Remix at Dry Fly Distilling, November 5th 2021

Absinthe Blanqui, oil on panel, 8" x 8". ©2021

At long last - a new work alert! 

Hard to believe it's been five years since I posted here. A lot has happened, much of it not good. In 2017 my charmed life came crashing to an end, with several terrible losses taking a toll. It was strange to see my last post date from Before. But life goes on for those of us left behind, so, onward...

Meanwhile, art has taken me in different directions. I've decided to end the Mixology series, as I have too many bodies of work to keep up. But rather than quietly move on, I went the other way and painted eighteen new pieces for one last show. 

Mixology: Remix opens at Dry Fly Distilling in downtown Spokane, Washington, this Friday at 5p.m. Pacific time. When the show opens, the Remix online web shop goes live at sheilaevans.net/mixology-remix. (Preview now at the same link.) The show includes five absinthe-themed paintings inspired by vintage French posters, and thirteen new 6" x 6" pieces featuring popular cocktails. A few older pieces may make an appearance as well.

I hope to see you there, or if not, I hope you take a minute to have a look at the show online. A few notes:

• I'm planning a special Mixology offer for email subscribers only in the next month. Get on the list here.
• There will be five sets of two cocktail books and a deck of cocktail recipe cards for $48 in the shop
• I'll be leaving the blog up so you can access recipes and find links.
• The address for the Remix show is 1021 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 
• Please visit my website to see what else I've been up to
• Scroll down for a few more images from the show

Cheers! 🍸🍸

Mixology at Artfest 2015!

Moontinis at Midnight. Oil on panel, 14" x 10".

Artfest is coming! Spokane's own Northwest Museum of Art and Culture hosts its annual juried art festival May 29 through 31st this year. The festival takes place at Coeur d'Alene Park in Browne's Addition, just west of dowtown Spokane and a few blocks from the museum.

I'll be back at Artfest with Mixology paintings, reproductions and books this year. I'm so excited! Many of the original 12" x 12" paintings from my first book will be available for purchase, along with dozens of smaller pieces and some new larger works created just for the show.

Here are the vital details:

When: May 29–31, 2015
Where: Coeur d"Alene Park, Spokane, Washington
Hours: Friday, Noon–8, Saturday, 10–8, Sunday, 10–5.
Booth # TBD.

And here are some more new pieces I'll have available:

The Pink Lady. Oil on panel, 12" x 12".

The Mile High Club. Oil on panel, 12" x 12".

Clouds Over Manhattan. Oil on panel, 6" x 6".

Manhattans by the Pitcher. Oil on panel, 8" x 8".

Two Olives. Oil on panel, 6" x 6".

Artini. Oil on panel, 8" x 8".

Between the Devil and the Deep

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Between the Devil and the Deep. Oil on panel, 8" x 8". 

Between the Devil and the Deep is the first original Kristi Gamble drink I ever tasted. It is also one of the most beautiful drinks I have seen. The lovely coral color combined with Kristi's gorgeous lemon rose garnish are stunning. I didn't do it justice, but gave it my best three tries. If I had a job which required making lemon roses all night, I would be fired. It's so much tougher than it looks!

As I collect recipes from around the Northwest, I'm finding that Spokane bartenders are much kinder in their use of ingredients. That is to say, they use (mostly) things I can actually get without a road trip or an operating loan to cover shipping costs. 

This drink took a little extra effort, but it was a) not that difficult, and b) worth it. Rhubarb bitters came from Pearl Specialty in Portland, and I made my own Falernum. Falernum---a syrup made with cloves, almonds, ginger, lime, sugar and rum---is my new obsession. Here is the recipe.

And here is a photo of Kristi's beautiful lemon rose.

Golden Stonefly

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Golden Stonefly. Oil on panel, 12" x 12".

Back in the groove, for a bit, at least. This piece was fun. Golden Stonefly is a drink invented by bartender Kristi Gamble, currently at Durkin's Liquor Bar in Spokane. She created it at the request of Spokane's own Dry Fly Distilling to showcase their award-winning vodka.

The last set of paintings for the vintage cocktail book proved enjoyable due largely to fun deco patterns and old barware. Conveniently, many new cocktail bars have an old-school look, so I can still get out my vintage yah-yahs. Durkins, for example, is all flocked wallpaper, subway and hex tile, antique-looking coupes and chandeliers.

As with all the book paintings, this one is reserved for a book release exhibit this fall. But there are similar paintings available now on Daily Paintworks.

