Artistry Uncorked

Elysia Myers merges the worlds of art and fine wine

By Irene Middleman Thomas  »  Photos by Be Human Productions

At the 2023 Breckenridge Wine Classic, I was drawn to a station showcasing exquisite landscape and botanical prints, done in rich earthy tones of golds, russets, dark reds and sepias. At first, I thought they were watercolors, but then I saw the table’s sign: “Elysia Myers Wine Art.” Myers, a Denver-based, self-described “bit of a rebel,” has made a successful business painting with a wine-based media she created herself.

Myers, who says she had always been a painter, was determined to find a way to paint with wine after learning about some folks painting with coffee. “I had never seen someone painting with a beverage before that,” she recalls. She began her investigation and experimentation into the complicated multi-step process of creating her proprietary wine-based paint in 2017. “There was plenty of wine drinking along the way,” she chuckles. “It was part art, part science.” Not only does she paint with wine, Myers also often uses the actual corks as a paintbrush.

Her paintings are almost always of landscapes—often vistas of Colorado—along with flower and plant-based scenes, done on watercolor paper. “My style has always been about nature, and how wine can express nature on the canvas.”

One of her favorite themes is to create a painting that captures a scene of couples celebrating their wedding, using the wine served at their reception. She has also begun reproducing her work on silk scarves, notebooks, calendars, cards and more, and a recent hut trip in the San Juan Mountains near Ouray inspired her latest collection of six prints.

While her Instagram and TikTok social media sites, as well as her Etsy and personal websites, are very successful sales points for her, Myers also offers wine painting and tasting workshops, usually at area wineries. These are often used for bachelorette parties, corporate bonding events and girls’ night outs. The classes she offers are usually live, but they have been offered online as well, particularly during the pandemic. Myers also frequently holds pop-up events. She also sells her work at the Firefly Handmade Artisan Marketplaces in Boulder and Denver.

Myers primarily sources her wines from local wineries, including Carboy, which has four locations across Colorado, and Blanchard Family Wines, originally from Healdsburg, California, now also established in Denver and Golden. She has an affinity for ‘old world’ wines. “They have such earthy colors.” In her paintings, she uses a diverse range of wines, typically incorporating five to six in each piece, though she sometimes uses as many as fifteen.

James Blanchard, owner of Blanchard Family Wines, first met Myers while working an event together in 2020. “We loved her art and her passion for wine and knew it would be a great connection,” he says. “We have collaborated in workshops and painting classes both at our winery and at off-site locations and we sell her art in our tasting room. We have worked with several other artists, but nothing has ever elicited the reactions and conversation like Elysia’s art. It has not only added a beautiful and elegant artistic touch to our space, but has created an additional connection between the art of wine and wine as art. It helps our guests experience the multiple levels of how wine and art can touch our lives.”

Her work has a personal touch, too.

Myers is deeply committed to breast cancer awareness, having survived the disease herself. At 34, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, underwent treatment, and is now cancer-free. She encourages others to pursue genetic screening and perform self-exams regularly. Her whimsically titled “Tit Print for Breast Cancer Awareness” collection was created to support this cause, with a portion of the proceeds dedicated to breast cancer research campaigns.

She offers her prints in a variety of sizes, ranging from 5x7” to 40x60”. These archival giclée fine art prints are produced from her original wine paintings and printed on heavy cotton cold press paper. Each print is individually signed and comes packaged with a card detailing the title and the specific wines used in that piece. For collectors interested in original works, she provides a subscription called the “Collectors Club,” through which she creates original pieces a few times each year.

“So much artistry and tradition go into making wine,” she says. “I love that I’m taking something so artistic and making it into another expression of art. That is very grounding for me.”

To learn more, visit elysiamyerswineart.com.