Monday, September 7, 2015

Golden Vineyard Light


Don and Tracy Kirkman own a vineyard in Lovettsville, in beautiful Loudoun County, Virginia. They don't make wine with their grapes, they sell the fruit to wineries. I met this family at a winery and when they saw that I was a vineyard artist they invited me to visit their home. This is the scene looking over the lawn to the vines on their trellises. At the left is a metal whirligig and a bank of autumn-blooming sedum flowers. Tracy works as a business manager for the Virginia Vineyards Association. She took me on a tour of the estate which has multiple gardens, barns, and the vineyard, as well as a pasture with sheep. There is a group of wandering chickens and guinea hens. Right now the vineyard is full of fruit and harvesting begins next week.

At this time of year the evening sunlight turns everything in the near landscape to golden green while the distant hills are still blue. It is a glorious colorfest and I tried to capture it with my colored pencils, sitting on their deck. There are plenty more places to draw and seasons to draw in. Tracy says the place is just as beautiful in the winter and perhaps I'll visit when the gold and green are gone.

Colored pencils on sketchbook page and some re-working in Photoshop, 10" x 8", September 6, 2015.

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