The “Alaskan Buddies” Painting Series

I just completed two new oil paintings on canvas to add to my “Alaska Buddies” series. The Buddies are four Alaskan animals: moose, bear, eagle, and Husky dog, who are friends that go out and do Alaskan things like fat biking, skiing, and racing Mt. Marathon. A lot of artists have created something similar, but I feel these four animals really say, “this is Alaska.” My Alaskan art concepts date back to my days working as a production artist at Arctic Circle Enterprises, where I designed Alaskan products. Mitchell Godfred (my boss) would chant, “bear, moose, eagle, tree, mountain.” These were the acceptable themes that he deemed “sold well” on Alaskan merchandise. A.C.E products were not just for tourists. I remember people wearing A.C.E. gear to high school; it was pretty popular among Alaskans in college too. The product line from A.C.E. was cheap, good quality, and overall well designed. This is thanks to a great art team led by Mitchell Godfred, Lorraine Wyles, Jason Reynolds, Pam Clifton, and lastly myself. I didn’t get to illustrate much, being a 23-year-old production artist at the time, but I learned a lot, and my time at A.C.E. had a lasting effect on my art career. When I thought of painting anthropomorphic Alaskan animals, I remembered the art from that time and the other artists’ styles there.

Bike to Work Day

My animals are different from anything A.C.E. did. I started painting anthropomorphic Alaskan animals when I got to design a beer label for Midnight Sun Brewing Co. about 9 years ago. The beer was called “Feast,” and I got to brew it with the Chef and the brew team at the brewery. Chef Chris wanted to have a bunch of Alaskan animals sitting down at a Thanksgiving-esque feast. Later I made many other paintings featuring various animals drinking beers, riding bikes, and hitting the slopes. But I really wanted this series of paintings to scream Alaska, so I simplified the herd to the four animals in “The Buddies” clique. The newest paintings are “Fat-biking Buddies in McCarthy” and “Mt Marathon Racing Buddies.” I hope you find them enjoyable and slightly comical. I put the moose in the lead of the Mt. Marathon race because it seemed like it was the fastest of the four. Why doesn’t the eagle just fly? Well, because then he wouldn’t be a “buddy”. Stay tuned for more “Buddies” paintings in the future.

Feast

Mt Marathon Racing Buddies

Ski Buddies

I will be vending at an event tomorrow called the Alaska Summer Showcase at the Dena’ina Center. It is an Alaskan travel show put on by local celebrity travel writer, Scott McMurren. If you haven’t heard of him, look him up. He will help you find great deals on travel in and out of Alaska. There will be $25,000+ in travel prizes! Many Alaskan travel companies will be there to help you jump-start your summer by offering show-only specials. There will be food trucks out front and live music by Todd Grebe and Cold Country. They will even drive a brand new EV Chevy Silverado into the Dena’ina Center for your amusement. $10 admission gets you in and allows you to participate in all the giveaways. I will offer a chance to win a free art print at my booth. I hope to see you there!

On April’s First Friday, 4/5, from 5-7pm, I will return to Alaska Cycle Chic with the Fat Biking Buddies painting and another group of cycle-related wall art. The Jake Legs will provide live music while you sip and shop. If you haven’t been to an Alaska Cycle Chic FF, I highly recommend attending; it is always a fun event! It is in midtown, across from Dos Manos gallery, so you will be able to find parking nearby! I hope to see you there!

Fat Biking Buddies

Winter Cabin Time in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Last week Maria and I went out to McCarthy to enjoy a getaway at our cabin. We often refer to our little house in the woods as our Camp David. It’s a place for the Executive Branch of our household, Maria and I, to escape the daily routine. March is spring in some places, but it is definitely winter in Alaska. When we leave the cabin in the fall, we set it to “winter mode”, we don’t shut it down for the winter.

The winterized cabin is a bit different from the summer version. In summer, we have a rainwater collection system, a hot shower, a French drain, pump-driven running water in the kitchen, and we can drive all the way to our front door. In winter, we have a nice snow trail. We used to ski in and carry all our gear, including all the food and water we would need while staying at the cabin. Now we bring our Ski-Doo and easily transport our stuff and water up the hill on the trail to our front door. We park the truck three miles away at the foot bridge, where road maintenance ends, and where we can find parking.

