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

Big Paintings

I really enjoy making BIG paintings, but I only get to make them every once in a while, because I have limited storage space.  So, when I sell one, I get to make a new one. I’m talking about paintings that are at least 3 feet by 4 feet in size. They can take up a lot of space if you have more than five or six of them around. The biggest canvas I have painted is 12 feet by 6 feet, and it is hanging at a hospital in Bethel, AK. We recently donated a 5ft x 4ft oil painting called Spring Skiing to the Anchorage Museum, and it will be featured in the live auction at the Gala. I recently finished a new large piece of the same size called Denali Sunrise, and I already built a canvas for another large piece. 

Delivering Spring Skiing to the Anchorage Museum. Prints are available at my Etsy shop.

The new large oil painting, Denali Sunrise, 4ft x 5ft, oil on canvas. The original oil painting, and prints are available at my Etsy shop.

Artist are sometimes overwhelmed by a large canvas, but I have always liked the challenge. You don’t have to cram as much detail into the composition, and when you do, it makes the painting all the more powerful. Big paintings need big walls, and big rooms, so the viewer can step back and appreciate the whole thing. I love walking up to a painting from across the room and noticing that it has a ton of detail. It makes you realize how long it took to make. I was at a gallery in the Hermitage Museum and I looked closely at a historical piece a few years ago and realized I wasn’t putting enough detail into my artwork. That painting was just incredible, you could count the hairs on the mouse in the corner of it. After I saw those pieces, I had a moment of growth as an artist. I haven’t achieved the same level of detail as some of those Dutch old master pieces in the Hermitage collection. However, I have stepped it up a notch, and my style has changed over the years.

If you don’t have the budget for a large painting, as they cost more than small ones, I recommend you get out and look at some in public spaces. The Anchorage Museum has a great collection, and the Wells Fargo branch on C Street and Northern Lights Blvd has some really amazing Sydney Lawrence pieces hanging in the lobby.

Plein Air Oil Paint Palette Box

If you have been following me for a long time, you might remember that this blog was called the Plein Air Painting Blog.  For a refresher for those not in the art business, or not following my art career since I was 26 years old, plein air is a French term that means “outside, in the open air”.  So when you are plein air painting, you are simply painting outside of the studio, on location. Most often in front of a cool vista. I do this from time to time in breweries and I call it live painting, since I occasionally have an audience.  Well, I wanted to talk about a tool I invented for this type of painting way back when I was 27 years old — my paint palette box. 

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite painting students came to my studio and we built these brand new paint boxes. I build them from Plexiglass and wood, and they hold all the colors I usually mix for a full palette. Back when I was 27, I would strictly use only the colors I would mix, a full color wheel. Now, I find myself mixing more and more custom colors, weird neutral versions. I still find it very handy to have so many colors ready to go, and it speeds up the painting process dramatically. I like to think of it as a way to have the whole box of crayons ready for coloring.

The box is hinged to allow easy access to all the daubs of paint, and to allow a palette knife easy access.  I made this one exactly as large as would fit into my freezer, and contain my entire color wheel, including all the neutrals. Monet would roll over in his grave to hear I am using black in my plein air palette. At the end of each painting day, I put this box in a small freezer in the beer fridge in my garage, because it keeps the paint from drying. I also store all the brushes I am currently using in the freezer. This speeds up cleanup, because I don’t have to wash the brushes, they are simply ready to go when I need them next. I, of course, put them in a plastic bag to not make a mess in my freezer. I also put the palette box into a plastic bag, to aid in preventing drying, as well as stopping messy paint spreading everywhere. 

You might like to build one of these if you want to paint with the same palette, even with long breaks in between paint sessions, or if you want to paint quickly with changing light situations, or simply want to make your paint last a lot longer. I do not suggest this for anything but oil paint. Acrylic doesn’t freeze like oil paint, it gets ruined. It also will dry way too rapidly for mixing an entire color wheel.

I hope you found this interesting, or useful, and let me know if you want a set of plans to build your own paint palette box!

We Bought a House and Moved out of the 4th Avenue Market Place Studio!

Moving everything from the studio to the new house, including large paintings. Good thing it wasn’t raining!

