Monday, March 18, 2024

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2024 Day Three

Leaving Tokyo tomorrow for Sado, where I hope to see the Japanese Crested Ibis, or Toki, Japan's national bird with the wonderful Latin name 'Nipponia Nippon'. It has been warm these last few days in Tokyo but it's starting to turn colder and it's expected to snow during the two days I plan to be on Sado. I need to find some gloves...

Yesterday and again today has been filled with shopping for items I need that are available only in Japan. Yesterday I secured two of the high-quality brayers I use in making my monotype-based collages at Bumpodo, one of Japan's oldest and best art supply stores. I wandered around the used book district in Jimbocho and stopped in to the English school I taught at when I first arrived in Tokyo. I was vaguely hoping someone (anyone) I once knew was still there, but it's been too long. I tried to visit the Tokyo Kindai Bijutsu Kan (The National Museum of Modern Art), but on a Monday, it was closed.  I did, however, see the Fuji Latex building, an old favorite among architectural oddities. It's built in the shape of a ribbed condom. Fuji Latex, as you may have guessed, is one of Japan's leading makers of condoms. 

Along the Imperial Palace moat nearby I noticed some varieties of cherries are starting to bloom. One tree was being visited by a pair of Japanese White-eyes and a thrush of some kind. They appeared to be taking nectar from the base of the blossoms, a behavior I've noted before. In the moat were Tufted Ducks. Earlier, in Shinjuku, I saw an Eurasian Tree Sparrow, a bird I've never seen before. 

I visited my old haunt, Yoseido Gallery, in Ginza, hoping to see some work by an artist I like (Mikio Tagusari). Turns out that the building the gallery has been in for at least 35 years (when I first found the place) is to be torn down and rebuilt. They are moving to a new location. They promised to send me photos of the inventory they have after they've settled in to their new home. While waiting for the gallery to open, I walked around Mitsukoshi department store, foolishly including the underground food floor, which, on an empty stomach was a mistake. 

Construction everywhere. It's always been that way in Tokyo. Turn around and an entire building is shrouded in scaffolding. Turn around again and a new building is in its place. The  pace of change can be disorienting even when you live here. It's amplified by a long absence. Walking to the station yesterday morning, I noticed a crew laying asphalt on a little side street. On another, they had finished and laid chalk lines indicated where street markings were to go. On my way back that evening, the work had been finished, with 止まれ (Stop) neatly painted in dazzling white. 

Today will mostly be business. Meeting co-workers that I work with daily but have never met. Meeting former co-workers for lunch and other former co-workers later in the day. Preparing for the trip to Sado tomorrow....



Places I'm visiting: Japan 2024 Day Two

Had a fairly random day of wandering in Tokyo yesterday. Spent the morning in Shibuya looking at guitars with my son and then visited one of Tokyo's giant record stores, in this case Tower Records (still alive and well in Japan), with its eight floors of offerings. I spent my time on the 8th floor, which is entirely classical. The selection is amazing. Thousands and thousands of CDs and LPs to look at. The Japanese have a tendency to be very thorough about everything they go about. In another record store I stopped into just the storage accessory section (outer sleeves and inner sleeves of every description) was as big as a small record store at home. Earlier, I came across a small store selling children's school backpacks, which are a big deal in Japan. They are typically red or black, made of high-quality leather, built to last, and costing hundreds of dollars. This store had an unusual range of these all in pastel colors and with large bows. I didn't look at the prices. 

I wandered through a Sunday morning farmers market. Expensive strawberries were a hot item. A lot of artisan bread. Handmade kitchen utensils. Carrots. Eggs. The carrots in many colors. 

Later in the day, visited Kagurazaka, the neighborhood I lived in when Tokyo was my home. It has changed a great deal. All my favorite restaurants are gone. It has been tidied up and prettied up with new buildings. There were a few familiar storefronts, though. The noodle shop at the bottom of the street that I used to go to for tempura soba is still there. The Mosburger next door remains. I walked by the two apartments that I lived in that are nearby. The second of these backs on to the compound where the chief  justice of Japan's Supreme Court lives. At the entrance the  guard stationed there 24 hours a day was at his post. As if I'd never left. 

