Wines I'm Making: 2013 Cabernet Pressed (October 20, 2013)

Today (October 20, 2013) I pressed the 12 gallons of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc that's been fermenting in the living room the past couple of weeks. The must yielded a little over eight gallons of new wine, which is still fermenting in the glass carboys that now contain it. It smells excellent and doesn't taste bad either, although a little sweetness is still apparent. I expect it will be fermented completely dry in another three days or so.

As I added the yeast on October 10, the wine was fermenting 10 days on the skins, but had had a four-day pre-soak, so a total of two weeks on the skins. It looks dark and heavily extracted. So far, so good.

Music I'm Listening To: Leila Josefowicz with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado (October 4, 2013)

Because of work and various other obligations I make this brief and very belated comment on a recent concert in San Francisco. I attended the October 4, 2013 San Francisco Symphony performance at Davies Symphony Hall. The program included the Overture and Passacaille from Armide, by Lully. Three Studies from Couperin, by contemporary composer Thomas Ades, Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, and, after intermission, Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3 "The Scottish Symphony." This was the first program in a series of three conducted by Spanish guest conductor Pablo Heras-Casado (above) featuring the music of Ades and Mendelssohn--which seems an odd pairing. The common thread conductor Heras-Casado sees in these two men is apparently a fascination with the Baroque.

The Lully piece was forgettable--literally. It's been only a couple of weeks since the concert, but I can't say I remember being moved by the piece at the time, and now I can't recall anything about it. The Ades composition was more interesting, if strange. It had a surreal quality. It sounded like a piece of early 18th century music that had been run through a computer and altered with a set of algorithms. I suppose the brain of Mr. Ades (who was in attendance) was, in fact, the computer that processed the underlying music of Francois Couperin and presented it to us in this new form. I'd have to hear the music again--probably several times--before I could say anything sensible about it, but it was interesting to listen to and probably worth the time to get to know better.

Having heard violinist Leila Josefowicz's exciting performance of Esa Pekka-Salonen's Violin Concerto in San Francisco not long ago (December 8, 2011), I was most eager to hear Ms. Josefowicz play again. I was not disappointed. She played the Stravinsky concerto with the same mixture of fierce determination and sheer delight she showed at the earlier concert. She seemed truly engaged with the orchestra and the conductor, turning to the other performers during her periods of rest--listening, watching, moving subtly with the music--before bursting in to play her solo sections. Overall, the concerto seemed powerfully yet deftly played--and played with a joyful verve that made the piece as much fun to watch as it was to listen to. The Mendelssohn was played impeccably too. Good to have Heras-Casado back in San Francisco again.

Photo of Pablo Heras-Casado courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony (photographer uncredited). Photo of Leila Josefowicz from Internet press kits, but I've been unable to find the appropriate copyright owner to acknowledge.    

Cars: 2013 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show (October 13, 2013)

I showed my car, a 1978 Chocolate Brown Alfa Romeo Spider, in the 2013 Alameda All-Italian Car and Motorcycle Show on Sunday, October 13. The weather was perfect and there was a big turn-out this year. There were well over 100 cars and motorcycles on display at the usual venue, the playing fields at Lincoln Middle School on Fernside Blvd., in Alameda.

About half the cars are usually Alfa Romeos, but there were Fiats, Lancias, Maseratis, Ferraris, De Tomasos, Abarths, and more. There was a 1934 Alfa among the older cars. I love the details of styling on these and Italian cars in general. Some of the older motorcycles were beautiful, too. For more information about the show (for next year), go to this link. Proceeds from the show go to support the Alameda Special Olympics.

Wines I'm Drinking: Simple Pleasures--2010 Terre de Mistral Côtes du Rhône

I picked up a bottle of the 2010 Terre de Mistral Côtes du Rhône at my local Grocery Outlet for only $3.99 today ($3.49 a bottle if you buy it by the case). Pepper, menthol, and blackberries are the most obvious scents on the nose of this simple, inexpensive, but brazenly seductive little wine from the south of France. I wasn't expecting too much and I can't say this is profound or deeply nuanced wine, but it's nicely balanced, well made--full of berry and vanilla flavors. It's simply overflowing with ripe fruit, which makes it far too easy to drink too much of. Beware. Recommended for everyday drinking. I'll be going back for more.

