The Story of Surly Two: Part Two, the Art

Picture Paul Benedict in a smock: "Hmmm,
think I'll paint a two..." 

So. I can't remember how I managed it, but some time in early 2008, or so, after I heard that Surly Brewing Company would be bottling their 2nd Anniversary brew, called Two, I talked owner Omar Ansari into allowing me to produce the label art. He'd seen my stuff, and trusted my skills, and I was excited to see what I could do for them. Here's the story of my various attempts, dosed with plenty of artistic doubt and indecision.

The first try was both literal and abstract, and was created the day that we hosted the release party for the brew. I used a stencil in the shape of the number two, colored the outlines, with black ink, and embellished the edges with dry red watercolor paint. Simple and to the point. But Omar felt that, although he and I both understand that the red would represent the cranberries in the beer, and the black marks stood for the color of the beer, others would not understand this. I was glad he rejected it, because I preferred to work in a figurative style. So, one down the drain, on to the next.

She wore a cran-berry beret, the kind you find in a
second-hand store. By the way,
if you look like this drawing, send me your number,
you might be my dream girl.

I've always liked beer labels with images of attractive women, and designed this simple picture of young cutie holding a glass of Two up to her lips with a smile on her face. Her headgear is a cranberry beret. Is it a nod to the Prince song about a hat of a different fruit? Or maybe just my way to represent a cranberry on the young girl's headpiece in a sly, understated way. Her hairstyle is modeled after the one my friend Debbie sported at the time, although her face is entirely invented. Okay, it looks a little like her.

I emailed a scan of this pencil sketch, (which as you can see was only slightly embellished with ink) to Omar and he seemed enthusiastic when we spoke on the phone. Another call came afterward, with some trepidation, as Omar tried to break through his difficulty in telling an artist what to do, as he said. The problem with the picture, he realized, is that she is too pretty, not Surly enough. Well, goldarn it, I just wasn't thinking about that, was I? He's right, of course, although I have to say that there are examples of Surly art that seem to show off pulchritude and little else in the female figures. Not to name any names, of course.

Here's a photo of the painting for t
he Surly Two label in it's
current state, inside a frame whose
glass has broken. There are no pencil
sketches to show you because
 I painted directly over
 the original pencil.

So! Back to the old drawing board. This time I had to figure out how to "Surly her up" (I still wanted to use a female), and still keep a clever reference to the ingredients. I came upon the idea of a punkier version of the same girl, gave her piercings, a neck tattoo of a hop plant (many people have pointed out that they like the green in her eyes relating to the green in her tatoo), and some red highlights in her hair, which is hanging in her face. She's sticking her tongue out at you (how Surly is that, huh?), and the cranberry is resting on it, which also gives the impression that she's showing off her latest tongue stud. I based the posed on a photo I found on a Google image search with keywords "Girl + tongue", ignoring all the porn pictures. A full clothed young lady with an enormous tongue, doing nothing dirty at all with it was my muse. I'm not sure where I came up with the idea of attempting this in acrylic on paper, which is something I'd never done before. This is the result:

Just about zero people had seen this drawing before I
 posted it here. It's a debut!

And here's where our story stalls for a while. I just wasn't sure if it was good enough. The entire process of painting only took a matter of hours, the drawing a handful of hours, as well. But my indecision and doubt lasting for weeks, even months, while all of Surlydom wondered when those bottles will finally get released. I show this to very few people and tried another attempt at pleasing myself:
Same idea, slightly different pose, with the idea that she's at a bar, the logo behind serving as a neon sign in the background. Again, I wasn't sure that I'd hit it with this one, and ...hold on to your hats, here...started an oil painting on canvas, with the same basic concept, only with a full front pose, with her looking right at you, and an angrier appearance. This one I decided not to share with you, because it is so unfinished that I feel people will only see what's wrong with it, and what's missing. Maybe I'll finish it one day. Why not?
So, what happened? The clamor for Two bottles continued to grow, and I was the reason Surly fans couldn't get their mitts on the beer, (it had long ago sold out at bars). I still couldn't make up my mind, until a friend came to visit, saw my canvas on an easel in my work room, with the completed acrylic picture hanging nearby. "Why work on that when the other one is finished and is perfectly fine?" he asked, and I agreed. Not long after that, I consulted with my nephew Trevor, a graphic designer, and he helped me assemble all the pieces, put down the logos and information.

Once this was finished, I went online and sent a scan to Omar via email. He was ...overjoyed? Ecstatic? Well, at least satisfied that it was finished, with only one question. "IS it a stout? Can we call it that? Let me get back to you." If you recall from part one, Todd Haug, the brew master of beer and brewing, was calling this beer a "black ale" but told me "you can call it a stout if you want." Apparently, he didn't tell anyone else that.

Not long after, I got a visit from Omar on a Friday night at the Blue Nile, and he presented me with a bottle of Two, with my image as a sticker. One thing was missing. No wax-dip? An employee told me later that Omar returned to the brewery and wearily said, "Al says we've got to wax-dip them." And so it was. Wish I knew what happened to that original bottle, probably given to a friend or family member, or maybe the one I let Debbie take with her after we drank one together. My last remaining empty is wax-dipped with the number 356 on the back. That one in the picture is un-waxed and un-numbered.

The bottles were at last ready to be sold, and in ...was it June of 2008, really? (That's what the earliest bottle review on BeerAdvocate says.) (correction: I found evidence they were sold in late May, Check this out...a few other things are revealed, as well.)On three consecutive Saturdays during growler sales hours, Surly fans at last got to get their bottles, out of approximately 400 or so produced. Although I wasn't paid in cash money, just about a dozen bottles, Omar said I could consider myself part of Surly history and eventually find my artwork on a listing on eBay, which is what all true artists strive for, after all.

Another form of immortality occurred that next Darkness Day when I met my friends Dean Hinshaw and Rita Lawless for the first time. They created the giant placards that designate the parking lots and I was so thrilled to see a large photo of my bottle used for what they deemed "cranberry bog" that I asked if I could have it, and they happily consented. I forgot it in my friend Mag's car,(he brought me home from D-Day and I was in the forgetful phase of drunkenness) and he returned it the next week at the occasion of our first Stout Fest, then called Ale Saint's Day. One of the owners of the Blue Nile liked it so much, she insisted that I hang it up in the bar, which I did. To this day, customers still ask what kind of beer Cranberry Bog is, and if we sell it.