Beer & Cigars

Impressionistic Oil Paint on Canvas

16x20in

$240
SOLD

This is an original oil painting of an Imperial Stout poured in a snifter, along with two La Gloria Cubana Serie R cigars. Much like the painting of the California crowns we recently did, this painting is a bit more impressionistic.

Deschutes Jubelale 2011

Every year, Deschutes Brewery chooses a local artist to do the artwork for their great winter warmer, Jubelale. Earlier today, Deschutes Brewery posted a preview of this years Jubelale art, which happens to have been painted by us!

Needless to say, it was a huge honor for us to get the chance to do the art for a beer that we have a lot of love for. The funny thing is that despite the fact we make a lot of original beer art, we were actually chosen because of our regular artwork, which is becoming somewhat well-known here in Central Oregon.

The 2011 Jubeale will be hitting stores this fall - so keep your eyes peeled.

Edit (8/12): They posted a photo of the bottles coming off the line - very cool!

The Great Breweries of California

Like much of our other work, this painting is oil on canvas. It differs in that it is far more painterly and loosely impressionistic in construction. This painting contains crowns from what we consider the great breweries of California - North Coast, Lagunitas, Firestone Walker, The Bruery, Stone, Bear Republic, Pizza Port, Anchor, Russian River, Moylan's, and Sierra Nevada.

Oil on Canvas

16x30in
$360

SOLD

Special Request

If you bought a painting in the past, we would love to hear from you! Please comment on this post (or drop us an email) and let us know how you feel about the work you own. Thanks in advance!

New work coming soon - some a bit different from what we've done so far.

Regarding our work

Cara and I have been doing these paintings for about a year now. We've sold a lot of work and we've had the pleasure of doing a lot of commissions for people. We have been working as full-time artists for a few years now and the works on this site have been a great side-project for us.

The reality of this work is that it is not sustainable. That is to say, for the amount of time that goes into each piece, we are making a bit below minimum wage. Another reality of this work is that it is very likely that in the near future, we will no longer be producing paintings of this sort. (That said, we do plan to keep making new works at least through the end of this year.)

Despite those factors, we love doing these works as we really, truly love craft beer. We very much appreciate all of the people who have spent hard-earned money on these pieces, as they have enabled us to continue scraping by as artists for another year. While this may go without saying, this has never been a cynical attempt at making money for us. There are some fundamental contradictions in creating fine art of this sort, as we are pricing the works as low as possible, but to the average person - that "low price" is still a significant amount of money.

All of that said, it has recently come to our attention that someone is attempting to imitate our work in bulk, by farming the painting out to artists in the Philippines and offering to pay the artists what would amount to something like 50 cents an hour to create "40 to 50" paintings (see Craigslist ad here - imgur link if ad is gone). It would appear that this person saw what we are doing and saw that there was money in it, without thinking about how much work and passion was involved. We don't mind a bit of competition and if someone could do what we are doing better and cheaper, so be it. But this clearly is not that. I attempted to contact the person who posted the ad to see if I was mistaken, but received no response. It is our opinion that if these farmed-out works are produced, they would be a cynical exploitation of second-world artists and would very likely be a bad, insincere facsimile of the works we produce.

Thanks again to everyone that has supported and promoted our work, especially those that have bought and commissioned paintings to put in their home, brewery, or pub.

Cheers!
Cara & Louie

Trappist Orval crowns in Spray Paint

Spray paint on a rustic wood

11.75x24in
$120SOLD

Bell's Hopslam and Two Hearted Ale

16x30in
Oil on Canvas
$360 

Buy Now

This is an original oil painting of the great Bell's Brewery's standard crown, along with those of Hopslam and Two Hearted. While Two Hearted and Hopslam are very different beers, they are both hop-centric and wonderfully unique examples of the IPA and DIPA. Of course, living in Oregon, we've only had these beers a handful of times - curse you lucky Michiganders! 

In any case, if you love Hopslam and Two Hearted and you are lacking home decor that combines fine art with your favorite beer, this painting is for you. We shouldn't have it in our house, because clearly we are not worthy.

As with our other beer art, this painting is on a hand-built canvas and ships with a varnished surface and a hanging wire on the back. This painting will last a lifetime, so long as you love it and don't shoot your Red Ryder at it and if you buy this painting, you will be investing in real art that shows your love for the art of craft beer. 

Current Inventory

[dog not included]

The Crowns of Rochefort Spray-Painting

Artist Grade Spray Paint on Canvas
Limited Series of Five
16x30in
$175

SOLD

This is a different breed of beer painting. While we are primarily oil painters, we started our collaborative art practice with spray paint and stencils. This piece is done from original stencils and after a series of five, those stencils will be no more.

Spray paint beer art

Coming soon...

Pelican - Mother of All Storms

Oil on canvas
24x18in
$325
Traded

Traquair House

Mixed Media on Canvas

18x24in
NFS

Thomas Hardy's Ale illustration

Thomas Hardy's Ale was first produced at Eldridge Pope Brewery in 1968, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the death of English author and poet Thomas Hardy. Now decades later, Thomas Hardy's Ale has been proven to be one of the great cellar-worthy beers. After Eldridge Pope folded, O'Hanlon's Brewery briefly produced it, but as of now - no one is producing this great beer. 

This fine art illustration is overflowing with history, containing Hardy himself, the now abandoned Dorchester Brewery the ale was produced at, the first vintage and the last vintage of Thomas Hardy's Ale, along with a map of England with a dot for Dorchester.

Mixed Media on Canvas
24x20in

$180

Buy Now

The Brew Shop & Platypus Pub in Bend, Oregon

This is a bit off-topic as far as this blog is concerned, but it is something we are very excited about as beer enthusiasts. Here in Bend, Oregon, the locally-owned Brew Shop is very clearly the best place to buy your beer. This summer, they are moving their business (and opening a pub) to 1203 NE 3rd St - a very prime location, right in the middle of town. This is somewhat art-related, as we had the privilege of reworking the existing logo for The Brew Shop and creating a logo for the brand-new Platypus Pub (see graphic above). We may have the opportunity to do some interior artwork, which we will definitely post here.

If you ever visit Bend (or just pass through), be sure to stop by The Brew Shop and tell them Louie & Cara sent you, but leave some of the rare beer for us!

EDIT (SEPT 16th): The Brew Shop and the Platypus Pub are now open!

They have new websites in the works, but until then, it seems a lot of the google searches will go here. Right now, the Platypus Pub has a bunch of great stuff on tap and the Brew Shop is restocking and expanding their bottle selection (but somehow they still have Abacus, Parabola, and FW 14 in stock!!). I would highly recommend stopping in for a few beers and a Platypus Burger - tasty!

EDIT (NOV 14th): The Brew Shop website and the Platypus Pub website are now live!

Trappist Rochefort 10

Oil on Canvas
26x22in
$400
SOLD

What can we say about Rochefort 10? It is one of the best beers in the world, that also happens to be available just about everywhere. 

So, why an oil painting of Rochefort 10? This is a question that we should have answered months ago. While these larger-than-life oil paintings approach photorealism, we feel that they possess a physicality that a photo simply does not. The transparent, permeable layers of color work in conjunction with impermeable, visceral strokes of paint to create a light-reactive, dimensional surface. 

Being full-time artists, we live a fairly spartan lifestyle. Beer is our luxury. We do not have a furnished bar, a beer cellar that isn't a closet, or a living room to hang the very artwork we do. Basically, we make the beer art we would like to have on our imaginary walls.