Velvet Aviator

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Velvet Aviator. Oil on panel, 8" x 8".

Still dusting off a few cobwebs, but things are definitely looking up! There is seriously no substitute for daily painting. Back in college, my painting professor always said, "get some licks in every day." It only took me twenty-six years to realize just how right he was. Time away from the easel makes the process seem distant and intimidating. Time at the easel starts the flow, and work begets ideas.

Although this piece is not for Mixology With a Twist, I figured out how to do one of the book paintings as I painted it. Look for a study for that one tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here's a fun shot I took at the easel during Velvet Aviator.

Speakeasy Booth at Yuletide

Yuletide starts today! Here's my "speakeasy" booth, complete with chandelier, all set up and ready to go in Gallery C at the MAC (Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture). I have lots of original paintings (framed and unframed, from $50 to $250), as well as giclée reproductions and Mixology books.

The show looks great, with a diverse and talented bunch of local artists offering unique, gift-friendly creations. Please join us!

Click for more details.

Release Mixology!

Tonight is the night! Mixology (the book) makes its debut among all its original paintings at Mizuna in downtown Spokane. Besides the original artwork and books, there will be repros of a few of the paintings, great cocktails and delicious food by Mizuna, and "Vintage and Badass Barware" by Raising the Bar out front.

The Spokesman-Review did a great piece on the book and show today. And in case you missed it, here's a link to last week's article in the Inlander. 

If you're in Spokane and out for First Friday, stop by for a drink! If you aren't, you can still get a copy of Mixology http://mixologyart.blogspot.com/p/get-book.html.

Here are some of the paintings framed and ready to head to Mizuna:

Ruby Fizz, and Book Release!

Ruby Fizz. Oil on panel, 12" x 12". Sold.

Jinkies! The book release party is day after tomorrow! 

Everything is ready to go, except hanging the show itself. Paintings are varnished and framed, postcards and emails sent, and books are here waiting for their new homes. Since the release is only two days away, I've gone ahead and made books available for online ordering now. Print copies can be delivered in as few as five days, and there is even a wee mobile version to turn your phone into a classic cocktail recipe book! 

I forgot to post this painting when I made it. Ruby Fizz was a really interesting drink, with a cotton-candy texture, and the rich, dried-berry flavor of sloe gin. The most fun part of the painting was the shaker, which mysteriously appeared in the brewery office one day along with another shaker in the shape of a polar bear. It turns out the shakers belong to a couple of friends (and animal lovers) who are regulars at at the taproom. Since the penguin is a spin on vintage shaker designs, and it arrived just before my last planned painting, I was happy to feature it in the vintage drink book. 

The polar bear is a totally modern design, though, so it will have to wait for the next book. I hope Fred and Royln can stand to be without their silver pets for a while longer!

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Shake it Up - Mixology in the News

Blue Bijou. Oil on panel, 8" x 8".

The book release party is little more than a week away, and today it hit the papers in style! Dan Nailen nailed it in today's edition of the Pacific Northwest Inlander. His fun article really captured the feel of the series and the book. You can find the online version of the article here.

I first read the article from a cell phone snapshot, so if you want to read it and prefer that method, here you go.

Pegu Club

Pegu Club. Original oil on panel, 12" x 12".

Mixology was supposed to have eighteen recipes. Now it has nineteen.

A delicious birthday dinner with my parents at Mizuna (home of the future Mixology release party) introduced me to a new (to me) drink: the Pegu. Jinkies! Where had it been all my life?!? Before the main course arrived, the Pegu was researched and found to be the house cocktail of the Pegu Club in 1930s Burma, and a perfect candidate for the vintage drinks collection.

The next day, armed with birthday cash and searching for a depression glass juicer at the always-amazing United Hillyard Antique Mall, I stumbled upon an antique Indian brass-and-enamel shaker tucked away in a dark corner of a low cabinet. I'd already looked for one of these for the next book, but the very few examples for sale online had been snapped up. Upon seeing this one, I just about fell over. Conveniently, Burma (Myanmar) borders India, so there you have it. 

I tested the Savoy version of the recipe on myself, loved it, and that was that. To include the Tasters, however, a Pegu Club dinner with curry soup ensued---after I finished the painting. To my regret. In my defense, there is a deadline. But Kate, it turns out, is an enthusiastic polisher of all things brass. She wiped the dust off of our ancient container of polish, and this happened:

Shaker pre-Kate

Shaker Kate-ified

Oh well. There will always be more paintings requiring an Indian shaker...

