Niagara based artist, Melissa Proudlock created her first wine painting back in the Fall of 2013. She was a full-time graphic designer for 15 years with a local winery. During that time the idea of using wine as paint was born.

Using wine as an artistic material is unique, unpredictable, and impossible to control. Through trial and error she has perfected her craft and discovered that wine provides a variety of colours. She found that the same varietal from a different wine region results in different colours;
a Pinot Noir from the Niagara Region would have a different hue than a Pinot Noir from France.
The process of preparing the wine to use as the medium has also been perfected (aging, reducing, and adding lees which is sediment found at the bottom of wine tanks). The wine needs to be the right consistency before she can even begin to create her artwork.

She paints everything from portraits, animals, landscapes, musicians to fan & horror art and welcomes commissions. Her artwork has been showcased around the Niagara Region and she has been recognized around the world. One of her latest paintings was showcased on the George Takei Presents Facebook Page where the video has received over 1 million views. CBC Arts Exhibitionist has also featured her work on their Halloween and Holiday Episodes.

She takes great care in preserving her wine paintings by adding many layers of archival spray and museum quality varnish to save the colours of the wine. This reduces the aging process of the painting where the colours have a slight colour transition from red and purple towards sepia hues.

Each painting is professionally scanned which allows her to reproduce her work as Fine Art Giclee’s, prints, stretched canvases and greeting cards.