Feet aching from walking, we rested at a fancy Kagurazaka coffee shop where the prices for a cup of joe ranged from about eight dollars to about 15 dollars. Here was another example of the Japanese doing nothing by halves. Each cup is individually brewed and delivered to your table by a uniformed waitress in the beaker it was brewed in, the coffee then poured at the table, the ritual as important as the product. I was happy to pay just for the rest. The place reminded me of a San Francisco Chinatown teahouse in its design with its square cubicles and heavily detailed ceiling. 

We had had extraordinary luck with food at lunchtime, in Shibuya, on spec adding ourselves to the end of a line that had formed in front of restaurant that serves nothing but mentaiko (salted cod roe or pollock roe) spaghetti. Absolutely delicious. Mine came with a little herbed butter to melt on top. Many of the selections came with little pots of broth (made from kelp and bonito flakes) that you add to make Japanese-style soup-spaghetti. A treat. At dinner time, we were not so lucky. It was a Sunday night, many stores and restaurants were closed. We were craving good sushi, but had to settle for yakitori in Jimbocho, the district I worked in as an English teacher when I first arrived in Tokyo. 

Along the way
, we passed Yasukuni Shrine, controversial because it enshrines all of Japan's WWII war dead, including the men designated as Class A war criminals by the post-war Tokyo Tribunal.


 

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Places I'm visiting: Japan 2024 first day

In Tokyo now for the first time in I don't know how many years – 10 maybe? The cat at home is being taken care of by one of my son's friends who is staying at the house while we're away (Thanks, Jason). 

Needless to say, international jet travel is nothing new, but it always feel a bit surreal to board an airplane in one country and then to deplane halfway around the world only a few hours later. At the same time, having lived in Tokyo nearly 20 years, stepping into the city feels oddly 'normal'. It almost feels like I never left. Quickly the old instincts kick in. In particular, the skill of navigating through crowds, honed over many years, comes back unbidden. Keep to the left, but slip between the edge of the flow and the oncoming flow of people. Don't make eye contact with the oncoming traffic when you need to slip through a tight space. Be polite, but don't hesitate. Almost as if I never left...

Much is the same, but it's easy to note differences. Some are obvious. Even in places that once were quite familiar, landmarks are gone. At the East exit of Shinjuku station the large panels that once were used for advertising the newest movies are no longer there (I can remember when these were actually painted by hand). There are new tall buildings that I can't identify. There are many, many more foreigners than there used to be. Everyone, Japanese and non-Japanese alike has a mobile phone. 

Other differences are more subtle. Taxis were once almost exclusively sedans (usually Toyotas painted yellow) but everywhere now I see stocky black taxis reminiscent of London taxis. I asked a driver who told me they were introduced ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and that they were, in fact, modeled on the London cab. The 'hatsu nori' (initial fare) price was ¥720 when I left last, but now it is ¥500. At first, I thought the fare had been reduced, but I've learned that that ¥500 today buys you only the first kilometer. ¥720 used to buy you the first two. Every taxi has a GPS now – a very welcome development considering the confusing address system used in Japan; taxi drivers can actually get you where you're going now, although they seem no better at driving smoothly. There are video screens in the back of the cabs. Gone are the rows of advertising pamphlets selling things like spirulina health drinks or promoting temporary staffing agencies that I used to perfunctorily peruse on a short ride. 

The trains are subtley different. There are now announcements in English. Every station appears to have been given a letter-and-number code that I'm guessing was another innovation for the Olympics. The codes make it easy to navigate without remembering station names. The train colors are slightly different in some cases. The dangling grab-irons are coordinated with the color of the train line. As in the taxis, paper advertising has largely been replaced by LCD screens, which seem colder than the posters tucked into the curved spaces above the baggage racks that used to be there. I can remember occasionally seeing young men whose job it was to go through the cars while stopped, removing outdated posters and replacing them with new ones. Now it's all digital. I even noticed young women outside the train stations with LCD screens hung around their necks, advertising clubs and restaurants. Everything is digital. Everyone on their phones...



Saturday, March 9, 2024

More serendipitous art: Floor Patterns

This is a section of the floor of the Attico consignment shop, in Sebastopol, which is in the building that was once the local Ford dealership. I seem to photograph the floor there every time I visit. Serendipitous art. 

