Saturday's Wine and Art Stroll Features Local Artists

Delicious wines are only part of the pleasure for those seeking out this coming Saturday, Aug. 27; art is the other part.

Most of the paintings by Dixonite Ethel Calvello have a rustic nature—they lean toward scenes with fields, barns, and country views. They seem to appeal to many Dixonites and she is a popular artist at the

She has coordinated the artwork for the stroll every year since its inception and, this year, will have her own art -- as well as other artists -- scattered throughout various businesses participating in the 9^th annual event from 4 to 8 p.m., along Highway 113. Many of the selections will also be available for purchase.

“With art, people choose objects or pictures that mean something to them so this kind of art is more personal,” Calvello said about oil paintings that will be displayed. “People choose paintings that represent their background -- like people from Arizona love desert scenes. I personally have to have something alive in my paintings -- even if it’s a bird. And, I like running water in my art because it is alive.”

People say Calvello’s paintings create a sense of serenity and peacefulness—the very feeling she gets while she’s painting them.

“I like painting. It’s peaceful. I can concentrate and forget problems,” Calvello said. Even though she began painting in high school, it wasn’t until after her children were grown that the retired schoolteacher took up the hobby again.

“My mom was a painter all her life and in her late 70s, she wanted to take a class that I had to drive her to,” Calvello explained. That’s when she took them as well. One of her first showings was at the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose where she had to have 35 paintings the day after her mother’s funeral on a rainy day.

“I just paint for fun. My favorite is a waterwheel house out by the Palace of Versailles, France. I also love Belgium water scenes but most of my paintings are a conglomeration of places I’ve been,” she said. Some of those places are right here around Dixon where she moved 12 years ago from San Jose to be closer to her daughter.

“She is a country girl and is very talented,” said DDBA President Jill Orr who owns some of Calvello’s work. “She also makes really cool birdhouse out of giant gourds. It takes a lot of work and the paintings are very tedious. She also makes the easels that she uses.”

But for a lot of Calvello’s fans, it’s the frames that make her work complete. It seems her friend was going to have a fence torn down that backed up to Hall Park. The boards had become water-stained and sun-bleached. Calvello asked if she could have them.

“They’re great boards,” the painter said. “If you ever notice some of Hall Park’s fence missing….,” she said with a laugh.

In between wine strolls, her work can often be seen on display at the .  For more information, go to downtwondixon.com, call (707) 678-8400 or be at the DDBA Wine and Art Stroll, 4-8 p.m. starting in the Women’s Improvement Club Park next to the public library.