"Vineyard Commission"

Remember this sketch? This painting was inspired from the Vineyards of John Compagno. A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I went to Portland to see John's vineyard in person. For me, I can't paint something until I've seen it with my own eyes! It was inspirational for me to be there, and "soak" in the beauty of an autumn vineyard. I studied the knarly trunks that twisted in such unique and interesting formations and "sampled" the fruit that hung from the heavy vines. I touched the golden leaves with my fingers, and was amazed at how broad each leaf was--very similar to a maple leaf. After taking hundreds of photos, and "breathing" in the sweet vineyard for a few hours, I felt like I was finally ready to paint it! I sketched up a very rough outline for John to get an idea of what I was envisioning for his first painting, and after he gave the approval, I began to paint. Above is the finished painting, with a close-up of John's house and the texture. It's hard to get an idea of just how thickly I painted the vineyard rows in the foreground from the pictures...but it turned out quite 3-dimensional.

My husband, Matt, being the wonderful husband that he is--took all four children with him to Portland, thus giving me a quiet day to work. He's delivering the painting in person, just to make sure it gets there in time for the Wine Tasting Tour that begins tomorrow.