(I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.) 

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Grape Harvest (October 6, 2013)

2013 marks our 10th harvest. We picked the grapes in our little backyard vineyard on Sunday, October 6--both the Sangiovese and the Cabernet grapes. October 6 is a fairly typical date for the Sangiovese (the dates have ranged from around September 29 to October 16 over the years).

It's somewhat early for the Cabernet (October 18 in 2012), but a fair number of clusters were already turning to raisins, probably because I watered less than usual this year (only twice, rather than three of four times in most years) and it seemed best not to wait any longer. We harvested 20.5kg (or 45.1 lbs) of Sangiovese grapes, which became just under eight gallons of must after crushing and de-stemming. The must measured 22 degrees Brix with pH at 3.63, just about right for the light rosé these grapes will become.

We harvested 41kg of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc (or 90.2 lbs), which yielded a little more than 11 gallons of must. The must tested at 27.5 degrees Brix--the highest it's ever been, reflecting the high percentage of raisined grapes. The pH was at 3.56. Because of the high sugar level, I'll probably add a small amount of acidulated water to the must to lower the Brix to around 26 to avoid producing an excessively alcoholic and therefore unbalanced wine. The lesson here is to water the grapes a little more, although I'd been hoping to eventually wean the grapes off water altogether.

The Sangiovese is already pressed and inoculated with Epernay II yeast, as usual. We ended up with about 4.5 gallons of pressed juice. I pitched the yeast on the afternoon of the 7th. The grapes spent about 20 hours on the skins, which will result in a fairly deep pink wine.

The Cabernet must is resting. I usually do a three- to four-day pre-soak, which is supposed to result in more extraction from the skins of softer (water-soluble) tannins than the (alcohol-soluble) tannins extracted during the fermentation process. I don't know, but this method seems to produce a wine we like. Today I'll be adjusting the sugar level, as noted above. Tomorrow or the day after it will be time to add the yeast and get the fermentation started. I love this time of year. The whole house will soon smell of fresh yeast and fermentation--like a winery.

[Update: This afternoon (October 9) I dissolved 15g of tartaric acid crystals in 2.5l of distilled water (using a formula provided by the kind people at The Beverage People) and added the mixture to the Cabernet must. It was difficult to mix it all in evenly, so, measuring the Brix after the addition, it comes out a bit low (at 23 degrees Brix), but I suspect that's simply because of an imperfect mixture. The sweetest juice is probably stuck at the bottom of the container. The aim was to reduce the sugar to 25.5 Brix. I'll stir it up again tomorrow and test it once more.]

Birds I'm Watching: Warblers at Point Reyes (September 28, 2013)

I went to Pt. Reyes this past Saturday (September 28, 2013) joining a local Audubon Society group that went out looking for migrating warblers. Pt. Reyes is well known among birders as a place that sometimes traps stray warblers heading south to wintering grounds in Central and South America, usually first-year birds that get lost. Birders here get excited when eastern species normally not present show up in the trees at the Outer Point. On Saturday, we got to see two such birds--a Blackburnian Warbler (pictured above) and a Prairie Warbler, both birds I'd never seen before. These are life birds no. 417 and 418 for me. These were in the trees at the ranger residences at Chimney Rock.

For more about local bird watching, see my website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots

Art I'm Making: New Collage

I'm a bit surprised at my own productivity, lately. I've been making new collages at a pace of about one a week. I finished another yesterday that I'm pleased with. Unintentionally, it looks African. It would seem to have textile influences, but it was simply a matter of assembling pieces of a cut-up monoprint that I made with black and sepia ink. These things tend to have a life of their own. They can quickly veer off in unexpected directions. The artist's job sometimes is simply to be a shepherd and, ultimately, to be the one who decides whether a new creation lives or dies. This one will live. The photo here makes it look somewhat darker and blacker than it actually is. Photographs of art rarely do the original justice, but this shot is enough to give an idea of the actual work.