When we moved into my studio space at the 4th Avenue Marketplace, we were ecstatic to be downtown, and to have extra work space!  I loved the view, and I loved working there.  Having people come by for open studio events during First Fridays, Fur Rondy, and the Iditarod was always a great experience, and we usually made enough money during those events to cover our lease payments. Making the move to 4th Ave really cemented that I am a professional artist.  However, I missed working at home. Packing a lunch was a drag, the bicycle commute across downtown was annoying (especially in winter), and the local street people seemed to always be present to greet me at the door to the building (when they were awake).  I always seemed to have left this tool here, or that tool there, right when I needed it, and I was making another traffic-heavy bike trip back to one of the two locations.    

I am happy to say that last weekend we moved out of the studio, and I am setting up my new studio on the first floor of our new house! It is a huge mess right now! I need permanent storage for tools, supplies, and paintings. I hope to be back to work by Monday, taking a week to move the condo and studio to our new house, and to get the condo ready for sale!  The house is “not perfect,” as my father told me, but to us it is so amazing!  It is quiet at night, there is more space for living and for the studio, and best of all, it has an oversized two car garage!  No more carrying the table saw down stairs to work in blizzards for me!  I can park my truck inside when it is cold out! Not to mention, the obvious home-brewing improvement!  I brought my big smoker grill home from my parents’ house, and I’m going to smoke a brisket when I have everything set up. When brew day rolls around in the new garage, I’ll brew a big batch for a big housewarming celebration.  

Until then there is a lot of work… Anybody want a cute little apartment-style condo in West Fairview? It would make a great Airbnb rental!

Cheers to making life better!  May your day be brighter today than yesterday, and tomorrow be even better than that!    

Sad the downtown studio is closed?  You can still meet me for a beer at Midnight Sun Brewing. My art is there until the end of June!  I will be having more out-of-the studio shows, so keep following Real Art Is Better on this blog, or on social media and we will keep you informed where and when we will be having in-person events!

Virtual Art Show at Midnight Sun Brewing Co.

I have yet another pandemic art show in full swing! I’m the featured artist at the Loft at Midnight Sun Brewing Co. for the month of January! Indoor seating capacity is limited to 25% until who-knows-when, so I’ve created a virtual art show for those of you who don’t feel comfortable going to the venue in person right now. If you’re interested in any of these pieces, give the Loft a call at (907) 344-6653. Even if you live outside of Anchorage, you can still nab a piece, and I will personally mail it to you within the U.S. at no charge. All of these are one-of-a-kind, original oil paintings. They are all framed in natural wood frames, except Winter and Autumn, which have dark brown frames. More paintings and prints are available at my Etsy shop RealArtIsBetter.

Octo-Schuss, 16″ x 20″, oil on panel, $650

Battle of Denali, 20″x16″, oil on panel, $650

Grogu, 7″ x 5″, oil on panel, $85

Let’s Rondy!, 24″ x 12″, oil on panel, $450

Chugach Session, 9″ x 18″, oil on panel, $290

Cherry Funk, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

Solstice in McCarthy, 14″x11″, oil on panel, $245

Solid Gold, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

Flightseeing in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, 14″ x 11″, oil on panel, $245

Bar Fly, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

The Tree of Life, 16″x20″, oil on panel, $850

Abominable Winter Ale, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

Future Champions, 20″x16″, oil on panel, $550

Moscow, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

Earning Your Pint, 24″x12″, oil on panel, $450

Maudite, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

Polar Biker, 14″x11″, oil on panel, $245

Rondy Brew, 14″ x 11″, oil on panel, $245

Duchesse De Bourgogne, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

Whale Dance, 36″x18″, oil on panel, $875

San Tan Brewing, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

MSBC Growler, 8″ x 10″, oil on panel, $180

Autumn, 36″ x 18″, oil on panel, $875

Winter, 36″ x 18″, oil on panel, $875

Sleeping Lady Brewing, 48″ x 24″, oil on panel, $1,200

MSBC Chillin, 12″x24″, oil on panel, $395

Pabst, 6″x12″, oil on panel, $120

Leyland Tractor, 20″x16″, oil on canvas, $925

Bitte ein Bit, 14″x11″, oil on panel, $245

Paintings Commissioned for Holiday Gifts

Each holiday season I receive many requests for commissions that need to be done and delivered in time for Christmas. One of my favorite parts about working on these custom pieces is hearing people’s stories behind the painting concepts. Usually they send me a photo of a special beer they enjoyed with a best friend, or loved one, along with another photo of a place that is significant to both people, and then I combine the photos into one composition. Each detail has a meaning, and I am always glad to be part of creating a one-of-a-kind piece for a person who is caring enough to order a custom painting for a friend, spouse, or significant other. So, each year I publish a blog post to show you all the commissioned paintings I completed during the holiday season. Signed prints are available of Bourbon Paradise, and A Deal with the Devil paintings at my Etsy shop.