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Aviation

Aviation. Oil on panel, 12" x 12". $595. Click to buy.

I'm going a bit out of order with this one. We tested Aviation on the last recipe test night for the classic cocktails book. It probably would have happened much sooner had I been able to find Creme de Violette, but the timing was perfect in the end. It is a lovely drink and fit well into the "best for last" category (although there are so many good ones!). Best of all, by the time I got to it I was pretty sick of my shaker options, and thus willing to splurge on the beauty you see here. It doubled as a festive centerpiece:

Teya and Kate enjoy an Aviation Cocktail

We fully tested this drink before indulging in Teya's delicious dinner (more on that later), which led to some issues when we moved on to Whiskey Sours… stay tuned...

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Work in Progress and Book Release Party

While it may appear that I have given up at the eleventh hour and stopped painting altogether, nothing could be further from the truth. I'm painting nonstop. The trouble is just that I ordered a new camera.

My lovely 10-megapixel Canon SLR has served me well for many years, and aside from being covered in paint, it is in perfect condition. I love it. But I realized as I started putting this book together that although at one foot square, these paintings are not huge, 10MP doesn't allow me to reproduce them at full size. And I may want to do that someday. And after the opening I may not have them all in one place again.

So I bumped it up to eighteen megapixels, and immediately lost all motivation to photograph artwork until the camera arrives. Doing it once is hard enough, so I feel no need to photograph any more work twice than is completely necessary.

In the meantime, I've created a new page for the Art Exhibit/Book Release/Cocktail Party.

And, here is a detail of Whiskey Sour V2 in progress from my easel (a long story for another post).

Twelve Miles Out

Original oil on panel, 12" x 12". Sold.

I veered off course a bit from my list of vintage drinks to try with this one. The plan was to feature old drinks that were still a bit familiar, or had experienced a popular revival. This drink, I'd never heard of. Someone mentioned it in an article about old drinks worth trying (Serious Eats, maybe?) and it was definitely worth a try. Plus, the story of the name was great. Twelve miles was the distance ships carrying alcohol were required to stay from US shores during Prohibition. And, no doubt, where the party was.

I'm in the home stretch for book paintings, and I have so many props I don't have anyplace to put them all, BUT… Raising the Bar was in my neighborhood this past weekend, and you know how that always ends. This time it was the amazing etched and cut-glass shaker. Who could resist? Well, luckily for me, I guess everyone that had already looked in the Travel Trailer of Vintage Barware Wonders before I got there could resist. But I couldn't.

My beautiful new find was definitely a challenge to paint. It's been a while since I had to wipe part of a painting down and start over. The second attempt was a huge improvement though. Whew.

Oh, by the way, Raising the Bar, along with Atticus, will be selling my book after the Book Release Cocktail Party on November 7. Yay!

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Negroni

Original oil on panel, 12" x 12". Sold.

I might just keep this one. The color of this drink is simply amazing, even though we cut back on some of the sweet stuff in our recipe. And I had yet another beautiful art deco wallpaper pattern to make me crazy inspire me. 

The Negroni is one of Tom's signature drinks, but as always I started with a recipe from out in the world. Only subtle adjustments were required, but in the end you could actually taste the gin, which, around here, is considered to be a good thing. 

While we enjoyed our last Negroni, we dove into Teya's newest recipe find: a vegetarian version of Bebimbap, accompanied by delicious vegetarian kimchee. (Yes, to the dismay of Tom and Paul, Teya and I are—you guessed it—vegetarians.) 

Her recipes are coming soon, and they were good!

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Prohibition

Original oil on panel, 12" x 12".

None of us had ever had a Prohibition cocktail before. But with a name like that, how could it not be in a book of vintage cocktails? In fact, I was so sure that it needed to be in the book, I painted it untested. The recipe did sound pretty good, after all. And we were behind on test nights, or I'm getting faster at painting, or something.

Anyway, I wanted a real 1920s feel for this, so I googled art deco wallpaper patterns and hit the jackpot. This was not an easy pattern to paint, but I loved it and did it anyway. Really happy with it in the end. So happy that I went to T & T's house and declared that by the end of the night, everyone in the room MUST like this drink. Including our unsuspecting guest testers, their new neighbors Scott and Nancy.

Fortunately, everyone did like it. To the point that for only the second time, we left the original recipe alone. Sadly, that meant we only got one, but we still had work to do.

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