Rain: Overnight Drizzle (September 29-30, 2013)

It's been drizzling all night and into the morning today. It will be of little consequence to the plants, but I'm a bit concerned about the grapes in the back yard. It's just about time to harvest. If rain persists, they can start to mold alarmingly quickly. I'll be checking them a couple of times today. We may have to pick whether they're completely ready or not.

Looking at the rain gauge on the morning of the 30th, I see that we got a quarter inch of rain. That brings our total so far in the 2013-2014 rainy season to 0.85 inches. It's a start.

Birds I'm Watching: Unusual Heermann's Gull

On a recent pelagic birding trip I got to see many of the local birds that stay mostly far out to sea--birds that we rarely get to see on or from dry land. In particular, there was an unusually large number of Storm-petrels (four species--Ashy, Black, Wilson's and Fork-tailed Storm-petrel). Four birds were new to me--Cassin's Auklet, Rhinoceros Auklet, South Polar Skua, and Sabine's Gull, bringing my life list to 416--a small number, but not bad for only about four years of serious birding and birding done mostly in one area.

There have been a number of Blue-footed Boobies in the San Francisco Bay area this autumn, including around Bodega Bay, the area we set out from. We saw nothing so rare as a booby, but we did get to see an unusual variant of the Heermann's Gull, which is a fairly common visitor in Sonoma County during autumn migration and over the winter months. A few of these birds have a white patch in the wings that is not normally present and that I'd never seen before. I've heard various estimates of the frequency with which the variation occurs, ranging from one in a hundred to one in a thousand. I don't know, but I thought this bird very interesting. This particular individual has white in the secondaries, not just in the upper primary coverts, which is where the white normally occurs in birds that show this variation. Happily, the water was comparatively calm on this (my second) pelagic tour. On the first one, the water was so rough that many on the boat were sick the whole time, including me.

For more about bird watching in Sonoma County, see my website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots

Art I'm Making: More Collages

I'm continuing to have fun making collages. I've finished ten small pieces now in as many weeks--not that quantity is important. When I finish a piece, I like to mat it and hang it on the wall a while. I like to look at it to see if it's really finished. Often some little detail will begin to bother me or some corner of the work will start asking me for a little more attention. After a while, I'll decide that a spot of color here or a line there will truly complete the piece. And then I can move on.

Once in a while, something that seems finished begins to look all wrong. Inevitably, I take it down and destroy it or I paint over it. The nice thing about collage is that destruction can be generative of new things. One of the first collages I made, the largest of them, began to look wrong after a few weeks. Usually I have an inkling that something is wrong from the beginning when something is wrong, but sometimes I'm initially quite happy with what I've done. I took this particular collage down and cut it to pieces, and from the pieces made three new, smaller collages that I like better--the three pictured here. The original collage is at the bottom of this post. Can you see where the new works came from?

Found Art: Whitewashed Window (September 24, 2013)

While walking in downtown Santa Rosa recently (near the corner of Humboldt St. and Fifth St.) I found a building with several windows obscured from within with whitewash or something similar. I liked this divided panel of grey windows. Looked like art to me.

For more unintended art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

Miscellaneous: A Little Bit of Whimsy

In need of a mustache? Can't grow one? Never fear, free mustaches are here. I found this whimsical offering of complimentary mustaches recently at a local printing shop. I didn't avail myself of the kind offer because I already have a mustache of my own....

Rain: First Rain of the 2013-2014 Rainy Season (September 21, 2013)

It began to rain in Santa Rosa at about 1:00AM this morning (September 21) and drizzled through most of the night. There was hard rain then in the early light of day. Looking at the rain gauge after the rain stopped (around 11:00AM), I see that we got a respectable 0.6 inches in total. This is the first real rain of the 2013-2014 rainy season, which began on July 1, 2013 and will end on June 30 2014. I believe the rain will have come and gone quickly enough that the grapes won't be adversely affected. Harvest is probably still about 10 days away.

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Sangiovese Berry Sample

 It's that time of year. I got out my pH meter and my refractometer today to look at the sugar and pH levels of the Sangiovese grapes in the back yard for the first time this season. I collected a sample of berries from each of the plants in the vineyard and crushed them. First the sugar level: The juice is at 20 Brix. I'm aiming for 22-23 Brix, so another week to ten days, perhaps. The pH is at 3.40, which is a bit higher than I would have expected at this stage. I'll test again in a few days. If the pH seems to be rising steadily without the sugars going up much, I may have to pick at a somewhat lower sugar level than is ideal. We'll see how things progress.

