July 21, 2022 — Napa wine country and back! Arrived back in the 106-degree swelter of Redding after a perfect 80-degree day in Napa, dropping to deliciously chilly after dark. The mission of the trip was to swap the Napa Sunset painting with a newly framed Angel Island Oaks. Napa Sunset is chillin’ here inside the house (as opposed to inside my 150-degree car). Not that I run much AC, but I am running it sporadically today, as it was 87 inside the house when I got home. (You get fixated on temperature when you live in Redding. It’s one of the hottest places in California due to adiabatic heating.) The painting will ship out tomorrow to its new home in Arkansas.
What a whirlwind. I first went to Sacramento Giclee where I dropped off my two newest pieces for image capture and waited two hours while they framed Angel Island Oaks on the spot. They are the best! From there it was off to the Napa Valley, first stop Paraduxx Winery. The Napa Sunset painting, which I took down, truly stops you in your tracks. I’m so happy it found a good home. I really like how Angel Island Oaks looks, too. It’s got a lot of soul and I’m hopeful someone will fall in love with it.
From there, I set off on a photo safari around the Napa valley. What a journey across the valley! What I realized is that most of the view properties are private. Private drives, private gates, and private wineries that require reservation. This is the norm. And tons of traffic. Unless you’re on the side roads, you can’t pull over to get a cool shot without risk of death. I did try to set up shoots at 4 private wineries, but they all turned me down as they need to escort me and weren’t able to do that. Although one, after looking at my website, said they might want to commission a painting.
So, after an entire afternoon of rather grueling recon, for golden hour, I ended up circling back to what I had done last summer. Which was to climb the trail to Rector Reservoir above Paraduxx in order to get that bird’s eye view. I didn’t go to the top this time as I wanted a different shot and you have to stay low to get Mount St. Helena. Not sure if the shots are any good, the sunset took the night off, no cabaret colors whatsoever.
From there, now 8:45PM, returning to my car at nearly dark, I drove to Lafayette and stayed the night with my cousin. I didn’t sleep but two winks I was so hungry and wired. And didn’t feel like prowling the kitchen at 1AM, like I do at home.
So that is my Napa Wine Country and Back tour. Thoroughly exhausting! Please make my day by signing up for the Art Giveaway 🙂
