Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #26, June 25, 2015

Starry, starry night. I know I already used this image a few months ago, but I felt I wanted to do it again. Last time I painted it into the foam on top of the glass, and that painting found a good home (hi Christine and Peter), but I was wondering to myself how it would have turned out if I had done it this way. So, rather than try to figure out what obscure artist I was going to emulate today, I figured, let’s just see what would happen if I painted the Starry Night with pints instead of stars. I could call it the Starry Pint, but that’s what I called the first one. This one must be Beer Night, before I was seeing art in the beer. This painting shows what happens when beer is truly on your mind; you will see it in the stars at night. I have always loved this piece by Van Gogh, and now, after emulating the colors and brush strokes, I want to go back and look at the original to study it a bit more. Looks like I’ll have to make a trip back to MoMA in New York City some time soon.

The original painting sold. You can purchase limited-edition prints, or order a custom beer painting at my Etsy shop.

Click on the pictures in this gallery to see a larger version of each image.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #26 by Scott Clendaniel. June 25, 2015. “Beer Night”. 20″x16″, oil on panel.

Why I paint on wood panels, not on canvas.

When people talk to me about my artwork they often ask what I’ll put on canvas next. Then I get to tell them I prefer not to paint on canvas. I can, have, and will paint on canvas if a client insists. I think the last batch of canvas supports I built was in 2011, and I decided that the paintings come out better the way I have been painting them on panel. I use birch plywood of cabinet grade. Why do I prefer to paint on panels instead of canvas? The first reason is durability. Unlike canvas, a wood panel will not warp, or sag. The painting can be transported with less risk, and the paint is less likely to crack over time. A few months ago a client’s house flooded from a broken pipe and the only artwork that survived was my oil painting. The second reason is the way a wood panel reacts to the ground layers I put down before even thinking about what I will paint. First I put down three coats of a white primer, sanding between each coat. Then a coat of Colonial red, and finally a glaze of gold paint. The gold and red layers show through small gaps I leave in the oil paint so that the painting shimmers when light hits it at certain angles (this is very difficult to capture in a photo). On plywood this creates a smooth surface that paint is easily applied to and easily removed from until it starts to dry. I can simply wipe away if there is a mistake in the work as I go. On canvas this doesn’t work, and the paint layer absorbs into the texture of the canvas and it isn’t as lustrous. So I paint on plywood panels because they produce the best quality images with the best outcome overall.

Blank birch panel.

Gold paint shimmering through gaps in the oil paint.

 

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #25, June 18, 2015

Sweet Baby Jesus!  Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter combined with Buddy Christ and Catholicism creates what I call Sweet Baby Jesus WOW!  I am not trying to be blasphemous with this image.  I am merely attempting to make comment on current beer issues, and this beer has just been banned!  Due to customers complaining about its name, this beer has been pulled from a major grocery chain in Ohio.  I get it, it is breaking the third commandment: ”Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.”  However, I believe in this usage that it is more of an exclamation than a curse.  The beer itself is an award-winning chocolate porter with peanut butter, winning 3rd place at the GABF.  I have tried this beer on several occasions, and I find it to be a good dessert beer, especially with ice cream.  A bit too sweet, and naturally flavored to be consumed on its own, but it would certainly make an excellent beer float.  Not a go-to beer for me, especially since it’s not distributed to Alaska, but it is very interesting nonetheless.  I hope you don’t take offense to my social commentary, I’m merely documenting popular culture.  I actually hope it will make you laugh, or at least smile for a second.  Cheers!

