LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – For a second year, the Lake County Wine Alliance will hold its annual auction at the Cole Creek Equestrian Center in Kelseyville and local artist John Clark celebrates the occasion in his 2014 poster painting.
“What we see is a woman guiding her horse onto a hillside,” said Clarke, “Her head is turned so that she looks down on a valley with grapes and orchards. It's a typical Lake County landscape.”
Clarke's art has been featured on Lake County Wine Auction posters for 15 years now.
He calls his work for the Wine Alliance a labor of love.
“I really like doing this even through it gets more and more challenging to think of something new. Still, every year something comes to me,” he said.
Over the years, Clarke has captured the essence of the event's various auction venues and the color of the local wine industry with his unique style of water color on silk painting.
People seem to respond to the brightness of his work, which often brings in the highest bids.
Last year, for example, his painting of grape pickers in a vineyard brought in $6,000. Clarke, a former anesthesiologist, has been painting on water color on silk since 1994.
In the coming months, copies of this year's poster, featuring Clarke's new painting, will go on sale at winery tasting rooms, other venues around the county and John will sign copies of the poster at the auction.
This year's poster may be purchased for $20, with proceeds going to the beneficiary organizations and programs associated with The Lake County Wine Alliance. The painting itself may be viewed at the Saw Shop Bistro in Kelseyville.
This is the 15th year that the Lake County Wine Alliance has sponsored this major fundraising event in support of the arts, health and community in Lake County.
In that time, $1,081,302 has been raised for local programs.
The Wine Auction's success over the years would not have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors.
So far, sponsors for this year's event include Beckstoffer Vineyards, Mendo-Lake Credit Union, St. Helena Hospital, Shannon Ridge Winery, Cal Pine, Trinchero Family Estates, Kathy Fowler Chevrolet and Kelseyville Pharmacy. General Electric Corp. and Deutche Bank have provided $10,000 in matching grants.
Tickets for the Wine Auction, at $150 per person, are available by calling the Wine Alliance at 866-279-WINE or online at www.winealliance.org . See the Web site for more details and reservations.