The Inky Illustrations of Ali Cantarella

Today's post is about a tiny, cute li'l portable cup of wine and a tiny, cute li'l comic strip drawn by yours truly! But don't be fooled by cuteness....only ONE of these things gets good review today, and I'm betting I'm not about to trash talk my art . . . ~

The Drink: Copa DeVino wine-in-a-cup, Riesling. 
The Place: South Loop area, Chicago IL
The Art: The Hasty Pastry weekly comic strip.

Click read more below for the Riesling reaction~

The Drink: Lipton Orange Blossom Hibiscus herbal tea, sweetened with Saffron Rock Candy.
The Place: The Digital Frontier
The Art: You're lookin' at it!

Lipton?  Boring ol' regular Lipton?  You betcha.  This herbal blend in a fine, pyramid mesh brews like a loose leaf with the convenience of a packaged tea.  For sweetener today I used a stick of Saffron Rock Candy, gifted to me from a Persian Market in California.  The candy is sugary sweet, with the warm, honey-like flavor of saffron.  It complimented the flowery flavors of hibiscus, and mellowed the tartness of orange.

Also, it's worth noting that this "cup" is the size of a large soup bowl, and one Lipton tea bag was enough to deliciously flavor the entire thing <3  Sweet, flavorful, convenient, and yes, cheap! 

Now, If two of these categories seem a little ambiguous to you, just take a look around.  Instead of creating an art piece for the blog today, I revamped the blog itself!  The blog, the website layout, and my portfolio of comics, illustrations, and editorials are in a perpetual state of revision.  Today I went through my files, updated and changed things, and made plans for changes in the future.

Some things will continue to change throughout the next few months.  You can bet your cute cookies The Wet Stain logo will change, the adorable pug header will make way for an updated look, and side bars will hold icons and links to more sweet art.  Take a look around the site this weekend, and don't forget to send me an image button and a url to your website if you have a blog or portfolio you would like to affiliate~

Have an awesome St Patty's weekend!  I'll try to avoid being too obvious and abstain from a blog post about green beer ;)

-Ali
The Wet Stain

First off, thanks for checking out the blog!  It's all shiny and new ( like this site) and like a lot of the things I have been going through this month.  October has been a big month of firsts for me, giving me a chance to really apply the things I have learned so far, and showing me what I still need to learn and work on. 

After creating a 3 piece Bike Series (Seen here) specifically for a call for work, I was ecstatic to be accepted into "Chicago's Best Kept Secrets: Unknown Artists of Chicago."  2 of my 3 pieces were selected, along with 2 older pieces that I submitted as well.  The opening was October 5th, and marked my first ever showing in a gallery event!  I learned a lot, from proper sizing and printing of my images, to proper framing and hanging materials.  But besides the technical stuff, I also had the new experience of being a showing artist, seeing firsthand how people besides friends, family, and classmates receive my art. 

It was great, and I am super thankful to curator Angela Redmond (who is a talented artist) and One Stop Productions (who have some beautiful photos of the evening here) for making the night happen.  The opening was followed by a closing reception on October 26th, where the artists felt like family and a Q&A gave me a chance to talk about my work to people who were genuinely interested.  It was a beautiful, fun experience, and I look forward to keeping in touch with some of the great artists and individuals I met there. 

With the gallery over and my last full-time semester of undergrad at Columbia College Chicago in full swing, I am still keeping myself busy.  This upcoming weekend I head to my home-state of Michigan for an Anime, Sci-fi, pop-culture Expo called 'Youmacon'.  I will be participating in the Artist Alley, where for three days I will do my best to sell stickers, magnets, illustrations, and smiles from a 2"x6" booth.  Like an art fair, it's an amazingly fun way to connect with people and I'm really looking forward to it! 
Look forward to a colorful, picture-filled Blog post about it~
-Ali