In late August 2006 I had an opportunity to go over the mountains and spend three wonderful days with my friends at Lange Winery in Dundee Oregon.

I spent the time sketching and painting the vineyards and the vistas from their wonderful tasting room. Don and Wendy Lange have been generous and enthusiastic sponsors for the Sisters Folk Festival and the My Own Two Hands event for the last five years…providing us delicious wines to serve to our patrons and guests. It was so fun to be able to sit and sketch the vines that produce that great wine and soak up the sun just like the grapes. I loved the idea that I’d be able to sip that pinot noir later and remember that time again through the wine.

Wendy and I took an afternoon and drove to Red Ridge Farms in Dayton where she introduced me to Ken and Peggy Durant—they have a wonderful small vineyard, a terrific nursery and gardening gift shop and an olive orchard with fresh delicious olive oil to sample! They said anytime I wanted to come back and paint there I was welcome—ahhhh what an invitation! A side trip to McMinnville changed my mind about the little old town we used to drive through on the way to the Oregon Coast in the 60’s…. a quaint town full of interesting shops and great bakeries and restaurants has sprung up to compliment the new wine country.

I came back to Sisters crowing about my wonderful experience – sensory overload for a painter and terrific wines and restaurants as well. All my painter friends were envious and I made sure that I did a fine job of describing the visit in full detail—down to Wendy singing and playing guitar for her dogs, Hannah and Daphne (mind you, she won a big award a few years ago a the Kerrville Folk Festival—these dogs know their music!)

Waiting for me in my email inbox was a note from my friend Susan Sokol Blosser. We had met earlier in the year at a conference in Spain. Susan has recently written a wonderful book entitled: “At Home In The Vineyard”. It is a terrific memoir of her role in the development of the Oregon Wine Industry. She wondered if I might help her stage a book signing here in Sisters in January. I immediately called her back and said I would host an event here at Sisters Art Works. Another phone call and Brad Smith of Paulina Springs Book Company agreed to participate and provide the books. The date was set for January 19, 2007.

Then it occurred to me that this was a perfect opportunity for a multi-level event…. Maybe I could talk a couple of friends into coming over to the vineyards and painting for a couple of days and we could have an art show to accompany Susan’s book signing… and then—how about a wine tasting? We couldn’t just talk about the wine without letting people experience it!

A quick email to Susan and we were invited to come on over – things were just beginning to get ready for harvest and maybe we could even get some shots of people harvesting the grapes! So I made a couple of calls and we created “ The Painter’s Posse—Sisters on the Road!”. Myself, Paul Alan Bennett, Karen Piedmont, Susan Lucky Higdon, Mary Marquiss, and Tracy Leageld all signed on to spend two days in the vineyards and sketch and paint!

We met at the Sokol Blosser Vineyard at 10 AM on a Tuesday. Susan was in San Francisco doing a radio show and promotion for her book and winery so we were met by one of her staff—Kitri. She took us on a tour of the winery—the weather was spectacular, warm and sunny with the fall colors just beginning to blanket the hills and turning the leaves of the vines golden.

The place was jumping with people—the warm weather had turned up the ripening process and the grapes were ready for harvest. We split up and began to work – so many wonderful places to paint!

We gathered at the Sokol Blosser Tasting Room at 4:30. Sampled some wonderful wines and got a chance to sit with Susan for a while as she just returned from her trip. We said “adios” for a while and went to our hotel—McMinnamins’s Hotel Oregon in McMinnville. To clean up and change out of our “paintin’ clothes”.

The Langes, Susan Sokol Blosser and Peggy and Ken Durant hosted our group of artists to a wonderful dinner at the Dundee Bistro in Dundee. The food was fantastic from the historic zebra tomato slices with homemade mozzarella cheese in balsamic vinegar to the fresh sturgeon. We sat outside and enjoyed some lovely Sokol Blosser and Lange wines--- we went around the table and talked about each artist’s medium and some of their experiences and then heard from the vintners about their business and passion with wine making and the new olive oil industry in Oregon! All in all it was a terrific evening—good conversation, wonderful food and wine in a great setting.

We returned to our hotel and had a nightcap at the Rooftop Bar—and agreed to meet the next morning early for another full day of painting.

In the morning we drove out to Red Ridge Farms—Peggy Durant is an accomplished gardener and she has worked her magic here!!!—Incredible backdrops of vineyards, huge showy dahlias and lavender. Oak and big leaf maples turning golden and red. I think we all were on sensory overload with all the possibilities to paint. Fresh scones and fruit, coffee and tea—we all threatened to just stay -- I know everyone did at least part of their Christmas shopping in Peggy’s garden store…and Ken and Peggy generously gave each of us a wonderful bottle of their own olive oil—which by the way is delicious and tastes like all things good and growing!

Red Fox Bakery from McMinnville delivered us wonderful box lunches and we headed up the road to Wendy and Don Lange’s beautiful vineyard atop a hill in Dundee. Looking out to the East there is a terrific view of Mt Hood with the whole Willamette valley floor spread out before you like a big quilt.

A tour of the place and we all began to capture images of Lange Winery…
Wendy’s goats entertained Susan while she captured the antics of the chickens; Karen, Tracy, and I spent some time getting up close and personal with the vines and grapes in the lower fields, while Paul captured some wonderful images of people working.

The daylight began to fade and so did we…. Lots of sun and intense sketching—we packed up our paints and bid the Langes farewell…. Drove home over the Santiam pass and were dazzled by the vine maples lining the roadway…. we all agreed- what a wonderful opportunity. What great hospitality. What a lot of new images to paint.

Please come and join us in January to share our experiences, meet the winemakers, taste a bit of the wonderful abundance of Yamhill County and see the trip through a painter’s eye. Then book your own trip to Oregon’s wine country!

Kathy Deggendorfer