This past weekend TJ and I were up in Napa at our favorite Inn, The Inn on First, with our favorite Innkeepers Jamie and Jim. It was a bit of an extended birthday celebration for me, and a great pause before the Holiday frenzy. We have a very set routine when we go up to wine country, we always start with pizza at Ca Momi, and a leisurely stroll around the fantastic Oxbow Public Market, where this year we did a little bit of Christmas shopping. That first evening we had dinner at Bottega, where we have dined an embarrassingly many times - Chef Chiarello is often in the restaurant, and I grinned at him this time like a star struck fan (yep I am…). The following day we took Atti on a long winding drive around the valley, which included driving up the Silverado Trail to Calistoga, a pleasant lunch and walk through St Helena, a stop at Dean an Delucca (whee!), a visit to an open house (beware the Notos will look at property anywhere!), and a stop off at a great little estate shop and art gallery where we met Tom Scheibal and saw his wonderful and luminous paintings.
When I first laid eyes on his work I thought it was encaustic, and I could not get over how smooth it was. I should step back, I wouldn't have been as engaged if his work hadn't struck such a chord with me. He is originally from the Pacific Northwest, his work is lyrical, dreamlike, quiet, and melancholy but not sad. I was drawn to his work right away, I wanted to touch the surface of the canvases, I remember walking through the Oregon forests and feeling the same sense of serenity that I found in his paintings. His work is not encaustic, it is a resin method that is his own, and it is truly lovely. Please enjoy his work. http://thomaspscheibal.blogspot.com I don't want to copy it directly without his permission, but I encourage you to visit his blog.
In knitting notes, I am stalled, I can't find the Noro colorway for the sweater I had planned to knit over the winter, and now I can't even find the magazine in my pile of knitting patterns! Oh the woe's of the whiny knitter!
Lastly I gave myself a wee little birthday gift… Carla Sonheim's Year of the Fairy Tale class. I am so excited! Creativity for a whole year! I have already dragged out my copies of The Brother's Grimm, Has Christen Andersen, Anne Sexton's Transformations, and Angela Carter's Burning Your Boats - ok so I am hoping that the topic of fairy tale has some wiggle room!
I wish all of you a very festive season, to those of my friends who celebrated the Festival of Lights earlier this year I wish you a very happy 2014! To those who celebrate Christmas, have a safe and merry holiday. I wish you all a wonderful season and lots of love. See you in 2014!
No comments:
Post a Comment