Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #63, March 10, 2016, “We Can Brew It!”

This week’s Thirsty Thursday beer painting is a nod to International Women’s Day and the Pink Boots Society, so I invited my wife and Business Manager, Maria Benner, to write a guest blog post about her experience brewing a batch of Big Boots Brew at Midnight Sun Brewing Company last Saturday.  For the painting I sampled the 1942 war effort sign made by J. Howard Miller of Westinghouse Production Company, designed to increase morale for the all-female workforce at home.   

The Pink Boots Society is a membership organization for female brewers that has been empowering women beer professionals to advance their careers in the beer industry through education for 11 years.  Every year, around March 8th, many breweries across the country host “no boys allowed” brew days.  The last two years I have been invited to brew at one of my favorite breweries, Midnight Sun Brewing.  I think the idea is for everyone to brew the same beer, and we brewed a citrus saison.  Last year I also got to participate, and I distinctly remember adding about 10 pounds of Red Hots to the kettle.  About a dozen women got together to brew this year, and our fearless leader was Chelsea Hendricks, a brewer at MSBC.  She does a great job explaining the brewing process and putting us all to work.  Sampling beer was part of the job 🙂  I could only stay for 2.5 hours, but it was long enough to appreciate all the hard work that goes into producing one batch of beer.  The important lesson is that women “can brew it!”

Cheers to all the women pioneers in the brewing industry, and to the Pink Boots Society for making it possible!

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

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #63 by Scott Clendaniel. March 10, 2016. “We Can Brew It!” 11″x14″, oil on panel.

 

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Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #56, January 21, 2016, Parabola Imperial Stout by Firestone Walker Brewing Co.

Deep black mahogany, as black as soot, with a flavor that won’t quit, but makes you want to come back for more. Barrel aged in whiskey barrels, nothing has quite the same flavor as a whiskey barrel-aged imperial stout. Firestone Walker’s Parabola is not one to be missed if you get lucky enough to find one. I was at Brown Jug Liquor Store in Anchorage, Alaska and I saw the fancy FW box being handed over to a gentleman. I inquired where I might also find the special liquid from the back basement cellar storage room. He went and brought me up a special bottle and I was surprised to find that the FW barrel aged ales were only $15 a bottle! For 14% beer that has been barrel-aged, that’s a good deal! Especially when it tastes as good as this one does! I opened this bottle on New Year’s Eve, and I believe it was a good choice.

I painted it with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, because the landmark is between Firestone Walker’s two restaurants and tasting rooms. The Golden Gate Bridge is also the largest parabola that I have ever seen. The Eiffel Tower also has a sweet parabola at the base of it, but I figured it wasn’t Californian enough, and also much smaller. If you ever get a chance to buy a bottle of Parabola, I would highly recommend enjoying it as a picnic item on the rocks overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Cheers to Firestone Walker! An award winning, stellar brewery that distributes to Alaska!

The original oil painting sold. Limited-edition prints are available at my Etsy shop, RealArtIsBetter.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #56 by Scott Clendaniel. January 21, 2016. Parabola Imperial Stout by Firestone Walker Brewing Co. 11″x14″, oil on panel.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #37, September 10, 2015

Paul Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) is most famous for his legendary drip paintings. Born in Wyoming, Pollock created his masterpieces in his studio in upstate New York. Jackson Pollock worked differently than traditional Western artists, stretching the boundaries of what people considered to be art. He used non-traditional mediums – paint that was more fluid-based, and engineered for building application. He would dance around an un-stretched canvas on the floor of his studio, applying paint with sticks, stiff brushes, and even used a turkey baster from time to time.

“I continue to get further away from the usual painter’s tools such as easel, palette, brushes, etc.” – Jackson Pollock.

Notorious for his alcoholism, and known to drink a quart of whiskey a day, the artist died in November of 1956 in a drunken driving accident. A true shame, as he was only 44 years old. At least he really got to live for the short time he was productive on this planet. For this reason, I admit that a beer painting in his style could be considered inappropriate, but I couldn’t resist making a painting using Pollock’s technique.

I had fun channeling this artist, and really made a mess. Normally I work in oil paint, but had to buy acrylic and latex paint for this painting. I set the painting support on a larger piece of plywood outside in a large open area on my lot in McCarthy, and just started throwing paint with a big brush. No, I did not consume a quart of whiskey while working on this piece. I waited until evening before drinking a beer, although I feel it would not have hindered my ability to paint in this way. I just had to climb on ladders while working on my cabin during the afternoon. I should have done this painting in the evening so I could drink beer while applying the drips of paint. Well, hindsight is 20-20.

“It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.” – Jackson Pollock.

The original painting, and limited-edition prints are for sale at my Etsy shop.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #37 by Scott Clendaniel. September 10, 2015. Inspired by Jackson Pollock. 18″x26″, mixed media on panel.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #29, July 16, 2015

The Skilak Lake is a popular destination on the Kenai Peninsula. If you go, don’t forget to bring the Skilak Scottish Ale from Kenai River Brewing Co. Skilak is one of the biggest lakes on the Kenai and is easily accessible from Soldotna and Anchorage. The fact that it’s a popular destination makes sense, because there are two campgrounds and square miles of beautiful crystal blue water to enjoy. The views are nice too.

Skilak Scottish Ale pours with a robust creamy head that is more than ample. The aroma is of licorice and smoke. This is a very malt-forward beer that finishes with a hint of piney hops. The taste is robust of licorice candy and caramel dark grain. It is sweet and satisfying. A nice dark amber beer with a hint of peat. The mouth feel is a bit boozy even at only 5.3% ABV, and this beer is creamy and smooth. Overall, highly recommended for drinking during out of town adventures, preferably by a lake.

Cheers to Kenai River Brewing, a great Alaska brewery producing unique brews! Keep up the good work!

