Lake Anna Vines

Grapevines are hard to draw. They seem to be in orderly rows from afar but as soon as you get close to them, they become a whirl of green leafy chaos, only now punctuated by the majestic bunches of grapes hanging at carefully pruned intervals. Grapevines are always putting out new viney branches with grabbing tendrils, as if they would seize you or the vintner and make wine out of their human hosts, rather than the other way around. They have a wildness to them which I enjoy watching. It's almost like kudzu, which unfortunately doesn't have the same sort of profitable fruit.

The second day of my short vacation I visited Lake Anna Winery, which is situated on a recently made (1970s) lake which was created to be the cooling pond for an establishment of nuclear power plants. I didn't know that when I was there but I wondered why there was a sign mentioning a nuclear zone or something to that effect. Now I have the fantasy of radioactive mutant grapevines reaching out their glowing green tendrils to take over Virginia.

Drawing is ink and colored pencil on sketchbook page, about 8" x 10".

Modernist Wine Building

While most wineries make do with a rustic re-purposed barn, a woodsy traditional lodge, or a restored old house, Cooper Vineyards in Louisa, VA built themselves a slick modernist wine hall with all the features of 21st century eco-responsibility. Their wood is "sustainable" or recycled from older structures, their stone from local sources. Their power comes from an array of solar cells mounted at the side of the building. The architect, Michael Pellis, is a certified LEED (ecologically immaculate) practitioner.

When I visited, there was no one else visiting but me, since it was on a weekday afternoon. I painted from their deck and sipped Cooper's dry-ish rose. Then I went outside and sat on the tailgate of my artistic car to do this view of Cooper's wine home. Maybe we'll see more of these modernist wine edifices as Virginia wine becomes more and more popular and well-funded.

Drawing is in ink and colored pencil, about 8" x 8", August 11, 2011.

Cooper Vines

By now, in mid-August, the grapes are almost ripe and they will be ready to pick soon. The bunches hang underneath the leafy canopy, which has been carefully pruned to admit just the right amount of sunlight. Under the sun, the vines are golden green. But there are perils for the beautiful harvest: birds, mammals, and insects try to feed on the succulent grapes. Vineyards try many methods for chasing off these unwanted creatures. At Cooper Vineyards, where this image was painted, they have an outdoor sound system broadcast loud recordings of predator bird calls as well as distress calls from various species, warning other birds away from the area.

I sat on the modernist wine deck of the new Cooper Vineyards building and painted this scene. There were no other guests there on a weekday afternoon and so I enjoyed the quiet of a country summer afternoon (minus their pop soundtrack which I mostly ignored). It was quiet except for the artificial bird-scaring racket which burst forth every few minutes. All worth it for the safety of the grapes.

Watercolor of the vine rows is about 9" x 7", August 11, 2011.

Return to Poplar Hill

I took a short 3-day vacation in Central Virginia, visiting wineries and making small art. I stayed at my chosen corner of Paradise, the Inn on Poplar Hill. This bed and breakfast inn is in the town of Orange, VA and is owned and maintained by a wonderful kind couple who are the best hosts. They provide a gourmet multi-course breakfast and homebaked cookies as well. I did a lot of driving through green countryside on winding roads, photographing and observing.

I did this watercolor within an hour of arriving at the Inn. Can't waste that golden August evening light, after all. I sat on the tailgate of my car and painted. Plein air, baby! I think I matched the August colors on this one precisely. This is an old barn on their property. Note the sleeping cat in the foreground. More to come tomorrow and afterward.

Watercolor is about 10" x 8", August 10, 2011. Click on the pic for a somewhat larger view.

Spike Fantasy Battle miniature

Spike McPhee, proprietor of the "Science Fantasy Bookstore" in Cambridge, Mass., was my first good friend and arts patron in the science fiction community. He was the one who gave me information about how to go to conventions, what authors were popular, and what fans wanted in art. He was also one of the first people to buy my fantasy art and amass a collection of my art.

This was one of a number of miniatures I did for him and his circle of friends. It's a standard medieval battle scene without any magical or fantastic reference. As with many others of these miniatures, I'm rescuing the images from badly faded color slides. Some of these slides were bad photographs to begin with, while others have faded so much that the image is unrecoverable.

Spike is still around and has a major presence and virtual art gallery in "Second Life," where he is known as "Paradox Olbers." He maintains a blog about virtual reality activity and astronomy, "Paradoxically by Paradox Olbers." I always remember him fondly as an early inspiration in my artistic life.

As I retrieve these thirty-three-year-old images and place them in digital files, I wonder how I could be so bold and adventurous in making fantastic scenes. Not necessarily this one, but scenes with dragons and unicorns and other characteristic figures which I hesitate to do today. I would love to re-capture my feeling of having fun depicting fantastic scenes, creatures, and people, without wondering whether it was a cliche or a rip-off or childish or tacky.

As usual, this miniature is ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, 3 1/2" x 2 1/4", spring 1977.

The By-Product is going on a short vacation and will not be posted for the next few days. I hope to be back posting by this weekend.

Klaatu Barada Nikto miniature

The client for this nametag miniature (with her initials, R.E.S.), requested an image of "Gort," the giant robot which appeared in the classic science fiction film "The Day the Earth Stood Still." This movie continues to be one of the greatest s.f. films ever made, despite the proliferation in modern times of elaborate computer-generated special effects. I live near Washington, DC, and every time I go downtown I secretly hope that Michael Rennie in his flying saucer would fly in from the sky and plop down on the Mall in front of the Washington Monument. That would show them politicians something, though I don't know what.

"Klaatu Barada Nikto" is ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, 2 1/4" x 3 1/2", Fall 1977.

Fiona of Amber miniature

This is not a portrait of the person who commissioned this nametag miniature. It's a character portrait of "Fiona of Amber," one of the scheming royal family of Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series. She was one of my client's favorite fantasy characters. Ms. Client also asked for a lioness holding a green rose as a heraldic device. My records point out that Ms. Client didn't pay me for the job for a year and a half. As with many fantasy and science fiction fans of that era, she was constantly in financial and emotional turmoil and moved often. The latest information I have for her (2005) says that she reviews erotic fiction and is knowledgeable about "kinky" practices and culture.

"Fiona" nametag miniature is ink and watercolor on Fabriano paper, 3 1/2" x 2 1/4", February 1978.