This August, I was lucky enough to be one of the four artists chosen to be part of their launch for the new Absolut Hibiskus flavor. This was a collaboration project called Absolut x 3editions.

Part of the project (the main part anyways) was to paint a 6ft tall Absolut bottle, incorporating the hibiscus and the pomegranate, revolving around the theme of empowerment. Why empowerment? Because the hibiscus is considered a symbol of empowerment by the Hindu goddess, Kali.

The journey started out with William Lee, founder of 3editions, announcing to the four of us that we will be painting on a 6ft tall, fiberglass bottle, amongst other things. But first, we had to create an imagery of the hibiscus in our art style for the press release – for media usage. This, was mine.

Both the hibiscus and pomegranate are to be incorporated into the press release, and I also designed the media invite. Both of these can be viewed here.


Soon after that was done, I went on to prepare for the two short days of painting the 6ft bottle. Like any other artist out there, it is always essential to prepare in advance – your vision for your masterpiece. So I decided to print small scamps of vodka bottles as a template for my sketches.






Then comes the big day - time to paint. And to also see those huge bottles for the first time. The entire process was held at the 3editions studio.





Pretty huge huh? If you could recall seeing on my Instagram, it was much taller than I was. So then came the grueling, back-breaking work of painting the bottle. I have to say, I was the last to finish mine, late into the night. But was it worth it? Yep, it was.








During the entire 2-day process, we also had the amazing crew from Hanger Magazine to shoot a video and do an interview on each of us. This was the end product. ;)



That isn't the end of my journey yet.


THE THREE LITTLE ONES
We are all told that we will also be required to paint an additional three bottles, but the smaller 750ml sized ones, to be given away as a limited edition set to some lucky people/winners. So here I am again, with another 3 blank, glass canvases.







A lot of love and labour went into all four bottles I worked on. However, I cannot imagine doing anything else that would make me as happy as working on art. :)



THE PARTYING BEGINS
Then after, comes the payoff. Absolut Vodka has 4 big events set up, to unveil a new bottle (the 6ft version) at each event, leading up to the finale. Mine was the second bottle to be revealed, on the 6th September 2013, at Luna Bar's rooftop pool area.












It was an amazing journey, and I'm really grateful & lucky to be part of this. Opportunities like these are not often, and I am proud to say I've savored and enjoyed every moment of it. The biggest thanks goes to William, who have been a great person to work with and whom without, all these may not be possible.

Thank you! :)