Label Artwork

I paint all of my labels to relate back to something about the site. Casa’s label shows redwood sorrel, a common sight in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Grist’s pomegranate references not just the trees that grow there, but also the tannic juiciness found in the wine itself. Del Barba’s olive branch relates back to the line of olive trees lining the front drive to the vineyard gate.

Many of the pigments I use are naturally sourced from rocks and soils: the leaves on the pomegranate are done in a green paint derived from French green clay called Montmorillonite, named for the town of Montmorillon in Vienne where it was first mined for pigment. The clay is composed of iron oxides and kelp seaweed, from which it gains its green hue. Some stems include various gradations of umber, named for the brown soils of Umbria where the pigment was first mined. The umbers I use are generally sourced from the Harz Mountains in Cyprus.

I source my paints from Case for Making in San Francisco, Cornelissen & Son in London, and from a set of paints I inherited from my great-grandmother Margie Reuss.

All artwork can be found on the Tech Sheets page. Each painting is linked to below the heading for the wine whose label it graces. If you’d like to order a high quality print of one of these pieces, please email me at claire@clairehillwines.com. All prints are archival quality and done by ScaleUp Art Fine Printing in San Francisco.

- Claire