Pat Martini’s Gnarly Old Guys paintings are a tribute to the faces she sees in old grapevines, some planted as early as 1880.  Martini considers each vine’s variety, shape and history to create individual portraits of these 'founding fathers' of the California wine industry, a story with which she is uniquely linked: she is the granddaughter of Louis M. Martini, who built one of the first wineries in Napa Valley after Prohibition.  She spent her childhood roaming the family vineyards, which eventually expanded throughout Sonoma, Healdsburg, Napa, Chiles Valley, Pope Valley and Lake County.  

In this exhibition Martini’s vivid portraits of these old vines is paired with unique descriptions of each. 

Pat Martini recalls, “When I was young, I rode with my dad through the vineyards up at Monte Rosso, in Sonoma, looking at the old gnarly grapevines, older than my grandfather, wondering what their history was. Their limbs and trunks were scrunched up, they were eye level to me at the time.  I kept waiting for them to talk, to tell me their story.“

Mr. Grumpy