We recently had the pleasure of traveling to Northern California to enjoy some time with family and Art Show friends. We always feel so grateful for the time we can spend connecting with people who mean so much to us.

One of the first things on our agenda for the week was a lovely Art & Garden Party at the home of one of our wonderful collectors. This is a very special event that she hosts every other year to honor the artists from whom she has purchased. We were honored to be invited to share in this special day. There were several artists from the Celebration of Fine Art who were also there - Kyle Ashley and Martha & Del Pettigrew. Both the home and the garden were filled with art and information on favorite artists. The meandering paths of the hillside garden were sprinkled with beautiful works of art placed with great thought and purpose. Artists and other guests enjoyed walking about and discovering new pieces around each bend.

The Hillside Garden

Kyle Ashley with his work of art

Martha & Del Pettigrew with Jake

It is wonderful to see people who have such a passion for art and the artists who create it. The sparkle in the eye as the collector talked about some favorite art pieces was a true testament to what a positive impact art can have in our lives. Thank you for sharing your home and garden with us!

After a few days of fun with family, we headed up to wine country. While in the wine country, we had plans to spend some time with a couple of our artist friends - Bradford Brenner and Ken & Debbie Newman! Of course, there was to be some wine tasting as well!

The first day we stopped in the Napa Valley. We enjoyed the charming town of St Helena and lunch with a long time friend of the Celebration, Jo Ann Robinson, owner Flying Carpets - a store filled with beautiful oriental rugs. Be sure to check it out if you get to St Helena! Afterward we discovered some rich Napa Valley history when we visited area wineries including Charles Krug (the first winery in Napa), Frank Family Vineyards and Rombauer. We did some tasting and enjoyed meeting some interesting people along the way. Oh, and a few great “winery dogs” including Moose at Rombauer!

Napa Valley Views

We traveled on to Sonoma and settled in at a lovely place, just off the main square . The square was bustling with activity of a Tuesday night Farmers Market. We couldn’t help ourselves; we had to go look at all of the amazing fresh, organic produce and enjoy the energy. Live music played, families were having picnics and enjoying friends and Chefs from around the valley were selecting fresh produce from the vendors. It was a perfect evening!

The next day brought a great adventure and some of the highlights of the trip. We made plans to meet Ken and Debbie Newman at the Imagery Winery for a picnic lunch and then a tour of their unique and wonderful art collection (more on that later). Before meeting up with them, though, we had plans to tour the Benziger Family Winery.

Benziger Family Vineyards

We’d been here before and were intrigued by their biodynamic approach to wine making. The tour, led by tour guide Anthony (who was just great), included several stops around the vineyard including the famous Parthenon, a demonstration of the biodynamic process and the caves filled with barrels of wine. The amazing tour ended with a tasting of some very special reserve wines available only at the winery Signaterra Chardonnay and Oonapais Sonoma Mountain Red. These wines were excellent! While finishing up our tasting, we mentioned that our next stop was their sister winery - Imagery. It just happened that Joe Benziger who is the Wine Maker for Imagery was right there, so we had the pleasure of meeting him and talking about Imagery’s unique approach of blending Art and Wine.

Since art is one of our favorite things and we kind of like wine too, we were eager to see how the Benziger clan put the two together. Every one of the different wines from the Imagery Estate Winery is graced with a label that is a work of art. Almost 200 of the original works of art are on display in the tasting room/gallery at Imagery Estates. A unique feature of all of the work is that it has to have the image of the Benziger Parthenon, which we had seen earlier in the day, somehow worked into the art. The art label collection is definitely something to see! We all agreed that the creativity of artists never ceases to amaze us! The wines here are really great too. We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch with sandwiches from the Village Market in Glen Ellen - you must go here if you are in the area! The food is delicious. We also enjoyed hearing the latest news from Ken and Debbie. The creative energy of our artists is contagious. We are all looking forward to our 20th Anniversay Celebration of Fine Art in 2010. All in all, it was a perfect afternoon of friends, food, art and wine in the beautiful Sonoma Valley - it doesn’t get much better!

The next day bought another pleasant outing with our friend and artist, Bradford Brenner. We drove up to the town of Sebastopol, CA where Brad resides with his lovely wife and daughter.

The Brenner Family

Brad introduced us to Sebastopol and the nearby town of Healdsburg. We strolled the square and enjoyed some art galleries and shops. The town has a contemporary vibe mixed with historic charm as well. As we drove back to Sebastopol, we could not get over the beauty of the rolling hills, the blooming flowers and the abundance fresh produce. There is something very special about this part of California! Brad also took us for one last wine tasting experience at Merry Edwards . The Pinot Noir at this wonderful boutique winery is out of this world. We were also delighted to meet some friends of Brad and Marina - always a great compliment when friends want to share you with friends! Our day ended with a delicious meal at Underwoods with Brad, Marina and Izzy! Thanks, guys, for sharing your slice of heaven with us.

We enjoyed each precious moment of this lovely trip. The friends, the family, the freshness of the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, the art work on display in galleries, homes, wineries and even along the streets. We came back energized and ready to carry on with our plans for 2010.

We are committed to bringing you the best collection of art ever as we celebrate our 20 years of bringing art lovers and artists together. Here’s to many more!

Susan & Jake