Blazing Vineyard, Napa Valley

Blazing Vineyard, Napa Valley
12"x16" oil on canvas



This painting of the vineyard was originally very naturalistic, which was fine, but I decided to experiment and alter the palette quite a lot while still keeping the same shape outlines.  This is now a fall vineyard with some sense of the energy which goes into these vines and the winemaking to come.  Fantasy mixed with reality.  This is a view of a vineyard on the west side of St. Helena heading towards a park.  On that point (parks in Napa Valley) the Bale Grist Mill tour was one of the best I have been on and I will share some photos from this: 


Rows of Organic Flours of several types for sale $5

working grind stones





working water wheel

work bench,  nice lighting!

This mill was in Napa Valley long before it became wine making country and the farmers would bring their grist to have it milled into flour.  The mill has been kept very nicely with a lot of hand sawn and scraped timbers.  They still grind flour, corn, and buckwheat, powered by the water wheel during the tour, explain how the whole thing works, and the history of the valley is also shared.  Flour sacks ground at this mill are available to purchase for $5 a bag.  We have been enjoying the buckwheat and whole wheat flour in pancakes.    





This nifty crank machine will take a dried ear of corn and scrape off the kernels and drops the cob into the bucket below.  The dried kernels then get ground into polenta or corn meal.