Have you ever laughed with friends while holding a glass of red wine? That can be the sign of a fun evening… or the beginning of an artistic adventure!
Try laughing a bit harder, and there you go—a spill lands gently on your ivory dress… it’s ruined—that’s your first thought. Then your artistic brain says, “What a beautiful pigment… and I’m sure it won’t come off unless you carefully try to wash it out.”
And just like that, Vin sur Toile (Wine on Canvas) was born.
My artistic journey
I’m Brazilian and I have a Fine Arts degree from back home. I’ve painted mostly with acrylics and watercolors, dry and oil pastels, and have experimented with many other mediums: Chinese ink, crayons, engraving, cyanotype… and even bleach, among others. Experimenting new mediums has always been a part of my artistic routine.
The wine
After that original spill and many creative trials later, I came up with the wine painting formula that works best for me today: the wine preparation, the textures and brushes, the thickness of the watercolor paper, and the care taken with the painting after it’s done. Learning to work with a natural and living pigment is a fascinating path, and creating beautiful paintings with only one color is a true challenge.
Wine painting came to me as a revelation and a true calling later in life. I’ve been living in Provence, France, for 18 years, surrounded by vineyards, local products, and charming little villages, under the year-round sunny skies.
A tribute to the land and its people
I see wine painting as a way to honor the work of those who cultivate the land. Wine is the result of many hands and many steps, a mixture of soil, sun, and rain unique to each region. Immortalizing the people and the land in a painting using the pigments of their labor is an absolute pleasure and an honor.
It’s a multi-sensory experience… you add sight and touch to smells and tastes. With the wine painting you get to see on your wall the souvenirs from a region, from a taste, from a moment.
Join me on this stroll
I share my passion for wine painting in multiple ways: I do live painting performances for events, I teach wine painting workshops, and I create custom paintings on demand.
I invite you to join me on this stroll around Provence and its wines… on canvas!
By Cris Motta
Follow Chris on Instagram and Facebook, and catch her exhibition at Domaine Terre Mistral through October 11th.
If you’re in Provence on October 11th, please join us for a Painting with Wine workshop – (10% off discount: code: Tuula).
Workshop in English!
Belle Provence Travels 