A Portrait of an Italian Gentleman

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“Giacomo Alaai, DaVinci Wine Ambassador”

When you are a stranger in a strange land, the greatest sight to see can be warm smile on a friendly face.   Giacomo has one of those smiles.  He joined us for our first meal together as Storytellers, and right away shared some of his stories of the wine, the Cantine Leonardo Da Vinci’s goals, challenges and ideals, as well as personal anecdotes from his family and his own kitchen.  Giacommo possessed some of those great qualities that every good host, teacher, and conversationalist has: the ability to tell a great story, the willingness to answer every question, and a great laugh that pulls you right into his own exuberance and joy.   Completely lacking in pretension or conceit, I appreciated that he could share Davinci’s triumphs while also quickly sharing their future goals: “we can always do better”.   Giacommo had an ease about him, that willingness to enjoy the moment, that excitement about the past but always looking to the future; qualities that personify DaVinci wine. 

When I got back from Italy, I searched through all 1500 of my photos, searching for the one that perfectly caught Giacomo's great personality.  

I kind of liked this shot of Giacomo showing the Storytellers an elegant way of opening a screw top on a bottle of wine.  But, the silhouette of the washed out light was not flattering, and there was no Giacomo Smile.

Now the lighting here was wonderful, and I loved that I could see the Casale and the vineyard in the background.  Giacomo was incredibly proud of the land, the vines, and sharing the particulars that went into the divine product that he loves.  Yet, again, though...this was not the side of Giacomo I wanted to capture.

So, I put out the call for help to my fellow storytellers, and Leela Cyd shared a fabulous shot of Giacomo that had that missing element - his warm smile!  (you really have to see all of her amazing photos from our trip on her blog Tea Cup Tea!)

So finally onto the painting!  

The photo had a great complimentary palette with the warm orange brick and his rich blue shirt.  I LOVED painting that blue!