Serendipitous Art: Backlit Tarp

I saw this abstract scene recently while taking bottles to be recycled (so glad you can now – as of 1 January 2024 – get a $0.05 refund on wine bottles). A tarp hung on a fence was backlit by early morning sun. Unintended art. 

Friday, March 8, 2024

Plants I'm Growing: Heat tolerant lettuce

Last year in the garden, we had particularly good harvests of carrots and lettuce. The lettuce held up well throughout the season, despite the heat and getting less water than it likely would have appreciated. I lost the seed packets (until today). As I will surely lose them again, I'm posting  here so that I'll be able to find the names  in the future and I thought others living in California might be interested to know about these varieties that seem especially well suited to our climate. I've just planted some for this year. 

The lettuce varieties that did so well were both butterhead types, one called 'Kagraner Sommer' (from Renee's Garden but likely available from other suppliers) and 'Rhapsody' (also from Renee's Garden)
.

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 285 (Santa Rosa)

Here's another fairly recent collage. This is Untitled Collage No. 285 (Santa Rosa). August 2, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper (bark cloth fragments), collage. Image size 10.0cm x 9.3cm (3.9in x 3.7in). Matted to 14 x 11 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, see my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

Note that my book Colin Talcroft – Abstract Monotype Collage: 2013–2024 is now available on the website.

If you're in the Northern California area, some of my work is now showing in "Paper's Edge" a show of collage and mixed media work at Hammerfriar Gallery, in Healdsburg, CA, through May 11. I'll be doing a live demonstration of my collage process at the gallery on Saturday, April 13. See you there!

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Wines I'm Making: Bottling 2023 rosé and 2022 Cabernet


I spent some of the weekend of February 10 and 11 attending to winemaking chores I had been putting off. I bottled our 2023 rosé of Sangiovese, made labels, and got the labels on and did the same for our 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. We ended up with 15 bottles of the rosé and 62 bottles of the Cabernet, which is pretty typical. This past weekend I also racked and sulfited our 2023 Cabernet and added oak on the assumption that the malolactic fermentation has probably gone as far as it was going to go, although I did not go to the trouble of doing a paper chromatography test to see. It is what it is.... I treated the wine for a slight hydrogen sulfide smell, which is a reminder that next year I'll need to go more to provide yeast nutrients during fermentation.


 

Monday, February 5, 2024

Rain: More Rain and Wind

On February 4 and 5 we had almost continuous rain accompanied by high winds. Since last reporting, we've had 5.3 inches of new rain. That brings our total at my location so far this rain year to 20.55 inches.

[Edit: Since last reporting, we've had another 0.50 inches. Our total as of February 8 is now 21.05 inches.]

[Edit: Another wave of storms has been passing through since yesterday (February 18) and as of the morning of February 18 another 4.40 inches of new precipitation had accumulated in the rain gauge. That brings our total now to 24.45 inches – and it's still raining.]

[Edit: Today (February 20) it's clear and sunny in Santa Rosa. This is the first clear morning we've had in some time. Checking the rain gauge this morning, I see we've had another 1.75 inches of rain since last reporting. That brings our total so far this season to 26.20 inches.]

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 284

Here's another fairly recent collage. This is the last in a string of pieces I did over this past summer that incorporate bits of a couple of sheets of pseudo-calligraphy I had made earlier in the year. This is Untitled Collage No. 284 (Santa Rosa). August 1, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 19.4cm x 10.5cm (7.5in x 4.1in). Matted to 14 x 11 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, see my website at http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

If you're in the Northern California area, some of my work will appear in "Paper's Edge" a show of collage and mixed media work at Hammerfriar Gallery, in Healdsburg, CA, from February 24 (opening reception 3-6PM) through May 11. I'll be doing a live demonstration of my collage process at the gallery on Saturday, April 13. See you there!


 

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Music I'm Listening to: Michael Tilson Thomas conducting Mahler's 5th Symphony

I attended the San Francisco Symphony concert last night (January 26) at Davies Symphony Hall. On the program was a single piece, Mahler's Symphony No. 5. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted. It was played straight through with no intermission. I hadn't known it before, but, according to the program, MTT made his debut with the SF Symphony in 1974, conducting another Mahler symphony – Symphony No. 9. So, MTT has been conducting Mahler in San Francisco for 50 years. 

