Vineyard

Gordon Louis Mortensen

A familiar sight in the wine regions of Northern California, Gordon Mortensen creates an homage to the golden summer hills of Napa and Sonoma counties that abut the coastal range, shown here with their clusters of dark oaks and a bright sky. The ripening fruit of wine grapes peek out from beneath their lush foliage. In just a month’s time, this bounty will be ready for harvest.

Gordon Mortensen commented on the process he uses: "Only one woodblock is used. On it an image is drawn in India ink. Before the first color is printed, any areas that are to remain unprinted (white or the color of the paper) are cut away from the surface of the block. Then an oil base ink is used to print the first color on all of the sheets of paper that are to be used for the edition and proofs.

After the first printing the block is again cut, removing any surface of the block that is to remain the first color in the finished print. After each subsequent color is printed, the block is cut, the process continues until the print is finished and most of the surface of the block is cut away."

Mortensen used 54 colors and 40 press runs to create this large homage to the Northern California wine country. He printed it in an edition of 100. There are also 11 artist's proofs and 9 trial proofs.