Breezy

This story starts with my friend Aurore telling me about her cousin Raphaël, who runs a family vineyard in Gaillac, a town in the south of France near Toulouse. Can you believe it, they’ve been making wine for five generations!

I’ve had this dream for one of my paintings to be on a wine bottle, so when Aurore told me that her cousin was thinking about making a new label, I immediately volunteered myself for the assignment!

Why not offer a few ideas, I thought, let’s see if they like it.

One day, Aurore dropped by with a bottle of her family’s rosé. We sat down, tasted it and let our creative juices flow.

I’m not a wine expert, of course. To me, the wine had a balance of sour and sweet flavours, and the colour was a striking, vibrant pink. I felt like it could be a wine that could easily get you drunk. It would be perfect for gathering friends on a summer afternoon, hanging out in the countryside, playing music. You take a sip, get a little buzzed, and all of a sudden, you’re singing and dancing with pure happiness.

I imagined myself in the French countryside, at the tail end of spring or beginning of summer. I thought the sky should be romantic like the rosé, slightly sweet, slightly crispy.

I used Google Maps to look at the area - the houses in the background are what the vineyard actually looks like!

The whole image was supposed to convey a sense of happiness and a good time. We don’t know how many bottles of wine these people had, but something is giving these dancers some extra energy. You can only dance like this if you’re really drunk!

Something a bit old, but the ideas are still new