[Update: I took another Sangiovese berry sample today, September 29. The sugar is now at 21 Brix, so up a point from the sample I took ten days ago. The pH is higher, too, but not alarmingly so, at 3.45. pH squared times Brix is 249.9. I'd like to get one more degree of sugar, but can probably pick any time. Rain is in the forecast--which may have a bearing on things, depending on how much we get.

I also checked the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for the first time today, taking a similar berry sample. The sugar is already at 25 Brix--right where I want it--and the pH is at 3.42, which is a good level) pH squared times Brix is 292), but I suspect the sugar is where it is in large part because the number of raisins on the vines is greater than usual at this time of year. It's normal for some raisins to form before harvest, but I suspect my attempt to dry farm the grapes this year (I've watered them only once or twice the whole summer) may have something to do with it. Normally I water three to four times. Some of the seeds look quite mature, others are still somewhat green. It's beginning to sprinkle just as the sun is starting to go down. If we get a heavy rain tonight (September 29) or a prolonged rain begins to look likely, it may be best to pick very soon.]

Music I'm Listening to: The San Francisco Symphony at the Green Music Center (September 12, 2013)

Last night was the first concert in the 2013-2014 subscription concert series that features the San Francisco Symphony at the Green Music Center in Rohnert Park. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted Zosha di Castri's Lineage, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 3. Pianist Yefim Bronfman was soloist in the Tchaikovsky.

The highlight of the concert was the Di Castri piece, which is brand new (having been premiered only a few months ago). Describing highly abstract modern music is an impossible task, but it was an engaging expanse of shifting colors and textures that I enjoyed very much. It seemed a bit nostalgic and melancholy on the whole, but somehow forward-looking in mood at the same time. The long droning notes in some places put me in mind of ancient Japanese court music (gagaku) or Noh music. I would have asked the composer (who was in attendance) about whether she was familiar with gagaku, but she was pinned down throughout intermission by well-wishers and others asking questions, so I didn't bother her.

This year, we're sitting in new seats, having chosen to look down on the performers from the upper balcony. It's quite a different experience. I enjoyed being able to watch the conductor and the mechanics of the performance--the turning of pages on the music stands, the taking up and putting down of mutes, the quiet cleaning of instruments, the sometimes frantic activity in the percussion section. Lineage keeps no fewer than seven percussionists busy. According to the program notes, they were handling timpani, marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, snare drum, bass drum, ocean drum, suspended cymbals, crash cymbal, china cymbal, nipple gongs, tubular bells, almglocken, tam-tams, woodblocks, and rainstick--not to mention a piano and a celesta. Viewing from above is a compromise. The sound is a little muddy. During the Tchaikovsky, there were times when the piano was inaudible over the orchestra. During the Prokofiev, sometimes the harps were inaudible. That said, the sound isn't bad up top and it's a lot of fun to be able to see everything that goes on during a performance. Watching from the balcony makes a concert a much more visual experience.

One unexpected visual was a half-empty concert hall. No one seemed to know why so many seats were unsold (I asked several ushers). We subscribed to the San Francisco concerts at the Green Music Center last year, and I remember a full house on every occasion. Another change from last year--a very positive change--is the parking situation. They are no longer creating long traffic jams in Rohnert Park by charging for parking. Parking has been folded into the ticket prices--as it should have been from the outset. Bravo!

Food I'm Eating: Wine from the Cinque Terre at Cucina Paradiso, in Petaluma

Locals have been flocking to Cucina Paradiso in Petaluma for about five years now, it seems. I don't know how I missed hearing about this restaurant until just a few days ago, but I'm glad I recently had a chance to get acquainted with the place.

