Sandi Whetzel's Wine-Inspired Art: A Visual Elixir of Seductive Twists on Wine

Wine on the Vine ©Sandi Whetzel  For Details, click

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The Pacific Northwest's regard for wine inspires me to celebrate the wine experience in my contemporary acrylic paintings. My images mirror the emotions, romance, fantasies or whimsy that consumption of wine fosters. My passion for sensual, curvy, shapes and scintillating color flows into the graceful wine vessels and alluring human forms infused in my creations.

I explore how to tickle viewers senses in ways they have not seen in typical wine-themed art. I imagine surprising, surreal wine scenarios: Sensual. Seductive. Tantalizing. Romantic. Playful. It's almost as if I produce advertisements for the wine industry.

Cropping my wine narratives to a close-up of the pertinent elements dramatically zooms-in on an intimate view of the novel event -- It suggests an engaging storyline and some mystery for the viewer. I think people are looking for a simple elegance in artwork that separates it from the ordinary. That is my goal in blending fantasy with reality. I aim to grab the viewers' attention: "Wow! I've never seen anything like that!"

Most people don't realize how much thought, creativity and risk of failure goes into each painting.  Like grapevines selected for wine production, the idea for a painting is nurtured, allowed to grow and take form through pruning and reshaping. As with wine after the harvest, the images are distilled and refined before they are served up for enjoyment. My art is a visual elixir of seductive, unexpected twists on wine.

My fascination with uncommon wine themes began when I competed creatively to promote a premiere wine event. Before this challenge, I created sensual floras, usually from some form of visual inspiration. The only inspiration this time was an imposed "Wine on the Vine" theme. I pondered all the "typical" wine images I had seen, but I wanted an exceptional concept to illustrate that theme.

As a starting point, I considered abstract wine bottles among grapevines. While sketching some robust, curvaceous wine bottles, I got a brainsmack! I could encase a cluster of grapes inside open wine bottles growing from grapevines! I was juiced!

As I continued sketching, ideas for the painting flowed -- glistening highlights, colored reflections and shadows in the grapes, bottles, and leaves revealed form and transparency. I added a pearly textured moon with light radiating around it into an evening sky. The wind-blown grape leaves, climbing tendrils and the skewed placement of the wind-tossed bottles, echoed the radiating pattern of the moonlit sky. It was an elegant, serene, scene that said, "Wine on the Vine" just about as well as anything could, in my opinion.

That experience, creating something entirely from my imagination, taught me what can be when I trust my imagination to lead me. Because that painting was so popular, I created more wine paintings. My wine images promoted the 2004 Art About Wine Exhibit, the 2005 Umpqua Valley Wine, Art & Music Festival and the Umpqua Valley Winegrowers Greatest of the Grape in 2006, 2011 and 2013. In 2009, one of my wine images won a wine label design contest for the Downtown Initiative for Visual Arts, (DIVA) in Eugene, OR.

When viewers connect emotionally with my art, when they experience it, the art is complete. I hope people feel about my art the way they feel about good wine -- I hope it elicits pleasure and enhances your life experience.

vineyard paintings

See more of Sandi Whetzel's art here

Current Painting Still at my Easel ... A PEEK AT MY PAINTING IN PROGRESS/Artist Confessions

Ruby Red Original, Sold--(Prints Available) Her Popularity Became the Inspiration for a Sequel Artwork

Ruby Red was practically snatched off my easel by a recent client.  The popularity of this painting inspired me to create a sequel painting -- A blonde version with a white wine pour.

THE FACE - A SKETCHY IDEA

INSPIRATION FOR THE WINE POUR:

For the white wine pouring over her head, I chose Chardonnay for its color and also, because I could have a bit of fun with a "word play" on that varietal.  I will call the painting, "Chardonnae".  Usually, a painting title doesn't come to mind until after I create a painting.  I got a wine buzz!

