Art and wine — both are subjective, evoke emotion and tend to be very personal.
The recent work of local artist Juanita Olson, paired with a complimentary tasting of the Blue Moon Estate Winery’s award-winning wines is a recipe for a pleasant Sunday afternoon outing.
The Blue Moon Estates Winery, Nature’s Way Farm, and the Tria Culinary Studio on Darcy Road provides an ideal venue to showcase Juanita’s recently completed collection of paintings in a variety of media and techniques — all depicting food items — a favoured subject in the Comox Valley.
Juanita’s medium of choice has been watercolours for many years. Now settled in the Comox Valley, and inspired by the company of the many talented artists here, she has been venturing into other techniques.
Food subjects lend themselves well to a technique known as “stitched watercolours.” These delightful little paintings are mounted on canvas and sealed with acrylic.
Juanita refers to them as “Kitchen Art” because they will withstand the humidity in most kitchens. In the artist’s opinion, most people don’t have enough art in their kitchens.
Juanita also paints using watercolours on masa paper, for a deep dramatic result. These paintings are also mounted on canvas and sealed, so are very durable.
Most recently, Juanita has been enjoying the punchy colour possible with acrylics. Still life peaches and a Rubenesque pear round out the exhibit.
Marla Limousin of The Blue Moon Estate Winery, Nature’s Way Farm and Tria Culinary Studio invites all comers to meet the artist and enjoy a complimentary tasting of their award-winning wines. “We wanted to be able to showcase local artists, so when we were planning our farm gate building, we included pot lighting in the ceiling of the perimeter of the rooms, and painted the walls in colours that would compliment most palettes,” explains Marla.
This Sunday, Blue Moon Estate Winery (at Natures Way Farm) is presenting a pairing of art and wine between 1 and 4 p.m. at 4905 Darcy Road just north of Courtenay.
For more information go to www.bluemoonwinery.ca or call 250-338-9765.
— Blue Moon Estate Winery