I visited on a Saturday night. It was packed, but the service was up to the task of handling a full house, and the food came promptly but not so quickly that things felt rushed--just the way I like it. Solid Italian fare, an interesting wine list, and surprisingly reasonable prices for food of this quality make the place hard to resist; a meal for four with appetizers, main dishes, desserts and a $45 bottle of wine was just over $200--including tax and tip. While not cheap, high-end local restaurants in the area far too often ask considerably more than that for food much less good. I had ravioli filled with roast duck under a sauce of sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, and basil (below). The restaurant uses organic vegetables exclusively. At dessert, the tiramisu was excellent.

What most impressed me, however, was seeing a bottle of Cinque Terre wine on the extensive (but not bloated) wine list featuring many good Italian and local wines. The Cinque Terre wines are delicious and extremely rare. The entirety of the Cinque Terre zone is only about 200 acres. Most of the small output is consumed locally. Cinque Terre is hard to find even in Italy outside the immediate area of production. Exceedingly dry but flavorful (reminiscent of a good Riesling from Alsace) these wines are the perfect accompaniment to Italian cooking--northern Italian cooking in particular. This one (pictured above), was from the cooperative that makes most wines labeled "Cinque Terre." It was less interesting than some of the (even rarer) wines bottled by individual Cinque Terre producers I've had, but a pleasure nevertheless; deceptively simple at first--like so many Italian whites--but with a delicate balance of fruit and acidity on the mid-palate and a lingering finish. I look forward to my next visit to Cucina Paradiso (114 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, CA 94952, (707) 782-1130).

Here's a blog post I uploaded from Italy a couple of years ago while visiting the Cinque Terre.

The Cocktail Glass Collection: The 8 Ball, Cotati, California

There are two or three bars in downtown Cotati. I've never been to any of them, but they keep the town center lively on weekend evenings. I noticed recently that one has a neon cocktail glass sign, so I thought I'd add it to my small but growing collection. This one has a cherry but the glass has no stirring stick or skewer. The bar is at 8 Charles St., Cotati, CA 94931.

To see others in this series of photographs, click on the "cocktail glass collection" label. 

Miscellaneous: No Green Zebras

We planted about eight tomato vines this year. Two of them were supposed to be the Green Zebra variety, an heirloom that has done comparatively well in the garden before. Both plants were mislabeled, however. The tomatoes we're now getting from these vines (pictured) are definitely not Green Zebras. I don't know what they are, but they are tasty and attractive, so I can't complain. Despite cool weather, our tomatoes have done very well this year. These are the best I've grown since living in Ohio many years ago--a place where any fool can grow good backyard tomatoes. I've always believed tomatoes are harder to grow here because of our cool nights, but this season has made nonsense of that idea. More important seems to be fresh soil, a lot of good, organic fertilizer, and attentive watering, although the shallow soil in our new beds carved out of former lawn have not allowed deep watering and we've had a fair number with blossom-end rot, a condition I'd read about before but never actually seen. Interestingly, the rot, when it occurs, is very localized. It's easily cut out, leaving usable fruit behind.

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Cabernet at 20 Brix

Yesterday I got out the refractometer for the first time this year--out of curiosity; we are still several weeks from a normal harvest date--but a random berry I tested from one of our Cabernet vines was at 20 brix. I normally aim to harvest at around 24 brix. As generally it takes about a week of good weather to raise the brix level by one degree, that would suggest we're about a month from harvest. As we usually harvest in the first week of October, everything seems to be on track, despite the rather cool summer we've had. Looking at the grapes, I noticed some that were beginning to shrivel a little. I'd watered only once so far this year. Given the cool weather, I was trying to see if we could go entirely without supplemental water this year, but I decided it would be best to water once before harvest. I turned on the irrigation system for five and a half hours.

Miscellaneous: Covering All the Bases--1955 Chevrolet Bel-Air Hood Ornament

A bright orange-red 1955 Chevrolet Bel-Air was parked not far from me in a Santa Rosa, California parking lot the other day. I walked over to take a look at it. A classic from the period when American automakers were trying to equate driving with flight (and later more specifically with rocketry), this one covers all the bases; the sleek ornament is half airplane, half bird--some kind of raptor seems to be intended.

