out about Don's passing. My Uncle Dan Noetling passed away around the same time as Don, that's very strange.

    IN any case, we're both in Los Angeles, I'm married and have a 7 year old Daughter. Mom and Dennis live about 5 minutes away and are really enjoying being grandparents.

    We'd love to get in touch. Mom is especially keen on reconnecting.

    Love

    William Noetling.

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