Yuengling Traditional Lager at Citizens Bank Park

When I was growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, my parents were saving every penny so they could help pay for all four of us to go to college.  We used to shop at thrift stores, and we played a lot of baseball.  My brother found this Phillies fan jacket and he instantly became a fan. I indirectly also became a fan, because he wore it all the time. 

During 2014, I worked my little tail off making a beer painting every day. This is when I went from being a beer fan to a straight-up beer nerd.  I had heard of Yuengling, the oldest brewery in America, but it doesn’t distribute to Alaska. I picked up a following in Pennsylvania during my Year of Beer project, and one of my followers mailed me a can.  I was impressed, since the beer was different than the regular pre-prohibition style lager I expected it to be.  During 2014 I made over 365 paintings, and some of them were more inspired than others.  I wish I had made this Yuengling painting at the Citizens Bank Park back then. 

In 2017, I took my second trip to Philly and I spent some time tasting beers there. My great friend Sam Magdowitz (a local Philadelphian) has season tickets to the Phillies, so I got to go to a game!  Thanks Sam!  He is a huge MLB fan, and has been to every ball park in the country! I was telling him about my history with the Phillies when we parked, and took the train on in.  This is Sam’s secret plan to avoid the traffic; park at a train station a ways out, and ride the train 10 minutes to the stadium.  Ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing, way less time stuck in traffic. I had been beer tasting all day with Rich Morgan that day, another great beer drinking friend whom I met during my Year of Beer, and I am glad I wasn’t behind the wheel.  I did make it until the game went into extra innings and was on my second wind when Sam suggested leaving early since he had to work in the morning.  It was after 10pm, so I was on board.  I watched the Phillies win back in his kitchen while sharing a bottle of Denali Brewing’s Louisville Slugger sour ale with Sam’s wonderful better half, Tamar.  Sam crashed out for the night. Great experience, thanks Sam and Tamar! 

Brad Lewis is a local Anchorage Phillies fan, originally from Philadelphia.  He brought me this can of Yuengling with the Phillies logo on it!  I was stoked to finally get another taste of this iconic brew and finally capture my experience with Sam at the stadium!  Cheers to a little help from our friends! Without so many great people in my life I would not have been able to put this painting together! Go Phillies! Drink a Yuengling, if you are lucky enough to get one!

This original oil painting, and signed prints are available at my Etsy shop.

Yuengling Traditional Lager at Citizens Bank Park, by Scott Clendaniel. 14″ x 11″, oil on panel.

2021 Year Review and Looking Ahead to 2022

I think at the beginning of the year it’s important and helpful to sit down and reflect about what you accomplished during the previous year, and to set goals for the new year. At least for someone who is a self-employed artist, this is extremely grounding and inspiring.

So, let’s see what we accomplished in 2021 with our art business.

The year began with yet another art show during a pandemic. The occupancy limit at the venue — Midnight Sun Brewing Co., was 25%. As you can imagine, that art show could have gone better, but we still managed to do okay on sales considering the limitations.

Many people decided to spruce up their work and living spaces during the lockdown, so I was busy painting commissioned pieces in 2021. I also completed three large canvas pieces for the new library and community center in Willow.

Painting took a bit longer after I broke my hand while skiing at Alyeska Resort. Luckily, it was my left hand. Everything healed well, but I didn’t meet my deductible, so I had to pay around $2,600 for medical bills. Big thumbs down!

We traveled to Cordova, and spent a lot of time at our cabin in McCarthy. The most notable things that happened in McCarthy were having my cousin Cameron come up from California for the summer to be the caretaker at the museum, hiring my favorite musician, Michael Kirkpatrick to play a house concert at our cabin, and building a 15ft sculpture for Burning Dude!

The most significant accomplishment this year was finally buying a house, which involved moving our studio out of the 4th Avenue Market Place, into the house.

We also created a wholesale program.

We had two art shows at Turnagain Brewing, two art shows at Midnight Sun Brewing, and one art show at Middle Way Cafe, which is still happening now, and will end on Feb. 5th.

Goals for 2022

2022 started off with my art show at Midnight Sun Brewing Co. that I have every January and June, but I found out yesterday that the venue chose to close for the rest of the week, due to C-19 precautions. So, that’s how that art show is going.

I don’t have any public art projects lined up for the first time in five years.

The first goal is to maintain a healthy environment mentally and physically by taking enough time for myself so I don’t feel overworked, continuing to workout, and prioritizing dedicated work time in the studio.

The second goal is to expand our product line by coming up with new product ideas to sell wholesale and at our Etsy shop.

The third goal is to build a Quonset hut in McCarthy for storage of our tractor, snow machine and many other things that need to be stored in a dry, covered place. My mechanic gave me his dad’s old Quonset hut, which had been laying behind his log cabin on Big Lake for about 50 years. We dug out all the parts, discarded the damaged and corroded ones, and brought the rest to our property in McCarthy. Now we just need to assemble everything.

Goal #4 is to continue brewing delicious beers and making new beer paintings.

Goal #5 is to reach out to new venues to schedule art shows.

Goal #6 is to paint new paintings. I have a list of ideas for paintings, but I rarely have time to paint them, because I’ve spent most of my time painting commissions, and working on public art projects.

We’ll revisit this list at the end of the year, and see how things went. Overall, we’re really grateful for being able to work for ourselves, and for our new home. I hope you all have a great 2022, no matter what the world will throw in your path!