This grape box label is the inspiration for my next painting. I traveled up to Arroyo Grande this fall to photograph the grape harvest at the Saucelito Canyon Vineyard, hoping to capture not only the harvest, but the beauty of the California wine country.

The people at Saucelito Canyon were great. They gave me up close access to the picking of the grapes.

I found an old wooden grape crate, just perfect for the old California Beauty label. The crate will be sitting on a table, covered by a 1950's vintage grapevine tablecloth.

Here is the prop setup for the painting. The right side of the image has a cutting board, loaded with cheese, grapes, bread and wine. The toy truck will be loaded with grapes and I will paint a couple of vineyard rows inside the grape box.

Just below the box label and on top of the tablecloth will be the vineyard owner. He will be resting on top of a few grape boxes, holding the tool that all good vineyards need...a corkscrew. Todd Greene, my good friend, neighbor (and owner of a vineyard in Paso Robles) was kind enough to pose for this painting.

The corkscrew.

After about a week of drawing on a 40"x50" linen canvas, I've decided to begin the painting by attacking the tablecloth. All the intricacies of the tablecloth pattern, its folds, shadows and shaded areas present a major puzzle. I will approach it one color at a time. You can see above that I've begun with the pink and blue hues first.

When I work on the lower part of a large canvas, I sit and paint from a chair.

The tablecloth puzzle is all worked out.

Here's a close-up where it folds over the edge of the table.

Todd is now officially the 'corkscrew keeper' of my painting.

I've taken the small illustration on the grape label and used it as the wallpaper on the wall behind the wine and cheese. When the foreground objects are painted, I'll be able to tell how much darker or 'grayed down' this background needs to be.

The crate label is rendered onto the box, trying to paint it dark enough to make the sun struck areas on the man and the corkscrew stand out.

The warm color of the wood box is painted around the label.

Here's a look at the overall painting up to this point.

The vineyard in the box is my next area of the painting. I've painted the four pickers first and will block in the grape vines and the ground next.

And the harvesting scene in the grape box has its first coat of paint.

The cabernet grapes that I've painted next to the grape box are quite a bit lighter than intended. The color lightened when it began to dry but will gain their rich dark color when the final paint is applied.

Here's a look at the left corner of the painting.

More cabernet grapes in the truck.

Truck and grapes are complete.

On to the cheeses and...

...the two pears.

I've rendered the cheese knife.

I was growing tired of rendering food, so I decided to work on the two wine bottles. The Larkmead cabernet looks very shiny.

I like the art on the label of the Saucelito Canyon zinfandel.

Here's a look at the entire canvas.

The Thomson seedless table grapes and...

...the cutting board are in place.

Behind the pears is a bunch of red table grapes.

I always enjoy painting reflections. This time it was the reflection in the glass of wine.

The two loaves of bread are painted in place and...

...the still life section of the painting is complete for now.

Looking out the window, I've painted a view of a vineyard, nestled below the oak strewn rolling hills.

Here's a look at the entire canvas with every square inch covered with its first passage of paint. Now it is time to examine the overall lighting, values etc. and make the final determinations for the final passage of paint. The most obvious area (to me) that needs adjustment is the wall with the grape ladies. It will need to be darkened and all the values painted closer together, which will eliminate the competition it's having with the foreground imagery. My intention is for it to be a backdrop, not a focal point.

I've ganged together 3 photos of this section of the painting. The top image is after the first coat of thin oil paint. Having decided to darken the background, I started by painting the three women (middle photo). Notice how the space behind them begins to look lighter. That is just what happens when something adjacent to another space or object is darkened. It creates a new relationship of values in that area. To complete the background, I next darkened the space behind the women, making all the values closer together, creating a more solid backdrop. Notice how much richer the wine bottles look, now that the area behind them is darker.