You can purchase this painting, or a limited-edition print at my Etsy shop.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #25 by Scott Clendaniel. June 18, 2015. Sweet Baby Jesus Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter by DuClaw Brewing Co. 11″x14″, oil on panel.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #24, June 11, 2015

This week’s Thirsty Thursday beer painting is a throwback to the Year of Beer Paintings project, being in the same format and size as those paintings. For those of you who missed it, I painted a new beer painting every day last year, and posted them on this blog. You can see them all in the Year of Beer Paintings section. A couple weeks ago I mentioned that my friend John brought me a delicious homebrew from St. Louis, brewed by Kevin Cummings. Well, I also received a delicious beer called the Schlafly Pale Ale, brewed by the largest independent craft brewery in St. Louis – The Saint Louis Brewery. Schlafly Pale Ale is a delicious example of an English Pale ale brewed in America with American malt, a hop bill of Kent Golding, Pilgrim, Northdown, and London Ale yeast. It is a great beer that won’t leave you wasted. Too many craft breweries have been making beer that is too strong. Well, at 4.4% ABV the flagship beer of the St. Louis Brewery won’t leave you hung over, it will just be a tasty treat. I wish I had more than one. It’s always great to get beer that is not distributed to your home community, and most times all you get is a small taste. This was true as I shared the 12 oz bottle with my wife and Business Manager who agreed this was a worthy beer to paint! The impressive thing is that it survived the drive all the way from St. Louis to McCarthy, Alaska, and still tasted great! This is the first craft beer I’ve ever painted from St. Louis!

Cheers to St. Louis Brewery, the independent brewery with the good stuff. Thanks John rice for driving it thousands of miles all the way to Alaska! Hand delivered to McCarthy, of all places!

The original painting sold, but you can purchase a limited-edition print, or commission a custom painting at my Etsy shop.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #24 by Scott Clendaniel. June 11, 2015. Schlafly Pale Ale by The Saint Louis Brewery. 8″x10″, oil on panel.

Art Appreciation: How Much Will Your Clendaniel Piece Increase in Value?

Scott has been working as a professional artist for about twelve years, and has created well over 800 original pieces that are in nearly all 50 states, and on four continents.  A couple years ago a lawyer asked him if Scott knows where all of his paintings are, and Scott replied that he did, but was unsure about just a couple pieces.  Now, he would answer, “No way, there are just too many out there.”  The earliest collectors were friends and family, and now we mail Clendaniel originals and prints to complete strangers who purchase his art online.  So, those of you who supported his art career early on may be wondering if your Clendaniel art has appreciated in value.  Yes, it has, and it will continue to do so.

I won’t name collectors, or paintings, but I’ll give you some examples of how much Scott’s paintings have gone up in value.  In 2004 Scott painted two commissions that were each 2ftx4ft, and only charged $200 for each one.  Today those pieces are worth $1,200 each (500% increase).  Another commission from 2009 sold for $600, and is now worth $1,200 (100% increase).  In 2009 an 8ftx4ft painting was worth $3,200, now the value is $4,800 (50% increase).  This is why real art is better!  At this year’s Anchorage Museum Gala, Scott’s 5ftx6ft painting sold at the live auction for $4,750, above market value, which is a sign that current pricing is lagging behind what serious collectors are willing to pay.  We raise prices about every two years, based on demand, and the last time was about two years ago.  So if you’re considering commissioning a painting, you may want to pull the trigger sooner than later.  Scott’s limited-edition, signed prints also appreciate in value.  Prices for prints have increased 12.5% since we started making them two years ago.  If you want to own a piece of art that will become more valuable in the future, buy it from a young artist who intends on working as an artist full time for the rest of his life, like Scott.  Your art will definitely be worth more, probably much more in just a few years.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #23, June 4, 2015

What does the Farm Boss drink? Well, gasoline mixed with 2-cycle oil, but I’m referring to an actual farm boss, not a Stihl chainsaw. I’m betting it is not an oak-aged barleywine, although I’d drink that after hydrating with a PBR. In the backwoods “edge of Alaska” community known as McCarthy, in the heart of the Wrangell Mountains there is one beer that everyone agrees upon, and that is the Blue Ribbon winner of 1893.