The water systems are all “winterized,” meaning they are filled with RV antifreeze. We still have running water though, but it’s a bucket-to-bucket system. Nice enough to wash our hands, but not quite like pumped water from our 300-gallon summer system. We have to dump the slop bucket that’s under the sink drain. It’s always a good idea to do that when it is only half full. The shower hoses are also filled with RV antifreeze, so that is out. Instead, we use a big Rubbermaid tub, and heat water with a teapot, for a quick pour-over bath, which we may do once or twice during our stay.

In the summer, I may burn wood in the stove once every few days during the shoulder seasons. In winter, we get in and fire the stove up right away, and for three days, we don’t let it go out. It was -26F outside when we woke up on the first morning; the ambient air temperature inside the cabin was about 55F. Until it hits 70F inside, I keep the fire cranking. On day three, the cabin logs were warmed, and I let the fire go out for up to four hours before it dropped below 60F inside. I have a lot of wood, since the 10 acres are densely wooded, but I figure the amount I have stockpiled is good for about two months. 

The solar panels work in winter, and I even turned on the refrigerator when the house warmed up. Electric lights are a major bonus during winter; a few years ago we used candles and flashlights. Evening time is now a joy, and we play games and even watch movies! I like winter; it is peaceful. Hearing a loud plane overhead is rare, and the quantity of people is maybe 10% of the summer crew. In summer, you can hear the buzz of McCarthy even though we live 2 miles from town. In winter, the birds and the fan from the woodstove are all we can hear.

In summer, the Kennicott Glacier is brown, and the Root Glacier, Gates Glacier, and Mt. Blackburn stand out, glowing white and blue. In winter, everything is coated white with snow. Porphyry Peak and Bonanza Ridge look phenomenal! But the snow diminishes the grandeur of the 5,000ft icefall. The area is gorgeous, but different.

I am always slightly worried the whole time I am in McCarthy in the winter. So many things could go wrong. Injury, fire, blizzards, and other unknowns that in the summer would be bad, but wouldn’t jeopardize life. I feel like I need to leave a change of clothes in the woodshed in case I have to leave the cabin in a hurry. I already leave the key to the snowmachine in the ignition, in case of an emergency.  

Blizzards can be disconcerting since the road only gets plowed when the airstrip is not usable, meaning there could be a week or two when the road is basically impassable. Or I worry about a meltdown. There is a thing on the McCarthy Road called road glaciers, which is when a culvert freezes up, and the excess water pours over the road and freezes, sometimes being feet deep of ice. If it warms up, it becomes slushy and unstable, which can cause difficulty in traversing. I have heard about people getting stuck for hours or sliding to the edge of the road and flipping their rig! I have tire chains for such situations, but I hate using tire chains because they’re hard on the tires and wheel wells! 

We didn’t have a blizzard or meltdown this time, thankfully! And we drove in and out basically easier than in the summer. The ice road can be amazing when you have good luck. And we had an amazing time! We went to Kennecott, XC skied all over the glacial lakes, drove the snowmachine on three different rivers, and basically had a blast! I can’t recommend visiting McCarthy in the winter due to all the things I mentioned above, and I’ve pulled the plug on trips when I knew I would be driving in a blizzard. But it’s really fun if all the stars align and a winter trip happens. Did I mention how beautiful the stars are in the winter? I saw some faint Aurora, but the Milky Way and the constellations are spectacular without any light contamination.

I am glad to be back and working on new paintings in the Anchorage studio. Enjoy these longer days and get out before the snow all melts down! 

Shipping a Large Painting from Alaska to Washington

~ by Maria Benner

We sold an oil painting on canvas to a couple that lives in Bellingham, WA, and the painting needed to be shipped there from Anchorage, AK. The problem was that the painting is 5ft x 4ft, and when Scott packaged it, the combined dimensions were just 4″ over the maximum size allowed by USPS, FedEx and UPS. So, we had to get quotes from other shippers like Matson, SpanAlaska, Lynden, etc. Again, there was a problem. They all asked what we wanted to ship, and then told us that they don’t ship original art. Okaaay, so we had to do more research. I checked with Alaska Airlines Cargo, and they don’t care if it’s an original oil painting, but then there was another problem. We could send the painting on a cargo plane to Seattle for a very reasonable rate, but in order for it to fly to Bellingham, we would need to apply for Known Shipper status with TSA, because that’s what you have to do in order to put cargo on a flight that also has passengers. This process would take a couple weeks, so we contacted our customers to tell them about the delay, and she told us that her uncle works for Alaska Airlines, and may agree to sign off on the shipment. Well, her uncle wasn’t very responsive. Probably because he was busy dealing with the Boeing Max 9 situation.

