How To Paint A Martini

by Donna Frasca

A Designer has many sides as you may know and one of my very colorful sides is painting - not wall painting, fine arts.

I had a few days of downtime so I usually pick up my camera (photography is another colorful side of me) or paint brush. Today, it was the paint brush since I dropped my camera yesterday and I'm still in shock over that. Luckily, the camera is fine, I just need to relax.

Having said that, I am continuing to paint my Happy Hour series and paint a Martini. I already have a Margarita and a Bloody Mary so another one of my faves is the classic Martini.

Margarita - prints available

Bloody Mary - prints available

DAY ONE

I took a series of photos to show you step by step how I'm doing this. I just hope it comes out ok, glass and reflections are not my forte. Here we go!

No fancy easels here, I just cleared a spot on my desk from IKEA and went to town. Canvas, picture of a martini so I have something to follow, pencil, brushes, paint and classical music is on. Good to go!

Of course the very best vodka for inspiration. This is the delish Three Olives in “Loopy” flavor, very much like Froot Loops cereal. I also have my favorite Martini glass - see the green base for color? It's actually for stability since the classic Martini glass is very top heavy. By the end of happy hour, you'll want to thank me for this FYI. Don't fight with gravity during happy hour. Ok - back to painting. 

Using acrylic paint, of course there's white, black and a bit of yellow to warm up the gray when I need it.

I outline the shape of the glass with gray - really don't worry about making a mistake here you can always paint white over it. I drew an oval on my computer and printed it out and used it as a guide to have the perfect glass shape. This is a fairly important step. See the Three Olives in the background? It was very tempting to try it but after all, it was just 9:30 in the morning. I know, I know, it's 5:00 somewhere!

Ok - outline is done, sketch with gray paint. I than took a very pale gray and starting filling in the glass. Look at the book in the background - I am using that as a reference. I'm not one of those artist that can just wing this stuff but if I have a visual - I'm good to go!

I had enough of working on the glass and wanted to start the olives so I did. I can always go back and work on the glass later. Again, look at the olives in the book - try to get the shape and angle right on this.

What color did I use for the olives? White, yellow, touch of blue (try not to use black here, it will 'dirty' the color) and a bit of red.

Making progress right? Looks a bit like a Martini already? Well I know from experience, not to do too much in one day. It's always good to stop before you body and mind get tired - that's when mistakes happen.

Brushes are clean and ready for tomorrows session. Stay tuned for more on How to Paint a Martini. By the way - were you checking the level of the Three Olives? It was that low from last weekend - I promise no vodka was consumed while painting. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

… to be continiued.