I have painted several PBR paintings over the last ten years and most of them sell immediately. This is the manliest one I’ve done. A couple months ago Pabst contacted me and bought the last one I had, and also asked me to repaint two others for the marketing office! They must be flush with Russian rubles! I was excited, but thought it could be a scam, so I waited for the check to come in the mail before sending out the paintings. The check arrived, and the Pabst rep was happy with the way the paintings turned out, so I have to say I now like this company for more than just palatable lager.

I just cut down about a hundred trees on my ten acres, saving the best trees and freeing the overgrown forest from the chokehold that was prime for forest fire. I was a thirsty man at the end of the day. When I went into town to see what was going down at the Golden Saloon, I ordered the red white and Blue Ribbon. You know, the first two beers are for hydration, and I think beer does a better job replacing the necessary bodily fluids than Gatorade. After the first two your body will not be as happy about the bold gold, and I can’t recommend finishing up the six-pack, let alone crushing through a case! Nothing is a better thirst-quencher in the evening sun than a lager. I call this painting, Stihl Life of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

The original oil painting sold.  You can purchase limited-edition prints, or order a custom painting at my Etsy shop.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #23 by Scott Clendaniel. June 4, 2015. Stihl Life of Pabst Blue Ribbon. 12″x24″, oil on panel.

Progress Update on the McCarthy Property

We’re back in Anchorage after a very productive two weeks in McCarthy.  The weather was amazing, but a bit hot for the kind of work we were doing.  Thinning a spruce forest in 80 degree heat was uncomfortable for these two Alaskans.  We came back to Anchorage with nice tans, and many mosquito bites.

We wanted to accomplish five major tasks during our trip, and I’m happy to report that we did!

1. Finish fire-wising our lot.  Done.  This was the most challenging, daunting, physically taxing, and time consuming project that took about 13 days.  We cleared everything (including stumps) within 30 feet of the cabin.  Then we thinned spruce tree clumps and parked out branches within 100 feet.  Scott used his trusty forest axe to cut down trees, and then used the chainsaw to buck logs and cut down stumps.  I wreaked havoc with a sawzall and loppers.  This significantly improved the appearance of our forest, not to mention fire safety.  The VFD chief came to inspect our property and was really impressed with our work.  He said he could easily bring a large water tank, and set up a sprinkler system around our cabin.  I think this is better than having insurance — money wouldn’t replace all the hard work we put into our log cabin so far.

The dense spruce forest before fire-wising.

Scott putting the chainsaw to use.

After fire-wising. The birds love the new forest.

Stacks of firewood.

2. Install sill logs for the roof on the cabin.  Done.  On our next trip to McCarthy, we’re going to bring out all the roofing materials, so we finished the log work on the cabin by installing sill logs for the roof on both sides.  They were the largest and heaviest logs we’ve put on the cabin so far.  I think we’re done peeling logs for a while.

3. Continue painting and posting online Thirsty Thursday beer-themed paintings.  Scott did paint two oil paintings for his Thirsty Thursday series and we posted them online using the vastly improved Internet connection compared to what we tolerated last summer.  He worked inside our bug tent, which also doubles as his summer art studio for now.

4. Remove as many stumps as possible.  Stump removal was a gradual task.  Scott’s goal was to remove one each day, but he ended up doing three or four when he got on a roll.  My human backhoe husband did all this work with his trusty pulaski tool.

5. Enlarge the new driveway.  Done.  The human backhoe completed this task in one day (I helped by picking up branches).  Now we can safely drive the truck to the cabin.  Basically, we killed a lot of trees on this trip, but we do have enough firewood to last us for about a year.

We finished everything with one day to spare, so I built my very first garden, and planted squash, cabbage, carrots, and radishes.  A big thank you to our neighbor Mary Convey, who is going to water our garden for a month while we’re gone.

We have completely shifted gears now that we are back in Anchorage.  After recovering from culture shock, unpacking, doing five loads of laundry, and moving two couches, we are settled in and are gearing up for a busy month of work starting with a First Firkin Friday art opening at Midnight Sun Brewing.  Here are the event details, and we hope to see you there!