So, two weeks went by and we didn’t hear anything from TSA. Not being one to sit around and wait patiently, I started inquiring about our status. You cannot apply for Known Shipper status directly, a cargo carrier has to do it for you. We applied online through the Alaska Airlines Cargo website. TSA replied that they don’t talk to shippers directly, so I e-mailed Alaska Airlines, and they said TSA doesn’t tell them anything. About an hour later, we received an e-mail letting us know that our application had been approved! This was on Friday morning, and we still had time to mail the painting that afternoon. But nooooo, that would have been too easy.

Turns out we then had to create an account as a shipper with Alaska Airlines Cargo. Sounds easy enough, but after submitting the application online, we had to wait for it to be approved for several hours. So, we’d have to wait until Monday to mail the painting. Then I had to set up my username and password. There were problems with that too, because Alaska Airlines had just gotten a new computer system, and it was experiencing some glitches. After several e-mails back and forth with a cargo rep, I finally received the link to reset my password!

Finally, we could create the shipment online! But, for some reason we kept getting an error. The first customer service rep we called couldn’t figure out the problem and submitted a ticket for someone higher up the chain to help. We didn’t hear back for a couple hours, and as I mentioned earlier, I’m not the type to sit around and wait, so we called back, and this time the customer service rep figured out that the problem is that the plane from Seattle to Bellingham is not big enough to carry the painting! Turns out we didn’t have to wait two weeks to receive Known Shipper status after-all! I suppose it’s nice to have for future shipments though. So we called our customer and she was kind enough to agree to drive her truck to Seattle to pick up the painting.

We took the huge box to Alaska Airlines Cargo and made sure they put several “Fragile” stickers on it. We insured it for full value, crossed our fingers, and hoped for the best.

There is a tracking feature on the Alaska Airlines Cargo website, and we were able to track the painting’s every move. As I was checking its status the next day, I saw that it had been picked up by the customer, and then my phone rang. It was the customer service rep from Alaska Airlines calling to let me know the painting had been picked up. He said he had also been tracking it, and that this was the smoothest shipment he’s every seen. Our customer picked up the painting just a few minutes after it was unloaded.

We still couldn’t completely relax, because we didn’t know if the painting arrived in perfect condition. Our customers didn’t want to open it until the next day when they had more time. The next afternoon Scott received a text with a picture of the painting hanging in its intended place, above the fireplace where it fit absolutely perfectly. It arrived in perfect condition! We were all so happy! Thank you Alaska Airlines Cargo!

The original oil painting hanging in its new home! Canvas and paper prints in various sizes are available at our Etsy shop.

A Road Trip from Anchorage to Dawson City

By Maria Benner

What do a frost-bitten human toe, and a giant metal chicken sculpture have in common? They were both attractions at local businesses in the two communities we visited on our road trip from Anchorage to Dawson City.

One of my birthday traditions is to visit a place in Alaska where I’ve never been. Two years ago we flew to Cordova, and last year to Sitka. This winter I read about gold rush history in Dawson City, so I decided to go there this year. I have also been curious about the little town called Chicken, and it is conveniently on the way to Dawson City. Apparently, the gold miners at the end of the 18th century wanted to name the town Ptarmigan, after Alaska’s State bird, one that was prevalent in the area, but they couldn’t agree on the correct spelling of the word, so they settled on Chicken, the slang term for Ptarmigan. We booked a cabin at Chicken Gold Camp for all three of us, and drove from Anchorage directly to Chicken, arriving around 6:30pm. The Taylor Hwy is largely unpaved, and we stopped at several scenic view points along the way. When we checked in, we were told that the only place open in town was the Saloon, so we hurried there to see if we could get some dinner and a beer. The friendly bartender offered some bison chili that was made at the cafe next door, with a slice of sourdough bread and butter. Sold! He also had an impressive selection of beer, and we both chose Tundra Thunder IPA by 49th State Brewing. We ate outside on the porch while chatting with some friendly travelers from Willow who come to Chicken every year. After dinner we walked around town, which wasn’t very far. The highlights included the huge gold dredge at Chicken Gold Camp, which was moved there from Fairbanks, the famous chicken sculpture, made by high school students in Fairbanks from old school lockers, walking across the suspension bridge at The Goldpanner, and looking at all the old gold-mining equipment. I regret not having enough time to go gold-panning, and to get a tour of historic downtown cabins, which are on private property. Supposedly, Tisha lived in one of them, the school teacher from the popular book named after her, and there’s a huge cooking stove in the cabin.

