Wine Tasting at Deer Ridge Vineyards

This past weekend was bright sunny and festive as many Winegrowers introduced their wine to the public and their Wine Club Members with a variety of flavors. I attended Deer Ridge Vineyards in Livermore where their celebration provided Great Wine Tasting, Food, a great band in the outdoor patio and Fine Art & Artists in Action indoors. We were also treated by amazing impromptu piano playing by a few extremely talented people that felt comfortable in the fun filled atmosphere. Bravo! Artist Mask maker Carla Almanza-Dequant showed her talent and brought with her many of her painted masks in the style of Carnival, Venetian Style.

Whimsical, colorful and full of fun her work and the artist was a joy to be around. Geraldine Arata Fine Art oil painter who also has a way with masks, showed her painting techniques while painting a classic still setting of a tabletop wine tasting. The bottle had the label of Deer Ridge Vineyards, plated fruit and a wine glass that danced with colorful reflections. Her other Fine Art works were hung throughout the Wine Tasting room that can be described as truly gifted works in oil on canvas. New Orleans brought out her talent in the genre of Life Like Carnival Masks. Smooth and silky strokes of light and dark they seem to pull away from the canvas with a life of their own. Torch Work Bead making was a sight to behold along with the sound when she turned on her flame torch to melt and bend glass rods that create her elegant works. HauteGlass Jewelry maker Kim Lonie of San Ramon, had a beautiful display of glass bead jewelry and some loose beads for sale while enjoying the public with their questions and delight of her artistry.

I worked on jewelry as well, with Glass pendants and Soldering techniques, making wine bottle charms to hang around the bottle necks to be given as a gift with a bottle of wine. Some of the pendants I made were stained with ink, stamped with a variety of images and with another layer of glass was soldered decoratively to frame the artwork. Worn with your favorite chain or a beaded chain in a variety of Swarovsky crystals and tiny metal beads I had on hand, it created a fun display. Two other artist displayed and shared their work. One artist had a display of Large Bottle paintings one of which was a field of wildflowers where horses danced in the wind. The other jewelry maker was their displaying her stringing techniques.