Mid-Summer Zin

Original Sold

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My brother, Mike and his wife, Julie had a small hillside backyard in San Anselmo, terraced with stone and covered with rows of Zinfandel vines. Each autumn, he made the grapes into wine with our brother Matt, a winemaker.

I had been waiting and wanting to paint grapes for some time. Mike and I spent an evening in July 2007 with our cameras, the sun low in the sky illuminating the grapes in these outrageous colors. Matt tells us this time of year the grapes under go what is called “veraison.” The grapes begin to change colors in an irregular way – not all varieties of red grapes do this. That they don’t change all at once gives a remarkable show of color. Just as we humans change, in stages.

This image I cropped from one of the photos that Mike took, the first I’ve painted from one I did not shoot. Of the dozens we both took, this one jumped out the most clearly as the one I had to paint first!

This painting was accepted in the 2008 California State Fair in their Art of the Vine exhibit. And a giclee print won second place in the 2008 Marin County Fair Fine Art Exhibit.

November 2007 – 30″x13.5″ – Watercolor on paper