Congeal
Most of my ideas just pop into my brain unsolicited. I will be looking for one thing and a completely different thing will dominate my thoughts. It feels like I have no control over it but, on a molecular level, I’m sure I have some say as to what jumps to the forefront of vision or ideation. So, to the point of this painting, I was going to make you guess what it was but I got on the other side of that thought. I was going to call it 1-800-xxx -xxxx, which is the number for the Mr. Coffee hot line. I thought once you heard them say, “Mr Coffee” - you would get it. I decided against that, not because I don’t trust you to make the leap, but because it was too cutesy.
I have a Mr Coffee coffee maker and it is the cheap version - I find it works better than the one with bells and whistles. Under the top cover, just above where the coffee sits, in the basket, is a slightly domed top where coffee steam congeals into tainted droplets and creates rivulets leaving behind a brown pattern, in spots on the surface. This completely covers the letters telling you to clean your coffee maker and the telephone number for the hotline. I see this pattern every day and think how cool it is. One day I took a photo of it. Several months later, I decided to give it a go as a painting.
This is where things transition to Art. Once I decided to be less cutesy with the idea and title for this painting and started thinking what I could do within this framework to make it more interesting for me to paint - (I have to be engaged with the painting or I’m just wasting my time) - things started to change. I decided to change the color. Instead of trying to match the etherial center of these areas, grading to the deeper brown of the edges, where more coffee collects, I decided to just go all color, to liven it up. Then, once freed from the original image I changed the composition by adding and subtracting some real and some made up shapes. I’m pretty sure I lost the dainty Natural way the droplets congeal on the surface. The nuance of some of the “real” shapes is magical. Mine seem clunky by comparison. The initial completion was followed by, at least, three more completions, leading to this final iteration of the congealed coffee steam. This one is interpreted by me - added to and subtracted from and cleaned up. Then there is my acceptance - I do accept this and stand by it as a work of art. The artist must accept what has been created, at some point. That point is generally when you are not embarrassed by the painting
Medium: Acrylic Paint on Canvas
Not framed presently
Size: 25" x 25"
Price: $900.00 (Price does not include applicable sales tax or shipping)
I have a Mr Coffee coffee maker and it is the cheap version - I find it works better than the one with bells and whistles. Under the top cover, just above where the coffee sits, in the basket, is a slightly domed top where coffee steam congeals into tainted droplets and creates rivulets leaving behind a brown pattern, in spots on the surface. This completely covers the letters telling you to clean your coffee maker and the telephone number for the hotline. I see this pattern every day and think how cool it is. One day I took a photo of it. Several months later, I decided to give it a go as a painting.
This is where things transition to Art. Once I decided to be less cutesy with the idea and title for this painting and started thinking what I could do within this framework to make it more interesting for me to paint - (I have to be engaged with the painting or I’m just wasting my time) - things started to change. I decided to change the color. Instead of trying to match the etherial center of these areas, grading to the deeper brown of the edges, where more coffee collects, I decided to just go all color, to liven it up. Then, once freed from the original image I changed the composition by adding and subtracting some real and some made up shapes. I’m pretty sure I lost the dainty Natural way the droplets congeal on the surface. The nuance of some of the “real” shapes is magical. Mine seem clunky by comparison. The initial completion was followed by, at least, three more completions, leading to this final iteration of the congealed coffee steam. This one is interpreted by me - added to and subtracted from and cleaned up. Then there is my acceptance - I do accept this and stand by it as a work of art. The artist must accept what has been created, at some point. That point is generally when you are not embarrassed by the painting
Medium: Acrylic Paint on Canvas
Not framed presently
Size: 25" x 25"
Price: $900.00 (Price does not include applicable sales tax or shipping)
