MI6

MI6. Oil on panel, 12" x 12". Not for sale.

Many homework assignments were given over the course of making Mixology With a Twist, but Ruins' Crystal Bertholic dished out the biggest one of all.

She sent not one or two, but five recipes to try. By the time I collected the ingredients, the book deadline loomed large, and painting time was nearly gone. So we had to narrow it down to one. 

Vying against contenders such as DJ Lance and the Black Yukon Sucker Punch, MI6 stood out. Clean and light, this spiritous drink filled a needed position in the recipe lineup. The MI6 is a twist on the classic Vesper, and is named for the British secret service. It adds a lovely, subtle floral note with chamomile liqueur, offset with a dash of bitters.

Wanting to capture the bright elegance of the drink in the painting, I bought a mid-century stainless mixing pitcher (thanks, Raising the Bar!) as a nod to the 1953 James Bond novel "Casino Royale," in which Vesper Lynde appears. The metallic pattern in the art deco wallpaper reflects in the drink, emphasizing its clarity. MI6 ended up one of my favorite paintings from the book. Lucky for me, as my husband claimed it, and now I will have to look at it for a very long time.

Adriana Janovich featured the MI6 prominently in her article about Mixology With a Twist in the Spokesman-Review. You can read the article here.

Good Humor

Good Humor. Oil on panel, 12" x 12". $595. [buy now]

Seattle-savvy friends from both sides of the state unanimously recommended Canon Whiskey and Bitters Emporium as a can't-miss cocktail destination in the Emerald City.

So, during the west-side summer-show trip, Paul and I dutifully stopped in. Canon was already busy at around 4pm, but there wasn't time to come back, so the first bartender to hand us a menu got my spiel. That bartender was Sean Johnson. Without missing a beat he whipped up a frothy orange-colored concoction, then proceeded to decorate the foamy drink with a stencil and a spray bottle of bright-red Angostura bitters.

One sip explained the drink's moniker:somehow Johnson had caused a combo of gin, Cointreau, OJ, Licor 43, egg white and Angostura to taste exactly like an orange creamsicle. Minutes later Sean's original recipe appeared on the bar in front of me, jotted down on a scrap of  paper between drink orders. I think Good Humor described the bartender as well as the drink!

A note about Canon's bar: everywhere I looked was a still life setup. So much great stuff! I literally could have brought in an easel and painted right there. Since that was slightly out of the question, I had to recreate it best I could. Which ended up being pretty well, since I already owned some similar items and, oddly enough, the identical vintage art-deco lamp (see photo of Sean making my drink below). Only the base of the lamp shows in the painting, as the lamp itself conveniently provides the lighting for the still-life setup.

The Weber

The Weber. Oil on panel, 8"' x 8". $295. [buy now]

In the frenzy of finishing Mixology With a Twist and getting ready for the show at Mizuna, apparently a few things got neglected. Like posting some of my favorite paintings from the new book!

The Weber, invented by Clover's Cameron Walls, honors the memory of former Clover bartender Steven Weber. A friend of Walls, Weber was also a fellow whiskey fan. This drink is a lovely, thoughtfully-layered take on the bourbon-based sour genre. Plum bitters may not be available at every corner store, but their contribution to the Weber is worth the effort of finding them.

I think Clover must have closed its doors the night of the book release party, since so many of its bartenders were in attendance! I was thrilled to have Cameron and Kristy White among the revelers at Mizuna.

As always, Cameron's recipe, along with thirty-two other tasty originals, are available in the new book. Cheers!

The Scientist

online
Sheila's Medicine. Oil on panel, 12" x 12".

About the drink:

When I started this new book project, the first person I thought of was Alison Collins, owner of Boots Bakery and Lounge. I had been enjoying her drinks for years at Mizuna, and continued to enjoy them when she opened her own vegan bakery, deli and bar.

Last December, I met up with her to try some original creations. When I arrived at Boots, I here's what I found: Alison, looking like an adorable mad scientist, hunched over a row of ten glasses—each containing a variation of a drink she was designing just for me. When she finished the drink, she named it "Sheila's Medicine," but I want to rename it "The Scientist" in honor of this scene:

The complex drink, adorned with a fresh cocktail onion (how did she know I love painting onions?) has an overall sour cherry vibe. This comes from Amargo-Vallet, a bitter liqueur from Mexico, which stars in the drink alongside its sister liqueur, Fernet-Vallet. Other ingredients include gin and a delicious house-made agrodolce (sour and sweet) syrup containing orange peel, ginger and white balsamic vinegar.  I made this syrup at home and found that once strained, it leaves a pile of amazing candied orange peel. Bonus!

About the painting:
I wanted to capture the feel of the scene I found at Boots the day I tried this recipe. It took me eight months to figure out that I should do what Alison did: put the winning drink in a coupe-ish glass in front of a row of hopefuls. And of course I couldn't resist filling a glass with onions. I love how they reflect back and forth, becoming more colorful with each bounce of the light. Boots has a lot of string lights, so I set some up just above the drinks to reflect on the shiny black "bar" and in the glasses. As I work on this project it's getting more difficult each time to come up with a unique perspective, so I was happy with how different this painting looks from the rest.