Winter Vineyard, Napa

Winter Vineyard, Napa, oil on gessobord, 6x6 inches

Driving around Napa, CA is fun anytime of the year. I have been out there three times in the last calendar year to visit my sister and brother-in-law. Taking pictures is actually hard because there is so much to look at. This past holiday when I was there, I was trying to take pictures with painting from them in mind.  This was a scene that I had to eliminate a lot of distracting elements out of the photo, and condense it to the winter vines beyond a grove of redwoods.  The vines were still leafless and therefor brown, but the grass everywhere was green, green green because of the excessive rains delivered to the area in December. Such a vast difference from the drought-ridden fields of last year, same time.  I wish I had time to take my painting gear, visit again in spring and paint en plein air.  I want to study the color of the fields and hills up close and personal.