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Grapes--So Far, So Good

The 2013 grapes look good so far. The clusters have taken on full color by now. The grapes are netted. The electric fence around them has been on for a couple weeks now. So far, critters haven't shown much interest in them. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to harvest everything that's on the vines. Fruit set was good this year. I expect we'll get a fair amount of fruit. The 32 vines in the back yard have yielded anywhere from about 90lbs to a little over 200lbs over the years. I expect we'll be at the high end of the range this year. We probably have about six weeks to harvest now.

Found Art: Yellow Arrows, Berkeley (August 22, 2103)

Every time I go to Berkeley--which isn't really very often--I find pavement markings that I find beautiful. This arrow is virtually worn away--looking almost melancholy. It seems the echo of the newer arrow to the right that was painted over it.  Found art.

For more unintended art, see my blog Serendipitous Art.

The Cocktail Glass Collection: Willi Bird's Restaurant, Santa Rosa (August 16, 2013)

Here's another addition to my small but growing collection of cocktail glass signs on bars that I see (this is number three). The glass pictured here is on the roof of Willi Bird's Restaurant, 1150 Santa Rosa Ave, in Santa Rosa, California. This is an example of a ready-made, mass produced design that appears on many bars. The custom signs are, of course, more interesting.

To see others in this series of photographs, click on the "cocktail glass collection" label. 

Food I'm Eating: Sushi Burritos (August 6, 2013)

Sushi Burritos? Japanese rolls meet Mexican rolls? Yes, that's about it. At Santa Rosa's farmers' market last Saturday I came across the food cart of one Takeshi Uchida, the man behind the idea. A sign advertised his mobile establishment as "The World's First Sushi Burrito Food Cart."

Essentially, Mr. Uchida creates giant versions of the seaweed rolls known in Japanese as futo-maki (literally, "fat rolls") filled with cooked stuffings--like a burrito. Three kinds are available--Tori Nanban (sweet and spicy Japanese-style fried chicken with a creamy wasabi sauce, beans, and shaved cabbage and carrots); Tara (simmered cod with wasabi tartar sauce, beans, corn, and shaved cabbage and carrots); and Vegetarian, with seaweed salad, tomatoes, shaved cabbage, romaine lettuce, Jalapeños, and cucumber. The drinks offered made me momentarily nostalgic for Japan--bottled cold green tea, ramune (a citrus-based soda), and canned iced coffee. While the idea of a sushi burrito seems a bit odd at first, a taste test quickly established that it's an idea that works. The Sushi Burrito cart is parked at various Sonoma County locations on different days. Go to http://www.shoubujapanese.com to get the latest on where to find Mr. Uchida and his unique creation, or go to the Sushi Shoubu Facebook page.

Art I'm Making: Another Collage and Some Rethinking (July 28, 2013)

The first collage I made a couple of weeks ago began to look wrong the more I looked at it. I took it down off the wall and tried to "fix" it. I ended up completely transforming it. The original work no longer exists--which is a good thing; clearly the reworked version is much better (top photo). I've since done another one, which I'm rather pleased with (below). More is brewing in my head....

[Update: These were the first two collages I made. The first one survives. The one below here was later cut up and transformed into three smaller pieces.]

The Cocktail Glass Collection: The Distillery, Sacramento (July 26, 2013)

I visited Sacramento yesterday. Besides taking a walk around Old Sacramento (which is not devoid of interest, but mostly shops with tourist trash in them) and visiting Sutter's Fort, taking a peek at the Capital Building rotunda, and visiting the Crocker Museum of Art again, I photographed this martini glass bar sign, which belongs to a place called The Distillery (near 21st and L Streets). For some reason, I love these old-school martini glass advertising signs on bars.

To see others in this series of photographs, click on the "cocktail glass collection" label. 

[Update: This was only the second example in my collection of cocktail glass bar signs, which has ended up focusing on neon signs. I've decided to leave it here because it lights up, even if it's done with incandescent bulbs rather than neon tubes.]