Can you think of anything unique, and significant to you that you’d like me to paint?

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Time to Start Thinking about Commissions for the Holidays

Today is already the middle October!  I’m so sad that I haven’t been able to have open studio gatherings to see you all.  We’re going to figure something out for the December party we normally have.  Since, I think we can only have about 5-7 people in the studio safely at once, we may schedule visits if you want to come in to sample a little homemade brew and shop for holiday gifts.  I will announce that possibility as we get a bit closer, and depending on the status of C-19 cases as winter weather sets in.  We haven’t even gotten through Halloween yet, so I assume most of you aren’t in the right mindset for that as of yet. 

What I do want to talk about right now is COMMISSIONED artwork.  I have had a nearly perfect record with successful commissions.  I just finished a piece for a local fire fighter who works just down the street from my studio.  He wanted a painting to commemorate a trip with his girlfriend to Orca Island in Resurrection Bay.  The painting was supposed to be a surprise, but he told his girlfriend about it when she was having a bad day, and she cried!  The only problem with commissioning a painting for a holiday gift is I run out of time to get them all painted, so getting in early is better.  In 2016 I completed 24 individual paintings that my patrons commissioned for holiday gifts.  I felt like an elf that year, and my beard started to twinkle with a bit of varnish by December 15, the last day possible for paintings to dry in time for the 25th.  I suggest you look through the pictures of your favorite trip this year, or last year (considering a lot of us have been hunkering down and not going anywhere since March).  It always brings a smile to see people so excited to give the gift of a special painting!  Cheers, and I look forward to seeing what you bring for me to paint! 

Who’s Your Favorite Musher?

Our studio is inside the 4th Avenue Market Place, which is right on 4th Avenue, about a block from the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  So, since 2016 we’ve been transforming the studio from work mode to pop-up gallery mode, and opening it to the public when everyone is on 4th Avenue to watch the race.  Each year I paint a new dog-mushing oil painting, and it usually sells on the day of the race.  A lot of people who come through the studio that day are tourists who came to Alaska just to see the Iditarod.  This year I painted this piece of Martin Buser, and then featured it in an e-news to my subscribers, and it sold before the open studio event!

Martin Buser. 24″ x 12″, oil on panel.

So Maria took a photo of the painting, and printed prints of it to sell during the Iditarod start at our studio.  But she also displayed the original, with a “Sold” sticker on it, and she had the brilliant idea to write on the sticker that I accept commissions, and could paint a custom Iditarod painting similar to this one with “your favorite musher.”  Well, several people took her up on that offer, and suddenly, I found myself painting dog teams for the next three weeks!  We were supposed to go to Washington, Hawaii, and Australia, but those trips were cancelled due to COVID-19 hysteria, so I ended up having plenty of time to work on these paintings.  I just finished them last week.  Who’s your favorite musher?

Aliy Zirkle. 36″ x 18″, oil on panel.

Lance Mackey. 24″ x 12″, oil on panel.

Lance Mackey. 24″ x 12″, oil on panel.

Fur Rondy and Iditarod Open Studio Events – A Tradition at Real Art Is Better

We’ve had our studio inside the 4th Avenue Market Place for almost five years now, and each year during the Fur Rondy winter festival, and the Iditarod race start we’ve been turning the studio into a pop-up gallery, and opening our doors to the public.  The studio has large windows facing north, with a great view of the carnival.  Yesterday the carnival rides showed up in the parking lot across the street, which means the festivities are right around the corner!

Carnival rides getting set up in a snow storm.

The timing of the winter festival is perfect.  By late February, most Alaskans are fed up with winter, and start experiencing cabin fever.  The best cure is to head downtown to watch sled dog races, outhouse races, check out snow sculptures, ride a couple carnival rides, and maybe even participate in the blanket toss.  There are so many activities starting Feb. 28.  Here’s a link to the entire schedule.

