I’m Elysia (like Alicia Keys but with an E).
Wine painter.
Thrifting junkie & 90s music fanatic.
World wanderer.
Podcast & behind-the-scenes special features nerd.
Water baby.
Breast cancer survivor.
And of course – wine and art lover.
Wine is already art
When I first had the idea to paint with wine while drinking coffee one fated morning in 2016, I had never heard of it or seen it. I’d grown up creative with my hands in ceramics, ballet, piano, photography and painting. I took as many painting classes as I could in college, but never thought of using anything other than paint.
I drove straight to my local wine shop, asked for the darkest, inkiest bottle of red wine and got to work. It was an incredibly long process, but after MUCH experimentation (and plenty of wine-drinking along the way) I created a customized, multi-step system for creating my wine paintings.
In 2022 I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer at 34 years old after finding a lump in the shower, and subsequently discovered I have the BRCA1 gene mutation. I began down a path that included many painful surgeries and four months of chemotherapy. It was the most physically, emotionally and spiritually draining experience of my life, and I’ve been forever changed. I’m lucky to now be more than two years cancer-free and am now on a journey to prevent ovarian cancer (the other major part of BRCA1). My experiences during this awful time continue to influence my work and the way I live my life.
I take the art of wine and transform it into wine art for other wine lovers all over the world. I often paint using corks as my paintbrush to further my connection to the wine. Wine means so much to so many people, and that’s what I connect to when I paint.
I connect to all of the passion, dedication and energy from the winemakers that has gone into making that beautiful bottle of wine.
I connect to the wine itself. Its beautiful colors and the way it tastes. The history, traditions and time that are wrapped up in those grapes.
I connect to the way wine brings people together. We share a common love for the wine itself, as well as the community that it encourages.
I’m biased here, I know that. But oil paints can’t do that. Watercolors aren’t like that. Acrylics don’t have that weight. But wine does. It’s the only medium that has already started off as art, and I get to turn it into a completely different expression of art.
from the ‘gram