FACE IN THE GOBLET:

For my painting reference photo, I chose a three-quarter facial view of a blonde, instead of a full-frontal view.  This choice differentiates the painting from its predecessor, but not without challenges.  Portraits are the most difficult subject to paint.  Add to that, the fast drying time of acrylics makes blending soft edges more difficult.  Also, acrylics dry noticeably darker than when they were mixed wet.

WHY DO I FREQUENTLY CHOOSE COMPLEX PORTRAIT PAINTING SUBJECTS IN MY WINE-THEMED PAINTINGS?

I'm establishing myself as a contemporary "go to" wine artist who celebrates the wine experience differently than the ordinary wine art genre does.  That involves creating wine art not typically seen.  I haven't seen any women's faces or bodies in wine vessels the way that I render them.  I hope to create sensual, elegant, simplicity in my wine narratives.  Zooming in to intimate views of realistic or abstract  human forms seems to engage viewers (and me) more.  It's a challenge that fascinates me.

BEYOND SKIN DEEP & ONWARD

GOING BEYOND SKIN DEEP:

After rendering her face similar to the reference photo, I realized she needed more dimension than was evident from the photo, especially on the left side.  Without a subtle change in plane from the side to the front of her face, she literally appeared flat.  The photographer used more than one light source to blow out most of the shadows cast by her features.  Fashion photography intentionally avoids light that creates harsh shadows and lines to produce more flattering results.  It was fine for the photo because her hand and her hair defined her well enough.  Isolating her face from the rest of her head and including more of the side of her face with the three-quarter view, as I did in the goblet, created more of a portrait challenge.  While I didn't want harsh shadows and features in my painting, I had to invent a more apparent light source and appropriate shading to define her facial forms.

COLOR CONFUSED/ADJUSTED

CHARDONNAY COLOR CONFUSION:

Considering my passion for wine art scenarios, it may surprise you to learn of my limited wine-tasting experience.  I have never observed or tasted Chardonnay wine.  (I do gravitate to white wines like Reisling and Pinot Gris.)  For the painting wine pour, I googled "What color is Chardonnay?"  I saw two kinds of Chardonnay pictured:  One, pale yellow-green and one described as a golden copper-yellow, or saturated straw gold.

I headed back to my easel with that descriptive vision of coppery-gold in my mind's eye.  Things went well with the painting.  For some darker areas to define the streams of wine pouring, I used a burnt orange.  Unfortunately, the oranges became so rich that the coppery-gold tones were overpowered.  When the painting dried darker, as acrylics do, I had a rusty-orange redhead;  not the sultry blonde I was aiming for.  This would not do -- I had to get it right.  Painting is a constant process of adjusting.  Sometimes you just have to get it wrong before you discover how to get it right.

I revisited the Chardonnay illustrations at my computer.  This time I noticed the color described as a coppery-gold was actually a yellow gold with a greenish cast.  I mixed a more neutralized gold and started painting over the dominating orange tones.  I feel I'm on the right track now.  I'll probably replace the orange in the wine bottle with neutralized green casts.  STAY TUNED FOR THE BIG FINISH IN THE NEXT POST...

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 UPCOMING ART EXHIBITS:

If you are local to Roseburg, I invite you to attend an artist reception for myself and two other artists, Susan Rudisill and Andrew Duclos at Fisher's Flowers & Fine Art, 638 W. Harrison St, Roseburg, OR on this Friday, 4/4/2014 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.  Fisher's is near the corner of Harvard and Harrison.  The art receptions at Fisher's are popular for their fine art, delicious treats and fine wine tasting.  I have a few large, sensual wine paintings on display at Fisher's from now through June 27, 2014.  I'd enjoy visiting with you in this relaxed, fun venue if you attend the reception this Friday.