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

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #29 by Scott Clendaniel. July 16, 2015. Skilak Scottish Ale by Kenai River Brewing Co. 8″x10″, oil on panel.

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.

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.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #21, May 21, 2015

René Magritte (1898-1967) is a well-known Surrealist painter known for his pieces that made people think. This piece is modeled after a painting entitled, “The Treachery of Images” (1928-29), consisting of a pipe with perfect cursive writing beneath it that says, “Leci n’est pas une pipe,” which in French means, “This is not a pipe”. Magritte is referring to the fact that it is an image of a pipe, not an actual pipe itself. Because he was a very exacting painter, this made sense. I didn’t even attempt to make the painting seem as lifelike as Magritte would have, but I had other motives. I was visiting Brandon Yanoshek, checking the inventory of his late father’s brew equipment, and looking into what was needed to get Brandon up and running. Brandon is an avid pipe smoker and loves to show off his pipe collection. He received a new pipe in the mail that day, a real beauty. Too bad I gave up tobacco a while ago. I still enjoy the smell of pipe tobacco. Later at home I was watching his YouTube video on how to load a pipe and this Magritte painting came to mind.   This painting has another meaning, referring to the fact that most “pint” glasses we use today are actually 13 ounces to the brim, a full 3 ounces short of a full pint, hence “This is not a pint.” If you want to see Brandon’s images of his pipes, follow him on Instagram at @thearcticpipe, and his YouTube channel if you need advice on how to fill your new corncob beauty. Cheers to beer! Check back next week for another Thirsty Thursday beer-themed painting.

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

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #21 by Scott Clendaniel. May 21, 2015. Leci n’est pas une Pint. 11″x14″, oil on panel.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #19, May 7, 2015

This week’s beer-themed painting is of my homebrewed Saison chillin’ in the snow on top of Flattop Mountain. After a vigorous hike to the summit we drank the beer while enjoying the view and then had a good time sliding down the snow on our way down. I chose to paint homebrew this week because May 7^th is the day that National Homebrew Day was announced before Congress in 1988. Last Saturday the Great Northern Brewers Club put on an event known as Brew-a-thon where home brewers of Anchorage showed up to brew together. It is a national event that kicks off with a nationwide toast at noon CDT, 9AM here in Anchorage! I teamed up with newly retired Rick Levinson to brew a California Common Beer (like Anchor Steam Beer) we are calling the Steamy Retirement. I have been home-brewing for ages and consistently putting out homebrews for ten years now, but I recently upgraded my system from a less than five-gallon setup, to a ten-plus-gallon, all-grain, two-kettle brewery. I enjoy every aspect of the brewing process, except for cleaning fermenters, which is the most boring, although extremely important part of the job. In brewing, cleanliness is next to godliness! I have filled every fermenter I own with beer from the new system. Cheers to Arctic Brewing Supply for having every piece of gear a home-brewer could ever need, and all the ingredients to make world-class beer! I hope your homebrew tastes fresher and more delicious than any commercial beer! If you brew with the GNBC, you are on your way!

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

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #19 by Scott Clendaniel. May 7, 2015. Home-brew on Flattop Mountain. 11″x14″, oil on panel.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #18, April 30, 2015

This week’s beer-themed painting was inspired by Henri Matisse (1869-1954). He is credited with many famous works and is known for his color and unique fluid draftsmanship. I have always been a fan of his work, mostly because of its rich color. I was lucky enough to see a version of The Dance, the piece that inspired this painting, on display at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. There are two of these in existence, one in Russia and one in NYC at the MoMA. Even though this painting is ridiculously simple, it has a flow and movement that makes is as important to view as any of the extremely detailed classical and Baroque pieces that are prevalent on the lower levels of the Hermitage Museum. This painting was done between 1909-1910, and is probably Matisse’s most famous one, aside from his portrait of his wife, the lady with the green stripe down her nose.

Matisse developed his style over a period of many years. Although he started out studying law, he fell in love with painting in his 20s, much to his father’s, a wealthy grain merchant, disapproval. Matisse is considered a leader of the Fauvist movement, a group of painters working in the 1920s that was dramatically influenced by color and painted in a way considered to be Neo-Impressionism. I have to say that, although the paintings are simple, the striking balance between color and form makes for impressive compositions that evoke thoughts and may require longer contemplation.

I put a pint in the middle of this painting to alter the composition, making the figures appear pixie-sized, or the pint keg-sized (your call), as well as creating a central focal point. Either way I feel it makes for a delightful play on beer and art, evoking a feeling of lightheartedness and celebration. I enjoyed looking at the color combination of this master’s work when I was executing the piece. I hope you enjoy looking at this delightfully simple piece, and that you savor a pint while doing so! I call this piece, The Dance Around a Pint.

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

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #18 by Scott Clendaniel. April 30, 2015. The Dance Around A Pint. 11″x14″, oil on panel.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #16, April 16, 2015

Super Mario Brothers and beer sounds like a solid Friday night plan to me.  In 1985 Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Shizuka produced the fourth best-selling video game of all time with 40 million copies sold.  Although Tetris, Wii Sports and Grand Theft Auto have all sold more copies, I think that Super Mario Bros is more iconic.  I grew up playing this game, and it has been one of my favorites since I bought my first Nintendo with my paper route money.  One thing to keep in mind is there is a direct correlation between the amount of beer consumed and the quality of gaming performance.  This painting shows Mario about to hit the most amazing power up — a giant beer, so I call this piece Super Power Up.

The original oil painting sold.  You can purchase limited-edition prints, or commission an original at my Etsy shop.

Thirsty Thursday Beer Painting #16 by Scott Clendaniel. April 16, 2015. Super Power Up. 8″x10″, oil on panel.