The concert hall was packed – not an empty seat. I don't think I've ever seen the place completely full like that before. The entire audience rose to give MTT a standing ovation as he walked on stage. The concert ended the same way – with an extended standing ovation for the conductor, who was looking a little frail, but no frailer that when I last saw him, which was during his first performance after recovering from his brain surgery. Before that, the last time I saw him was in March 2018, in a concert that, coincidentally, included the Mahler 5. That was a brilliant performance. 

This performance was almost as good. There was a little highly uncharacteristic wobbling in the brass section in one or two places last night, but, aside from that, the SF Symphony was its usual highly competent self. MTT takes this piece slowly, letting the spaces speak in a way that is highly effective, never rushing. As I've noted before, I've not been especially fond of MTT as a conductor over the years – except when he does Mahler. 

MTT looked deeply touched by the long ovation after the performance, after a few minutes he raised his hands to stop the applause and he addressed the audience. He thanked the orchestra and the audience for the many years and many experiences shared by all of us. He seemed a bit wistful, giving the impression that he knows and has accepted the fact that most of his career and his life are behind him. The entire audience seemed to understand. There was much love in the air.

Rain: More storms

We've had a number of storms pass through in recent days (today is January 27). I hadn't checked the rain gauge for a few days, but this morning I found 4.8 inches had accumulated. That brings our total for the current rain year so far to 15.25 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa. 

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Art I'm Making: Show at Hammerfriar Gallery

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be participating in a show of collage and mixed media work along with Molly Perez and Deborah Salomon at Hammerfriar Gallery, in Healdsburg, from February 24 to May 11, 2024. There will be an opening reception on Saturday February 24 (3PM-6PM) and I will be doing a collage demonstration at the gallery on Saturday, April 13 at noon. I hope to see you there.



Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Art I'm Looking at: Botticelli at the Legion of Honor

I found a recent article on Hyperallergic about drawing on blue paper interesting (actually a review of a book on the subject) – particularly interesting having recently seen the show of Botticelli drawings now at the Legion of Honor, in San Francisco.

It was striking that so many of the Botticelli drawings were done in ink on tinted paper, mostly pink paper in this case, heightened with white chalk. 

While at the Botticelli show, I was startled when a living Botticelli appeared beside me, gazing at the drawings on the wall. Her hair was long and blonde, flowing in loose curls, and her doe-eyed face was dainty with a pointed chin. Had she not been dressed in modern, casual clothing, she could have emerged from Botticelli's Primavera. It was all I could do to keep myself from staring at her. I had to wonder whether it was pure coincidence or whether she had done her hair that way purposefully, to create a stir. If she hadn't been wearing headphones, listening to a taped tour of the show, I would have approached her and asked her to pose in front of one of the drawings. Surreptitiously, I photographed her. She gave me goosebumps. 



Saturday, January 13, 2024

Rain: New Precipitation

It's raining this morning, January 13, 2024, a light drizzle. There is 3.55 inches of rain accumulated in the rain gauge, but that's rain from earlier in the month that I haven't yet recorded. Adding that to our last total of 6.90 inches brings the total so far this season to 10.45 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa, which is on the low side for this time of year, but it's supposed to rain most of today and there's more rain in the forecast for next weekend. 

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Art I'm Making: Untitled Colage No. 283 (Santa Rosa)

Still catching up on posting recent work. This one, a small piece measuring 9.7cm x 12.3cm (3.8 x 4.8 inches), completed July 13, 2023, is Untitled Collage No. 283 (Santa Rosa). Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Matted to 11in x 14in. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage, visit my website http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Books I'm Reading: New Art City

2023 has not been a great year for reading. There was a time, when, living in Tokyo, when I had a long commute, that I read a book a week or more using my time on the train to and from work. Since returning to the US, 22 years ago now, I've been reading a book a month or so, but this year, with the death of my mother in January and all the responsibilities that stemmed from that, I've been able to get through only a handful of titles. 