Sandi's vibrant, textured floras are hanging at Ticor Title Insurance and next door she has a few wine paintings on display at Fortress Financial, 180 Lithia Way, Ashland, OR through April 2014.  These are new venues for Ashland's First Friday Artwalk, April 4th.

wine fantasy prints
See more of Sandi's art at her website

SUCCULENCE! : Fantasy Blends with Reality: ACRYLIC PAINTINGS OF INTIMATE SUCCULENTS BY SANDI WHETZEL, CONTEMPORARY FINE ARTIST, FEATURED AT DIVA

SUCCULENCE! Fantasy Blends with Reality in intimate views of succulents by acrylic contemporary fine artist, Sandi Whetzel, this July at DIVA, the Eugene, OR Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts in the Membership Gallery, one of six galleries at DIVA.

This lively collection of acrylic paintings celebrates luscious, stimulating colors, graceful lines, textures and intriguing motifs inspired by the artist's fascination with organic shapes in the world of succulents. Her art embraces and explores the nuances in shapes, patterns and color drawn from the plant world. Seventeen intimately cropped succulents are generously spaced along six white walls of the space devoted to Sandi's exhibit and two succulent paintings are mounted in the lobby entrance to DIVA. Many of her paintings in this exhibit feature very tactile textures and a couple of them are quite 3-dimensional. All nineteen paintings have brilliant chromas and graceful curvy lines in common.

Whetzel makes her home in Days Creek, Oregon in the southern part of the state. For the past twelve years she has been instructing Community Education art classes for Umpqua College in Roseburg, OR. Recently she has exhibited twice at the Coos Art museum in Coos Bay, the 2009 Inaugural National Art Exhibit in Gold Beach, OR, the Jacobs Gallery at the Eugene Hult Center in 2008 and solo exhibits at the Umpqua Valley Arts Association in Roseburg over the last few years.

Whetzel's painting design, Wine on the Vine II, won DIVA's Art Pour Favor competition for the Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 wine label gracing a special bottling of the wine for DIVA fundraisers in 2009. The Oregon Glide Wildflower Society selected her image of the Oregon Grape to promote the premiere Wildflower Show held in April 2009. Sandi is best known for her use of vibrant color and graceful shapes inspired from the plant world as well as her signature pieces to promote the wine industry in Oregon.

The opening reception for Sandi's exhibit at DIVA, 110 W Broadway, is Friday, July 3, 2009 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The event is a part of Eugene's First Friday Artwalk. Typically, the first Friday of each month is devoted to the "First Friday ArtWalk" in downtown Eugene. The public is invited to tour several art galleries, see diverse art and enjoy meeting the artists and community leaders at the receptions as they stroll the comfortable distance between art exhibits. For more information regarding the details of the featured stops of the First Friday ArtWalk, hosted by Jeff Geiger, the Artistic Director of NO Shame Theatre of Eugene, click here .

Whetzel's Succulence! Fantasy Blends with Reality solo art exhibit is on display at DIVA from July 3 through August 1st, 2009. Regular gallery hours at DIVA are Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon to 6 pm. For more information about DIVA click here

Sandi Whetzel's Art Wins Wine Label Competion: Art Pour Favor Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Recently DIVA, Downtown Initiative for Visual Arts in Eugene, OR, issued a call for artists to design a wine label for their first juried Art Pour Favor wine label competition. I thought one of my acrylic wine paintings just might be a good fit. Boy was I was excited when I learned that my Wine on the Vine II won the competition for the Cabernet Sauvignon label. It captures the essence of a sun drenched vineyard with engaging shapes of vines and bottled grapes.

My winning label appears on a special bottling of a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon wine from the Desert Wind Winery in Washington's Yakima Valley. The wine is being featured at the DIVA Center's receptions and fund raising events in 2009. I and the winner of the Pinot Gris label were honored during a wine bottling party at the RainsSong Winery in Cheshire, OR, Feb 14th.

This is the second time my Wine on the Vine II painting has received reccgnition. It was favorably reviewed in Coos Bay's The World while the painting was exhibited at the Coos Art Museum in October 2008. Nor is this the first time my art has been used to promote the wine industry. My Uplifting Spirits painting was the promotion poster for the 2006 Greatest of the Grape and my first Wine on the Vine in shades of blue promoted the 2005 Umpqua Valley Art and Wine Festival. My appreciation for wine is growing.