UPPER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Wine Studio is hosting a wine release party and artist show reception with Don Angel Cellars’ owner/winemaker Miguel and Lupe Silva and local artist, Blair Teagarden on Friday, Feb. 2, and Saturday, Feb. 3.

The event will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 2 and 4 to 7 p.m. Feb. 3.

The $15 ($12.50/pp for studio club members) wine sampler and appetizers by Cache Creek Catering will showcase Don Angel Cellars 2015 Chardonnay with a cream cheese truffle with hazelnut and almond pesto, 2012 Montepulciano with winter greens Napoleons with Parmigiana Reggiano, 2014 Lupita's Red Blend with vegetarian mushroom meatballs and sundried tomatoes and the Port-style Petite Sirah dessert wine will be paired with chocolate pizzelle with peanut butter mousse and whipped cream.

Winemaker Miguel Silva was born in Tejaro Michoacan, Mexico. In 1989 he moved to California and the following year he embarked on his career of making wines, learning every facet of the processes.

Silva was hired on as assistant winemaker for Steele Winery in Lake County from 1996 to 2004, where he enjoyed learning the art of winemaking from Jed Steele and studying winemaking at UC Davis.

In 2009 he began crafting the wines that would become his own award winning brand, Don Angel Cellars. While Silva focuses on creating his fine wines, his lovely wife Lupe enjoys presenting them to the public where she manages their tasting room on Main Street in downtown Lakeport.

Artist Blair Teagarden was born and raised in San Francisco. Growing up he was profoundly influenced by the blossoming art and spiritual movement of the 1960s. He loved the clear bright colors and playful shapes of that period. All around him he witnessed brightly colored art in many forms being made.

As a young person he left the city for the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, choosing spiritual retreat as a way of life. He traveled from Northern California to Canada, meeting many people along the way who shared their spiritual insights with him. He lived very simply, spending years as a teepee dweller in the Sierras, and living a life without electricity and the everyday comforts of modern living.

His life’s purpose has always been metaphysical exploration, with his art being an expression of his discoveries. To him art contains the possibility of serving as a reminder of the ultimate spiritual experience of being fully and continuously conscious. He still prefers rural life, seldom travels, instead finding everyday joy on his own land and within the community of Lake County.

Teagarden has always wanted to express in art form what he sees in nature and in meditation - brilliant colors glowing with transparent light. He has created art in a variety of mediums, from colored pencils to pastels to ceramic, but was always looking for something that would better express what he saw.

He began learning to create digital art, but coming from a life of using traditional artist’s materials found it uninspiring and frustrating. It was when he began noticing actual rainbows being generated from decorative crystals hanging in his kitchen window that he had a new idea.

Teagarden began experimenting with the camera, and, not being a natural photographer, he had to embark on a long learning curve. He developed a unique process to channel and capture these elusive rainbows, and noticed how excited he felt learning this new technique.

He found the happy inspiration he was looking for, which gave him the patience required to learn this unique process using refracted light. His photo art prints are a celebration of colors actually seen in nature, from flowers and the electric green of springtime grass to the brilliant colors of the rainbow. He and his wife Ramona have lived in Upper Lake for 3 and a half years.

Lake County Wine Studio is a gallery for display of arts and a tasting room, wine bar and retail shop for the fine wines of Lake County.

Artists’ shows are held on a monthly basis with art and wine receptions held the first Friday and subsequent Saturday of each month.

The Teagarden art show will be on display for the full month of February.

The gallery is located at 9505 Main Street in Upper Lake. It is open Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m., and Friday from 1 to 8 p.m.

For more information call Lake County Wine Studio at 707-275-8030 or 707-293-8752.