The saloon

The gold dredge

Huge metal chicken sculpture

The next day we crossed the border into Canada and drove the Top of the World Highway to the Yukon River, where we drove onto the free ferry to cross the river into Dawson City. We got really lucky on the weather! The views on this drive were incredible! We checked into the Westmark Hotel, and walked to the Visitor Center to book tours for the next day. In the evening we went to the Diamond Tooth Gertie’s show, which was inside a casino. The show didn’t start until 8:30pm, but everyone was told to show up at 7:00pm. People started lining up at the door before 7:00, and Scott and I thought that was ridiculously early, so we sat across the street and observed the other tourists while chatting to the locals. Finally, when the line was almost gone, we decided to go inside to see what all the excitement was about. When we walked in, all the seats were taken, but we found a gentleman who had three extra seats at his table, and sat with him. There was an hour left before the show, and since this dance hall was also a gambling hall, and there was a black jack table with only a $3 minimum, we decided to test our luck. Scott had a $10 Canadian bill burning a hole in his pocket, so we sat down at the black jack table and did pretty well! Won enough money to buy three beers, and got our initial $10 back. That made the time pass quickly before the cancan show finally began at 8:30pm.

We spent one full day in Dawson City, which was enough for us, but there are many more things to do to keep someone busy for several days. In the morning we took a walking city tour, then we did the tour of the S.S. Keno, a sternwheel paddle steamer, and finally a tour of the Palace Grand Theater. Parks Canada did a great job restoring, or re-building many buildings in Dawson City, but many of them are closed to the public, unless you go on a tour. The town has a very historic feel to it, but at the same time, it’s a real, functioning city. The buildings that haven’t been restored are nearly falling over, largely due to melting permafrost. The tour guides were dressed up in clothing from the time period of the gold rush, and were very knowledgeable and entertaining. In the evening we drove to Midnight Dome to see the view of the city and the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. The two rivers come together at a confluence just at the edge of town. Of course we had to go to the Sourdough Saloon to see if people were actually drinking whiskey shots with an amputated, frost-bitten, human toe at the bottom of the glass. Sure enough, there was a special table next to the bar, and a gentleman who looked like a sourdough himself, administering the shots, and handing out certificates to those who completed the nasty task. To become a member of the sourtoe club, one must let the toe touch the lips at the end of the shot. On a blackboard behind the table, there’s the number of people written in chalk who have joined the club, over 102,000. We didn’t even think twice about it, this was not the club we needed or wanted to be part of! A hundred years from now, Park Canada tour guides will be telling visitors of the clever bar owner who made millions by selling shots of whiskey with severed, frost-bitten human toes.

In the morning we caught the ferry back across the Yukon and then walked to the Paddlewheel Graveyard. Then drove to Tok, where we spent the night at the Golden Bear. The Thai food at Soho Thai was delicious!

At the end of the trip we had driven over 1,000 miles, so I won’t be returning to Chicken, or Dawson City anytime soon, but it’s definitely worth the drive to visit these communities at least once. This was one of those “off-the-beaten path” trips, which are my favorite. Another regret was not planning enough time to also visit Eagle, so I guess I’ll save it for another birthday trip. But I told Scott that if things don’t work out in Alaska, I’m moving to Dawson City!

May the 4th Be With You!

People have been celebrating Star Wars on May 4th since Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister of England on May 4th, 1979. The next day her political party placed an ad in the newspaper that included the phrase, “May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations.”  Today I woke up to see my friends posting Star Wars memes on my personal chats and social media.  I have loved Star Wars since I was 5 years old, which means people had been celebrating this informal holiday six years before I had even seen Star Wars: A New Hope. I remember watching it for the first time at Grandma’s house. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! Later I watched episode 4, 5, and 6 over an over, until I could recite all the dialogue.  It was an obsession, I think not uncommon for many of us Star Wars nerds.  

I have painted many Star Wars parodies over the years, and just recently painted a few new ones for Arctic Comicon, which is this Saturday and Sunday at Dena’ina Center. The convention center will fill up with Mandalorians toting little Grogus, anime cosplayers, Marvel super heroes, and even the Black Power Ranger will be in attendance! If you stop by my booth, you can see my two new Star Wars parodies there, and purchase the originals, or prints. I also have several other cool parodies, including Mario riding a moose, and Tetris bricks loading into a truck bed. 