Plants I'm Growing: Summer Bounty (July 26, 2013)

The summer of 2013 has been a good one in the garden. We had wonderful early figs and a second crop is forming. The "Santa Rosa" plum tree produced several hundred delicious fruits. There is fruit on the "Dapple Dandy" pluot tree for the first time in years, Apples and pears are on the way. The "Flavor Queen" pluot is heavily laden with fruit (above). The new vegetable garden where the lawn used to be is producing greens, and the first tomatoes are just ripening. Edamame and green beens will be ready soon. We've had summer squash and zucchini and more lemon cucumbers than we can consume. The grapes, which set a lot of fruit this year, are just beginning to show some color in the past couple of days; veraison, as the French call it, has just begun. I've finished clearing weeds and debris from under the vines. The electric fence around the grapes is working and turned on. Time to get the nets on--before the critters begin to show interest in the fruit.

Art I'm Making: Collages (July 18, 2013)

On the 14th of this month I sat down with some acrylic paints and a canvas for the first time in a spell. For a long time now I've been trying to explore painting with acrylics, having painted in oils my entire life--which is not to say I've completed a large number of satisfying oil paintings over the years--only a handful, in fact. I've always liked the feel of oils but found it frustrating to have to wait days for the paint to dry before being able to paint over things. I like to work quickly, watching things change as I go, and I like to work in layers. Oils make that difficult.

I've never liked the feel of acrylics, but I'm beginning to see that the quality of acrylic colors has greatly improved and there is now a dizzying selection of mediums and gels and pastes and other additives available to keep things interesting. That said, I typically splash some paint around and quickly get frustrated because the acrylic colors don't leave behind the kind of brush strokes I like. The paint layer can look flat and lifeless. I've yet to figure out which gels to add to get the textures I want. Next week I plan to attend a demonstration hosted by the Sennelier company (which makes beautiful printing inks and has recently released a line of equally beautiful acrylic colors), to see what their colors are like and to get some hints. We'll see what comes of that.

I've long been attracted by the idea of printmaking using paper cutouts as the printing blocks, but never wholeheartedly pursued the idea. It's largely because I don't like the look of the shapes I cut with scissors (I'd like to be able to convert designs I make on the computer to paper cut-outs, but don't know how to do that). With the acrylic paints out, though, I splashed some on a cut-out and pressed the painted paper against another sheet, using a Japanese baren to get good contact--but that was too much and I simply glued the two sheets together. The paper tore when I tried to pull the "block" away. It turns out that I liked what was left behind, however, and the torn ochre surface I inadvertently created became the starting point for some exploration with dabbled paint and painted paper and more cutting of shapes that I then began to lay over what I'd started with, using the acrylic paints to glue layers together. After a couple of hours of absorbing fun, I came up with a composition I almost liked, but there was something disturbing about it. With my paper cutter I hacked off the offending part and, after a few more tweaks, I settled on the collage shown at the top of the page*. On the following day, I started to look at the cut-off portion and began adding to it until I got the little collage in the lower picture. I had a lot of fun making these two small works. Perhaps I've finally found a way to work with acrylics that suits me? I like that the paint dries quickly, so I don't have to interrupt my thinking while waiting for a surface to dry. I like that you can paint over things almost immediately. The layering of paint and paper gives a solid look that I've never been able to achieve just spreading acrylic paints on canvas. I'm eager to do more of these....

*Since writing this, I have completely reworked the first piece. Nothing much of it remains. The photo here is now the reworked version, completed two weeks after the initial creation.

Miscellaneous: The Martini Glass as Icon (July 18, 2013)

Interesting how the martini glass with a skewered olive or cherry remains the icon of choice for a certain kind of old-school bar. I was in Calistoga yesterday and saw this one over Susie's Bar, a place I'd never noticed before right on the main street. I liked the neon martini glass with what looks like a skewered  red cherry in it.

To see others in this series of photographs, click on the "cocktail glass collection" label. 

Wines I'm Making: Wine Labels (June 18, 2013)

I finally got around to designing, printing, and affixing labels to our 2012 Sangiovese Rosé and the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. I created a suitably sunny label for the rosé, which normally disappears over the summer and a somewhat more sober and serious-looking label for the 2011 Cabernet wine. I will bottle the 2012 Cabernet sometime before or just after harvest this year, so, in the next couple of months. Right now, the biggest chore continues to be cleaning weeds and debris from under the vines so I can get the electric fence up and running again and get the nets on before the berries start showing enough color to interest the raccoons...