Sonoma Landscape

Premium wine grapes are grown everywhere in Sonoma County, marching across the landscape in pleasing geometry, climbing the  hills with gentle contour. This view is of a hillside vineyard protected at the top and bottom of the hill by large trees.
12 1/2" x 11"

View from Methana

Standing on a deck, looking down at the sea and out at the coastline of the rocky Peloponnese you can't help but sense the long history of the Mycenaean civilization of this part of Greece. It's part of the current paradox and very compelling. What a long story !

Old Olive Tree in a Stoney Field

Olives are a major crop in Greece, many orchards are very old and are pruned so that the fruit stays close to the ground. The result is massive, characteristically twisted trunks, with low slender branches that bear heavily. To this painter, they have strong personality. This study is one such character in a grove next to an old church.
13 1/2" x 9 1/2"

View of the Sanctuary at Epidavros

Back home after a month in Greece, where I was visiting family during a hectic time for the country. The base of family love and the glories of the country were in strong contrast to the current political and economic turbulence.
This was painted as I sat under an olive tree ( and on fallen olives ! ) next to an old wall , with the columns of an ancient sanctuary of Asclepius, the god of healing, on a slope in the distance.
 The artifacts of the ancient civilization are everywhere, history lives strongly next to the present in Greece.
15" x 11"