I most recently finished Jed Perl's New Art City (Vintage, 2007), which was an interesting look at New York in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, but rather dense and I was slow to get through it. It starts off with a chapter that underscores the importance of Hans Hoffman as a teacher in New York in the 1930s before moving on to look at the major artists of the period based in New York – Joseph Cornell, Jackson Pollack, Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly, Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, and others – as well as the critics who were writing about these men and women. Inspired, I'm now reading a book about Helen Frankenthaler, and I have another on deck specifically, about the women who were working as artists in New York during the period. So many books, so little time....

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 282 (Santa Rosa)

A collage from earlier this year, again incorporating some pseudo-calligraphic brushwork. For me, a comparatively large piece. This is Untitled Collage No. 282 (Santa Rosa). 30 June 2023. Image size: 32.3cm x 41.2cm (12.7in x 16.2in). Matted to 20 x 24 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website at http://ctalcroft.wixsite.com/collage-site/


Rain: End-December Rain

Today, 27 December, it's been raining most of the day and the rain continues. So far there's 0.80 inches of new rain in the rain gauge, but it's supposed to continue to rain into tomorrow, at which time I will update our total precipitation so far in the current rain year. 

Friday, December 22, 2023

Art I'm Making Untitled Collage No. 281 (Santa Rosa)

Here's a small collage from the middle of this year. This is Untitled Collage No. 281 (Santa Rosa). June 14, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size 11.7cm x 9.2cm (4.6 x 3.6 inches). Matted to 14 x 11 inches. Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

Rain: New rain in December

In the past few days, mostly December 19 and 20, we have had rain on and off. This morning there was 3.05 inches of new rain in the rain gauge. That brings our total so far for the 2023-2024 rain year to 6.90 inches at my location in northeast Santa Rosa, which seems low for this time of year, but more rain is forecast for next week. 

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Art I'm Making: Untittled Collage No. 280 (Santa Rosa)


Earlier this year
, I made seven or eight collages using my usual handmade monotypes but also several sheets I had made simply by painting with black paint on paper, mimicking calligraphy, although this was asemic writing – that is, gibberish; I was simply using the brush as if writing characters, drawing on my informal study of Japanese calligraphy (I lived in Japan 19 years). Here's another in that group of collages.

This is Untitled Collage No. 280 (Santa Rosa). Completed March 23, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 10.3cm x 11.8cm (4.1in x 4.7in). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. 
 
Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

Rain: November-December 2023

I've not been diligent in recording rainfall this season. I've a lot to deal with in the past few months, but I note here that we've had rain on and off in the past few weeks, although nothing in the way of a major storm yet. There is 3.80 inches in the rain gauge, which I haven't emptied recently, so that may be fairly accurate (it is raining now, so it will go up). In any case, I'll use it as my starting point recording rainfall going forward for the 2023-2024 rainy season.

Monday, November 20, 2023

Art I'm Making Untitled Collage No. 279 (Santa Rosa)

Earlier this year, I made seven or eight collages using my usual handmade monotypes but also several sheets I had made simply by painting with black paint on paper, mimicking calligraphy, although this was asemic writing – that is, gibberish; I was simply using the brush as if writing characters, drawing on my informal study of Japanese calligraphy (I lived in Japan 19 years). Here's another in that group of collages, a small piece.

This is Untitled Collage No. 279 (Santa Rosa). Completed March 23, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 10.3cm x 11.8cm (4.1in x 4.7in). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

Monday, November 13, 2023

Wines I'm Making: 2023 Grape Pressing

Yesterday, November 11, the fermentation of this year's wines largely over, I racked the Sangiovese rosé into the container it will rest in until it clears. I added the yeast on October 23, so it was a long, slow fermentation of 19 days (8-12 days is typical for the rosé). Because of the late harvest this year, we had much cooler weather during fermentation than usual. We'll get 15 bottles of 2023 rosé. The wine should be ready to drink before Christmas.

I also pressed the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. We ended up with 12 gallons of pressed wine, which will yield 60 bottles of wine. I added the yeast to the Cabernet on October 26 after a four-day cold soak. Fermentation took 16 days, which is slightly longer than usual (typically 12-14 days). The next step will be to inoculate the new wine to start malolactic fermentation. In addition, it will soon be time to bottle our 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc wine, which has been resting since this time last year. Thanks to my friends David and Kimiko for their help with the pressing yesterday. 