Cheers to us nerds who can’t get enough pop-culture! See you at Arctic Comicon!

Millennium Falcon Air Taxi, 16″x20″, oil on canvas

Ca•bin•a•tion – a Vacation at One’s Cabin

Maria and I are at the cabin in McCarthy this week, and it has been a dream.  This is not always the case when adventuring in the WRST (Wrangell-St. Elias) National Park in the winter.  We have been here when we have had a cold (virus).  We have been here when we thought we were not going to be able to drive out, because it snowed so much.  We have cancelled many trips, because the weather forecast and our work schedule didn’t align.  I would schedule a time when I didn’t have a lot of work, and then a blizzard would start up after we were already packed and ready to drive out to McCarthy.  The thing about McCarthy is that it’s a long drive of 310 miles one way, and the McCarthy Road is no joke in the winter.  It can vary from being a two lane ice highway, to just two ruts in ten inches of packed ice and crusty snow.  Tire chains are a must-have, and it is a good idea to have a reliable 4WD vehicle with 10 inches of clearance.  I will not drive out to the cabin in a winter blizzard, I’ll drive back to Anchorage in one, but not out here, just to get stuck for an unknown amount of time.  We haven’t made it here in the snow season since spring of 2020. 

Maria and I recently purchased a 2023 Ski-Doo Expedition Sport 600 ACE, and we love this transportation device!  It has made winter cabin life way safer, easier and more fun.  We have been here without a snowmachine (snowmobile, or sled for people not from Alaska) and the amount of time spent hauling water to the cabin was notable.  With our new “sled”, transportation around the area has been a breeze, and hauling our stuff to the cabin, including water, now takes a fraction of the time.  

We have a 10-acre lot here, and we put our cabin right in the middle of it to be further from the trail/road for privacy.  Nobody had been here since fall.  I had to break trail through 4 feet of packed sugar snow.  First, we unhitched the sled load, and immediately got stuck, almost rolling the snowmachine on its side.  I was able to back out to the road with some vigorous shoveling.  We then strapped on our XC skis and broke a trail-loop to the cabin from the the road to the front door.  About this time, Jason Lobo showed up (he lives past us, about a mile up the trail).  Jason was full of good ideas and pointers to get me and my stuff to my doorstep.  However, I didn’t put them to very good use, and got stuck about 50 feet in.  Jason took the handlebars and drove the last 200 feet of the trail, and Maria rewarded him with a beer for his efforts.  I then practiced driving around the still soft trail about four times before re-hitching the load and bringing it in to the cabin.  I really need to practice driving in deep snow.

Yesterday was a bluebird day, and we met up with our buddy Matt Empt and his dog Duncan.  We drove the sled to Kennicott and picnicked behind the power plant.  Duncan ran and alternately rode with Matt on his vintage Yamaha Bravo 250.  The views were spectacular!  The WRST park is a feast for the eyes!  We then went down the hill to play on the glacier lake where we towed Matt around on his alpine skis, and I practiced driving in the deep stuff.  I got stuck a few times and I figured out how to ride in the powder a bit better.  The thing is, the snow is not really completely powder, it is an accumulation of many storms, and the layers are inconsistent — a bit of crust mixed into the sugary stuff beneath.  It makes it really easy to bog down if you don’t keep up your speed.  We had a great time, and then we rode back to the cabin.

We love being at the cabin, and a vacation at your other home is a wonderful way to go.  Building a cabin is no joke, and buying one can be pretty expensive as well.  But it sure makes a vacation simple.  You have all you stuff there, and you don’t have to make a lodging reservation at a VRBO, or wherever.  There is no host to have to communicate with, and when you leave, the cleanup is all your own.  Using a wood stove is about as much a learning experience as using a snowmachine, but when it is your own, it makes it that much easier.  Relaxation is at a high compared to previous trips here in the winter, and I think mostly that is due to the new sled.  It feels safer to have a reliable mode of transport up and down the hill to the truck, and possibly all the way to Chitina.  Life is good!  Live it well!     

