CleverRoot

IN NAPA VALLEY, all roads lead back to wine. So it's no wonder that the art scene is inspired by the fruit of the vine, but local artist Penelope Moore is taking things to the next level with her "Palette of the Palate" series of large-scale abstract paintings which translate the taste of wines to the canvas. We caught up with the artist for a quick Q&A. The Clever Root: Can you tell us about your process? Penelope Moore: My process for the "Palette of the Palate" painting series always begins with a blank canvas and a sip of wine. It is my duty and responsibility as an artist to be present and listen to my subject, which is wine. To really hear it, to understand the essence of it, to honor it. It is alive and it does have a voice. My job is to tell its story, to transcribe it visually onto canvas. Although similar at first glance, every wine is different and has a story, like a fingerprint. I am merely the conduit. I always begin on a blank white canvas because white represents the linen that one would hold behind the glass of wine to see its truest color. White does the same with paint. Next, I begin at the top of the canvas and allow the paint to drip and glide down the canvas as the legs of wine do upon swirling the glass. Through the use of wide, smooth strokes versus short, aggressive ones, I am able to communicate the feeling of the wine on the palate and the tannins expressed in the wine. Color, of course, represents flavor components found in the wine such as dried herbs, ripe berries, citrus, tobacco, leather, cocoa, vegetables, caramelization and char. I view my paint as fla- vor. As I lay out my color palette I think of cooking and all of the different possibilities I have with the flavors I am squeezing out of the paint tubes. This experience, I believe, is synesthetic. I finish every painting with gold flakey bits of mica, which I collected from a lakebed near Sacramento. I use mica to represent the min- erality in the wine and also as my signature stamp in every painting in this series. TCR: How do you begin painting your tasting notes? PM: I always arrive with a blank canvas and no expectations of what it is that I want to do, as I do not want to tarnish the voice of the wine (with my mood or preconceived notions). I will meet with the winemaker, vintner or a sommelier with complete open- ness to taste through the wines together, discuss and select my muse of the moment. Winemak- ers, vintners and sommeliers are also conduits to telling the story of wine. They understand that wine is a living breathing organ- ism with a beautiful story to tell and share the professional duty to protect its integrity from budbreak to harvest to bottling, aging and service. This meeting of the minds and palates gives me a broader scope of the life of the wine, which enables me to better communi- cate its truth. During this process, there is always a moment where it clicks visually; I see the wine and immediately excuse myself to go and paint it, literally from glass to canvas. This I do live and on the spot from start to finish. For more on Penelope and her work, visit www.penelopepaintings.com WINE LIFESTYLE Napa Valley artist Penelope Moore. Paint with All the Colors of theWine NAPA ARTIST PENELOPE MOORE FUSES ART WITH WINE of theWine ■cr s u m m e r 2 0 1 7 | 3 5

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