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 278 (Santa Rosa)

In the early part of this year, I made seven or eight collages using my usual handmade monotypes but also several sheets I had made by just painting with black paint on paper, mimicking calligraphy, although this was asemic writing – that is, gibberish; I was simply using the brush as if writing characters, drawing on my informal study of Japanese calligraphy (I lived in Japan 19 years). Here's another in that group of collages.

This is Untitled Collage No. 278 (Santa Rosa). Completed March 22, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, collage. Image size: 12.4cm x 10.7cm (8.4in x 4.2in). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collages, visit my website http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Music I'm Listening to: Concerts at Davies Symphony Hall

I attended San Francisco Symphony concerts at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco on October 6 and then again on October 13. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted both concerts. The first one featured an electronically augmented, very abstract violin concerto by Jesper Nordin (a world premiere). Pekka Kuusisto was the soloist. 

The second concert featured Emanuel Ax playing The MAX Concerto, written for him by Anders Hillborg, another world premiere, and, after intermission, a strong performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 2. During intermission, I took an opportunity to photograph some of the double basses, which are always photogenic. 




A Visit to SF MOMA

I recently purchased a collage made by artist Sara Post out of a show in Danville called "Paper Trails." The show closed last weekend. This weekend offered the first opportunity I had to go pick up the art.


 

On my way home, I decided to stop in at SF MOMA. I enjoyed seeing some old favorites in the permanent collection as well as a few new things, including some small pieces by Paul Klee, among others.  

The last photo here is a detail of Diego Rivera's mural "Pan American Unity," temporarily on display at SF MOMA.




Monday, October 23, 2023

Wines I'm Making: 2023 Cabernet and Sangiovese Harvest

I tested the grapes this year on October 5. The Cabernet was at 22º Brix and a pH of 2.95. The Sangiovese was at 21.5º Brix and a pH of 3.00. The seeds were still noticeably green. It was clearly too early to pick, and that was consistent with the sense I had that, because of the cool weather we've had this year, that we were still about three weeks away from harvest. At the same time, there were a fair number of clusters starting to turn to raisins, which, in moderation is not an issue, but too many raisins is not ideal either. In the end, this past weekend seemed like a good compromise. 

I harvested on Saturday, October 21. The grapes were generally in very good condition. There was almost no mildew or any animal damage until the night before I harvested. While picking, I discovered that something tore a big hole in the nets and stripped an entire plant of grapes. In the end, though, the harvest was a fairly typical 22.8kg (or 50lbs) of Sangiovese and 56kg (123.2lbs) of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. 

After crushing, the Sangiovese tested at 22.4º Brix, ideal for the rosé that we normally make from it. The Cabernet tested at 23.8º Brix, just shy of the 24.0º I shoot for, but close enough. Those sugar levels will theoretically yield wines of 12.3% and 13.1% alcohol, respectively, which is just about right. The Sangiovese has already been pressed and inoculated with Epernay II yeast. Pressing yielded a little over three gallons of juice, which will translate into 15 bottles of rosé. 

The Cabernet is resting. I usually add the yeast to the Cabernet after a cold pre-soak of two to three days. It was a very tiring weekend, but most of the hard work is done for the year. The Cabernet fermentation will take about two weeks after the yeast is added. Until then, I'll just be watching the rosé fermentation.



Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Art I'm Making: Untitled Collage No. 277 (Santa Rosa)

There was a lot going on for me in the first part of 2023. I completed a collage in early December of 2022 but didn't complete another until March of this year. This is Untitled Collage No. 277 (Santa Rosa). It is the first of about eight pieces I did in the first half of the year using papers I made drawing on my experience with calligraphy. Completed March 21, 2023. Acrylic on paper, acrylic monotype, found paper, collage. Image size: 15.3cm x 12.4cm (6.0in x 4.9in). Signed on the mat. Signed and dated on the reverse. This piece recently sold to a private collector.

Click on the image for a larger view. For more of my abstract monotype collage work, visit my website at: http://ctalcroft.wix.com/collage-site/

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