The Real Art Is Better studio will be open both weekends.  Stop by to warm up, enjoy freshly-baked cookies, and check out the view.  We’re inside the 4th Avenue Market Place in Suite 4, which is in the NW corner if you walk in from 4th Avenue.  333 W 4th Avenue.

Open Studio Hours:

Saturday, February 29, 11am – 5pm

Sunday, March 1, 11am – 3pm

Saturday, March 7, 10am – 6pm

How to Transport and Install a 12ft x 6ft Oil Painting from Anchorage to Bethel

If you have stopped by our studio in the last three months you saw the enormous oil painting filling my work space, or stashed in the hall in order to make room for people during open studio events.  The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation built a new clinic in Bethel, and released a call for art in early 2019.  We applied for several wall spaces, and were awarded a contract to create a 12ft x 6ft oil painting on canvas for a large area high on the wall above a stairway.  This is the largest canvas I have ever painted!  Last week I delivered, assembled and helped install this piece at its location in Bethel. 

So, how do you take such a large painting on a jet-plane?  I designed the canvas from the start so that transporting it on an Alaska Airlines flight would be possible.  However, we all know that while some things seem easy conceptually, they can gain complexity as they progress.  The stretcher support was made up of 45 individual ash and birchwood pieces, and no piece was longer than 6ft, because I wanted them all to fit into a ski bag.  The canvas was rolled up and the stretcher support dis-assembled for its journey.  I waited until the day before departure to break it down, and pack it up. 

I awoke at 3:30 AM to catch a 6AM flight to Bethel.  I brought two checked ski bags, and a carry-on backpack.  No extra luggage fees for me with Club 49 thanks to Alaska Airlines!  I could have brought another checked bag, since it was an in-state flight!  Alaska Air and TSA were gentle enough with my precious cargo, and everything arrived in good shape and on-time.  I was picked up by the YKHC maintenance foreman, Pat, at the airport.  He and his team have been installing all the newly-acquired art pieces at the clinic.  I got to see some of the art while I was there, and I must say that the committee chose some incredible art!  We drove to the maintenance building and picked up two more staffers to help lift the painting onto the wall.  Re-assembly took me a couple of hours and I had a conference room to myself.  The extra help was great, and I don’t think I could have stretched it back to its original tightness without the extra muscle.  

The maintenance crew was clutch, as I had planned to hang this colossal piece the same way I hang smaller pieces — on a heavy-duty wire.  There is only an inch of clearance on either side of this piece so getting it straight on the wall was the real problem.  Pat suggested I use a French cleat, and I agreed that would be better, if only I had thought to bring one.  Pat was a superhero and produced the hardware from his storeroom!  This made hanging the piece much easier.  Four guys and two ladders later the 90lb painting slid into place.  This took us right up to lunchtime, and I was a little disappointed I had taken the early flight, as now I had 8 hours to kill until I could catch the return flight to Anchorage.  Pat had to check on his dog, and I had packed a lunch, so I chilled out at the hospital for an hour and breathed a sigh of relief.  

After lunch Pat took me on an amazing driving tour of Bethel and the Kuskokwim River.  I got to go to the grocery store to replenish my snacks for the return trip to Anchorage.  Pretty expensive to buy food and gas in Bethel.  $4.49 a gallon for gasoline, and $8.49 a gallon for milk! The area is beautiful tundra with mountains glistening in the distance.  I got so see a pretty nice chunk of the town, which is much larger than I had expected — about 10,000 residents.  The area around Bethel is very interesting, but the people are where the real beauty exists, everyone is so friendly and helpful.  Bethel is a hub, but it felt like a really welcoming village. 

I was dropped off at the airport with my drop cloths in my ski-bag, and I was feeling really fatigued by this time.  I hunkered down at the airport and worked on my beer coloring book pages for a couple of hours before catching my flight home at 10PM.  I met a fellow who was so happy to pick up his crate from Alaska Airlines.  He said he had snow-machined for two hours from his camp to pick it up!  This was right at twilight, so it was going to be a dark return trip for him.  Adventurous people live in the Delta and I was happy to get a glimpse of this culture.  Thank you YKHC for this superb opportunity!  Maybe next time I can come in the summer and do a little fishing.  

Here is a slideshow of some pictures I took during this whole process.  Below you’ll also find three timelapse videos of my painting, and the last one is of us taking apart the painting and rolling up the canvas.

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