A WEEK IN A ZINFANDEL VINEYARD

In April I had the pleasure of spending a week in the town of Calistoga, at the north end of the Napa Valley.  I was attending a watercolor workshop at the studio of Barbara Nechis.  Barbara's studio is surrounded by her Zinfandel vineyard, with mountains beyond.  I was participating in one of several of Barbara's workshops that I've attended over the last 15 years.

Normally I don't "do" workshops; I spend most days and nights quietly working in my own small studio when I am not working in the barber shop.

But Barbara has a talent and skills that resonate with the abstract way that I "see" the world.  Most of what she teaches is technical processes that involve the interplay of pigment and water on paper;  simple enough, but with many potentials for creating interesting paintings.

In the 15 years that I have known Barbara, her paintings have become even more beautiful than I originally thought they were. I had always been interested in Abstract Expressionism, and Barbara is certainly not a painter who embraces that style, but she works with relationships of shapes, darks and lights, colors and neutrals in compelling ways.

Above is one of the first paintings that I did in a Barbara Nechis workshop.  It's probably as close to looking like her work as anything that I have ever done.  The painting ended up in an examining room in the office of Dr. Stephen Becker in San Francisco.

I often stray from the simple and sensible solutions that Barbara offers, because I get involved in my storytelling.  Working with Barbara is a great way to be reminded of the artist's relationship with his medium, and what a fulfilling experience it is to allow one's work to "talk" and guide the artist to something that is fresh and surprising.