It’s no secret that there are multiple uses for coffee – a morning buzz, the health perks, a mild stimulant, it even makes a great fertilizer – but what about a more… aesthetically pleasing use? Something that makes everyone sit up and take notice? Interestingly enough, modern art has found just the thing, another use for coffee that relatively few people seem to have considered before: coffee art paintings.
Indeed, coffee art is a blossoming movement, albeit one that is considerably more difficult to get into than something like watercolors or oil painting. Thailand’s Pornchai Lerthammasiri, a leader in painting with coffee, took six years of experimentation with different blends and brews of coffee before finding one that he was satisfied with. Initially, coffee art extended only to the use of coffee as a wash, in order to stain a canvas and create a more antiqued look – however, Lerthammasiri soon realized that coffee could do far more than simply create a nice, broad, shading.
Around the same time that Pornchai Lerthammasiri was discovering the artistic value of coffee, other artists around the world were following suit – Mira and Amita Chudasama of India, Andrew & Angel Saur of the United States, and Oklahoma’s Karen Eland all developed their own techniques for coffee art painting that, although differing in style, follow the same basic principle of utilizing brewed coffee on canvas.
Karen Eland’s technique revolves around the use of espresso coffee to create her images – her inspiration came from watching coffee being poured from espresso machines at her local café, whereupon she curiously wondered if she could combine her two favorite things, coffee and painting. She dipped her brush into a cup, and the rest was history! As for the Saurs, their first inspiration for painting with coffee came from an art show they were supposed to hold at a coffee house – and they decided to try using the place’s theme as the art medium.
Although each artist discovered their technique separately, what all of these artists have in common is that the coffee is used as a watercolor. First, a strong pot of coffee is brewed, typically as dark as is needed for the artist’s style, and from here, water is added in order to achieve the varying shades of dark and light. The tricky part is in ensuring that the coffee doesn’t stay on the canvas too thickly, lest it become moldy or peel after drying – as a result, drying times for darker sections of art have to be carefully monitored, and in some cases, dark sections may need to be painted on in layers.
One thing is for certain – patience is the key when it comes to coffee paintings. Too thick will leave glittering flakes, too thin will leave cracks, and if you’re not careful about how much water you’re using, the coffee may turn sticky and become very hard to control. And since the shading is limited to varying degrees of brown, the themes often tend to be similar: historic buildings, sweeping landscapes, or even recreations of antique sepia photographs! Some artists, such as Karen Eland, have specialized in a style such as recreating classic art works with coffee.
As the amount of artists working with coffee grows, coffee wall art is beginning to become easier to find and purchase at coffee art galleries – which are usually located inside a local café or small art studio. Coffee art makes an excellent conversation piece when home decorating, because not only does it look amazing on the wall… but it sure smells great too.
Article Source: http://www.artsymmetry.com
Andréanne Hamel and Luc Cloutier are successful business owners and espresso lovers, committed to providing the most up-to-date information for home Gaggia automatic espresso coffee machine users as well as for coffee shop and restaurant owners interested in commercial espresso machines for sale. Their research help to make informed espresso decisions in a fun and entertaining way.
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