Plans to Explore Alaska on a New Snowmachine (Snowmobile)

I was at Anchorage Brewing Company vending artwork when Iron Dog racer, Mike Morgan, came up to talk to me about my paintings.  We had a long chat, and he told me all about racing to Nome on Polaris sleds.  The Iron Dog is a high speed trail race using two-stroke, air-cooled, high performance motors. I told him I just sold my old 1993 Polaris Indy Lite 340 and was in the market for a 2-up trail sled. 2-up doesn’t mean you have two extra lives in Super Mario Brothers, but that two people can safely ride the ATV.  We discussed snowmachines, or snowmobiles for those of you who live anywhere but Alaska. We also discussed the market for making paintings with snowmobile/snowmachine themes. I wanted a sled that we could use to get to our cabin in the winter and haul supplies and water, but also get out on the trails, and maybe even ride part of the Iditarod trail. 

I went into Alaska Mining and Diving, the Ski-Doo dealer here in Anchorage, and asked about ordering a 2023 Ski-Doo Expedition Sport.  They pretty much laughed at me and said that it takes a year to get a new machine, and to stop back in February when they signed people up for next year’s models. Well, a few weeks ago I figured I should stop back in and see if they had changed the dates, and if the sales plan was the same. It was my lucky day, because an Expedition Sport had just arrived, and the man who ordered it last year was unable to obtain financing.  I thought about it, and came back and purchased the snowmobile.

I will call them snowmobiles from now on. Alaskans call them snowmachines, or sleds, but not snowmobiles. But, if you search the Internet for snowmachine, you don’t get many posts, except for Alaskan ones. The whole world calls these ATVs snowmobiles. My new owner’s manual refers to it as a snowmobile on almost every page. So, to be most accurate I will refer to it as a snowmobile. As I type right now, snowmobile is a recognizable word on my computer, while snowmachine is highlighted as a misspelled word.  If you refer to a snowmobile as a snowmachine anywhere else in the world, people think you’re talking about a snowmaking device for ski areas, or a snowblower.  If you say snowmobile in Alaska, people ask you where you’re from.

I have a brand new Ski-Doo with less than nine miles on it, and I want to take it out and get some pictures of Alaska. Maria left town last week and I took the snowmobile out for its very first ride. I went four miles before I tipped it over, and it was really hard to flip back over by myself. So after righting the sled, I turned back around and snowmobiled to my truck.  When Maria gets back, we are going to ride at Big Lake to practice some more. I also want to go to Willow and drive the Iditarod trail, and explore around Wrangell-St. Elias NP. We also have plans to ride to Knik and Spencer Glaciers to take pictures of snowmobiles at glaciers.  What I don’t want to do is go to the top of steep mountains and risk getting buried in an avalanche.  I have a trail sled with 60 horsepower that probably won’t go up a mountain anyway, but it does have a hitch for towing, and I want to go expeditioning! I plan to make some paintings along the way.  I can totally carry painting supplies to our cabin, as well as food and water now. Let’s get out in the winter and have a good time! 

The old snowmobile

The new snowmobile

Drinking on the Southside

Yesterday was a great day to go to the south-side of town to grab a beer at Midnight Sun Brewing and  Turnagain Brewing. My art show is up at MSBC for the month of January, and yesterday the brewery busted out dusty bottles of Sloth Belgian-style Imperial Stout from 2017! For those in the know, Sloth is one of the best beers MSBC has ever made. A Russian imperial stout that was originally brewed as part of the Seven Deadly Sins series in 2007. The brewery hasn’t brewed it since 2017! Sloth has a rating of 95 on Beer Advocate and is rated as the 90th best Russian Imperial Stout in the United States!  It is big, bold, dark, black, and has a nice Belgian yeast note to it. If there is any left on draft today, I would get on down there and get a glass.  If not, you can always find something noteworthy from the big offerings from MSBC.  I made this painting of Sloth in 2016 and it immediately sold. Limited edition prints are available at my Etsy shop. If you prefer an original oil painting, rather than a print, I can paint a custom one for you.

A 6oz pour of Sloth Belgian-style Imperial Stout

Meanwhile, right down the street, an amazing sour beer called Solera Eclipse was released today at Turnagain Brewing!  Since Maria and I are in the Mug Club at Turnagain, we had the opportunity to stop by to get first dibs on this amazing beer yesterday.  It is a pineapple and blueberry sour that originally was brewed in summer 2021 and was released in early November 2021.  Every year there is a contest called the Turnagain Tartside Challenge, and Anchorage home-brewers come by Turnagain Brewing to get a gallon of mostly fermented sour wort from the Solera. The idea is to flavor, finish, and package the wort to make a delicious beer. In 2021 I was the winner of this contest with the concept behind Solera Eclipse. Ted Rosenzweig (owner and brewer at Turnagain Brewing) and I conferred, and I designed a label, and Ted packaged the beer for individual bottle sales. It has to be one of the tastiest sour beers I have ever had, and today it is released again. At $7 for a 12oz pour or $7 for 12oz bottles to go, it is a good deal. My original recipe called for a whole pineapple and 1lb of blueberries per gallon!  Little to say, the fruit in this beer is very expensive, and I am unsure how much profit can be made when using so much fruit here in Alaska! I have included a picture of Ted stealing a sample from the barrel on Halloween in 2021.  I wanted to show off my original label and bottle design, because the packaging is different this year.  The pineapple brings the flavor, and the blueberries bring some aroma, and a great color!  

Anchorage is a great beer drinking town and I hope you brave the cold to get out to one of our lovely brewery destinations to revere our beer! Cheers to beers brewed in the North! 

Brewing Beer with Alaskan Ingredients

I am a home-brewer, and I live in Alaska. The majority of beer ingredients are not found in Alaska. Although barley does grow in Alaska, no one malts it here on a large commercial scale. Hops do not really grow well in Alaska, they don’t seem to flower before they wilt, due to our extreme daylight in summer and cold fall season. Yeast is totally available in Alaska.  I have harvested yeast in my backyard successfully. It is a wild ingredient and the outcome can vary wildly. We have a lot of water in Alaska, and that is probably the most important ingredient in beer. You can substitute all kinds of other things, but if you don’t have water, you can’t make beer. We have plentiful soft water in Alaska, that is similar to the water found in the southern part of Germany. It is easy to work with, and can be manipulated to produce water chemistry similar to anywhere in the world. This is probably why beer from Alaska is some of the best to be found anywhere. 

The most classic Alaskan ingredient is spruce tips — you can find this in commercial examples like Alaskan Winter Ale, and Sprucesplosion by 49th State Brewing.  Spruce tips have been used since Captain Cook sailed to Alaska in 1778. His crew made malt extract beer and used spruce tips as a flavoring and enriching ingredient. Spruce tips are high in vitamin C, so the beer prevented Cook’s crew from getting scurvy.  Another interesting ingredient used by Alaskan commercial breweries is rhubarb.  Turnagain Brewing’s, Rhu Framb, and Girdwood Brewing’s, Rhu Hefner, are both excellent examples. There are a lot of commercial blueberry beers made in Alaska: Turnagain uses it frequently, Glacier BrewHouse makes a blueberry IPA, and Matanuska Brewing makes a blueberry beer. My favorite blueberry beer is Anchorage Brewing’s Experiment, a sour blueberry beer. Raspberry is often used to make a delicious fruity beer, not just in Alaska, but it has traditionally been used in Belgium to make Framboise.  Glacier Brewhouse makes a raspberry wheat, and Turnagain makes a beer called Framb Was.  Basically, you can put anything you want into a beer to create unique and interesting flavors. 

This year I made a 10 gallon batch of pale ale, around 5.5% ABV, and pretty basic. It is lightly hopped with Mosaic and Citrus hops, and the base recipe is a fairly sweet ale. I took five gallons and dry-hopped it with Azacca hops and put it on draft in my kegerator. The other five gallons I racked into five one-gallon jugs, and then flavored each one differently.  I put blueberries in one, lingonberries in another, gooseberries in a third, raspberry in the fourth, and to the last one I added a lot of dried yarrow flowers. I pureed all the fruit, which was frozen first, with an immersion blender.  I let them age another week before I bottled all five batches.  I’m waiting two weeks to try them, and I hope they are as delicious as the beers I brewed last year. Maybe next year I will use wild Alaskan yeast, but this year I used American ale yeast, which is a go-to in our home-brewery.

Cheers to Alaska! Cheers to Alaskan ingredients! Cheers to Alaskan beers!

Sales Channels for Selling Art: Pop-Ups, Art Shows, Galleries, and Online

December is here, and it is now officially crunch time to get your holiday shopping completed.  As an artist, I have mixed feelings about the holiday season.  On one side I make more money at this time of year than any other time. On the other side, I have to work almost every weekend at in-person vending events, such as pop-ups.  We sell art primarily through these channels: in person at pop-ups/craft fairs, at galleries, art shows at venues around town, and online.

Vending in person at pop-ups and craft fairs is an interesting opportunity for both the buyer and artist. I get to meet my clients, and can help them find the art they are looking for, or let them know about art pieces I may not have brought with me, but are available on my Etsy shop. In which case, they can pick up the artwork when it is ready a few days later at the studio (if you are lucky, you might get invited in for a home-brew ;). It is a lot of work setting up and taking down the booth, and has to be calculated in to our work day. Most of the time, there is no fee for us to sell at pop-up events, except credit card processing fees, and the cost of a couple beers, if the event is at a brewery. Sometimes breweries waive my tab, which always makes me very happy! Craft fairs charge a few hundred dollars for a booth. By the way, I’ll be selling my art at a pop-up at Anchorage Brewing Co. along with several other local makers on Saturday, December 3, starting at 2pm.

Selling my art at a pop-up at Anchorage Brewing Co.

Galleries are a way to work with sales people and meet a larger audience.  However, galleries take 40% – 50% commission, which makes sense, since they have brick-and-mortar overhead.  After dropping off art to a gallery, the artist doesn’t have to do any work except keep track of what the gallery has and what they will need when something sells.  Unfortunately, the gallery only has a certain amount of space, so artists are limited to sell only what the gallery is willing to put on its walls. Galleries have sales people that work to sell the art. This is a major benefit, especially since artists are not always good at selling their own art. I’m very happy to have my art at Dos Manos Gallery!

My art at Dos Manos Gallery

Art shows at venues like breweries, restaurants, and coffee shops are another way for an artist to reach an audience. This is a bit more than a pop-up, but less than complete gallery representation. It is super fun as an artist to have a reception at your art show. Everyone is there to see the artwork, and that is really rewarding. The artist often has to handle all the sales, if the venue doesn’t want to process art sales, which is a hurdle for the buyer, and leads to fewer sales.  Art shows last about a month, so you are committed to that venue for a longer bit of time than a pop-up.  Most art show venues don’t care if they sell anything, or not, so you often don’t get a sales person, like yourself at a pop-up, or an employee of a gallery. Sometimes nothing sells at all at an art show venue. Most of the time people go to the venue for the real reason it exists: food at a restaurant, or a haircut at a stylist, or beer at a brewery.  Or they go to see your artwork. Most likely, if they are already on an artist’s mailing list, they already have artwork from the artist and may be there to support the artist personally and not to purchase art.  My next art show will be at Midnight Sun Brewing Co. in January.

At my art show at Midnight Sun Brewing Co.

Online selling is a good way to sell art.  It is also very challenging, but if done correctly, can be quite profitable. You can sell direct from your website, this requires expensive web hosting, and secure checkout. SEO is a problem with that.  There are a few other online venues: Etsy is one of the best, but there is also Fine Art America, iCanvas, Redbubble, and Deviantart. The listings are time consuming and require a keen eye for detail.  Art purchasers don’t like to see typos in a listing — it makes them feel that the artist is careless. There is often a lot of communication before a sale is made, and if it isn’t handled correctly, the sale is lost. It is tedious to manage an online site for art sales.  Some of these websites require the artist to make and mail all the art, like Etsy.  Other sites, like RedBubble, or Fine Art America print all the merchandise, and mail it. But these sites take a much bigger cut for those services.  Buying art online is really easy, you can do it from your phone, however, it is hard to tell what you will receive. This is fine when ordering a t-shirt from Redbubble, but a bit disconcerting to the purchaser when buying expensive originals, or fragile pieces. We just sold an original painting to a client in France, and I was really proud of the Real Art Is Better team, that my artwork was being shipped all the way to the cultural center of Europe.  We’re offering a 20% discount, and free domestic shipping right now at our Etsy shop for a limited time.

We use all of these methods to sell art. And I find pop-ups to be the most work, but also the most profitable, especially when I am at a brewery. Not so much when I am vending at a craft fair, because there’s more competition from other vendors, and beer art is not everyone’s cup of tea. Galleries are good because they get the word out to art collectors, and help with establishing your brand, and the gallery does all the work.  Art shows are fun, especially at the reception when the artist is honored, but most often you only sell a small percentage of what has been hung, and it is a lot of work moving artwork around and taking it back down. Online is a lot of setup and a ton of work when it comes to packing and mailing, or requires faith in the offsite production of reproduced items.  We find that all these methods are working to keep our business running. All have their pros and cons. It’s a matter of getting it all out there, whatever the method.