3 Kitchen Coffee Creations

Posted bydebirileyPosted inart, inspiration, paintingTags:, , , ,
landscape painting in coffee debiriley.com

What’s in the Kitchen?!  It turns out,  there’s a lot of products to paint and create with in my pantry.  Amazingly, I thought of over 100 different media and tools to choose from in little under 5 minutes!   Of course, this was once I put the whole archival issue aside and just focused on creative materials in the house.

landscape painting in coffee debiriley.com
Coffee Perks Peaks landscape in coffee

What prompted this?  And Why bother?   Well,  for starters:  I’m  always hearing the very  the loud voice of “But that artist paper costs too much!  or I’m just a beginner, so I’m just getting the student paint.”

Creativity in the Kitchen

What’s a teacher to do?   Yes, thats right….Get Creative!   Things to use just for fun, just to create:   There’s lipstick, soy sauce, red wine, ( very nice Shiraz)  mulberries, tea,  turmeric,  93+ more      ….  my soy sauce trees were lovely!

So by putting on the back burner the archival issues,  how the product will perform,  how it will last – and only focus on the short term – here and now,  I can imagine all sorts of very creative and fun things to try.

How to make it more durable

Debi,  what if you create a stunning image? and its not using archival lasting materials?  Hmm. Good Question.

First,  take a really good quality photo and document the image.   Get it printed.

Second,  use acrylic satin medium front and back (if possible) to help extend the life of the art image just that little bit longer.   I wouldn’t sell it.  At least not without marking the price down  and advising the client as to what the shelf life would be (very short.)  People expect archival long lasting artwork for their money and I don’t blame them.

Artistic Creations with Coffee

My first trial was with coffee.  I first tried using my normal coffee, from my french press plunger. It wasn’t effective. I couldn’t  get a good range of tonal values.

So then I resorted to an old jar of instant coffee crystals. This worked wonderfully. I was able to get very dark tones and very pale tones, some lovely tonal ranges  by diluting with water.

I tried some on newspaper, some on computer paper,   a couple on matt board, one on rice paper, a few on watercolour cellulose paper,  a couple on good CP paper  just to see the results on a random selection of surfaces.

Coffee Painted Trees debiriley.com
Coffee Painted Trees debiriley.com

The other good thing I discovered about turning my mind to alternate tools, supplies,  etc.  is that it really opens the door to Creativity.  It activates the pathways of creative problem solving.  Which is great bonus for artists!

None of these are permanent, but thats ok.  Going with the  “wabi sabi”   flow  and  letting go the need to have everything  permanent is good for the soul.

landscape in coffee, debiriley.com
Morning, The Lake – landscape painting in coffee

What do you have in your kitchen!?

 

Published by debiriley

The act of creation, in any media is a fascinating and magical process. I simply love to create. Expressing in color, line, tone, texture - as if, they were words upon a page. Creating a uniquely me, interpretation. Enjoy More of my "one-of-a-kind" expressive art at society6.com/debiriley and, redbubble.com/people/debijriley/shop

22 thoughts on “3 Kitchen Coffee Creations”

  4. Who needs paint? How many times have Zt rinsed my brush in my coffee cup, next time I’ll just keep painting. As always Debi your artwork is inspiring, and I love your instruction tips. Let the coffee flow! It would be fun to go to a coffee shop, order coffee and then paint!

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    1. I’d love to see (photo) the expressions on people’s faces when doing that! Thank you so much Sharon for your thoughtful and cheery comments 🙂

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    1. many thanks Jodi! I’m thinking of a short series to highlight some of the inventive off the wall kitchen and house supplies we can use to create with. it just might be fun!

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  7. Such a good thing I now see this post because I discovered this a while ago – people making art with tea/coffee – and it’s been at the back of my mind ever since but I never got to do it. That’s a good reminder to myself to get artsy with tea/coffee soon 🙂 I wonder whether such art work could be the start of something else artsy that could support a real piece of art work such as background for digital art or collage (?)…I guess I could try these out.

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    1. yes, its been around! I’ve not done much with these types of things as “they’re not archival” lol; but, I’m going to do some more Experimenting. For Fun! and great for giveaways!!

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  8. Love, love, love this Debi! The last of the Morning, The Lake is incredible creativity, brilliant use of the tones. I do have a lot of coffee grounds every single day – hmmm, something new to consider.

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  9. Thanks! I did like the calm morning stillness it reflected – you know, before anyone else is up! 🙂 I didn’t have great success with the grounds approach, only the instant allowed for a greater range of tones. this post will be fun to see how it inspires others to find and use odds and ends from the kitchen 🙂

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    1. absolutely Andrew! coffee is #1 priority around here as well 🙂 good tea, comes in a close runner up though! Thank you Andrew for your comment, its always nice to get your take on the posts 🙂

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  11. I love the idea of using media as unusual as food to create art in a traditional manner. The contrast this generates brings the whole work to another level of interesting!

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    1. hi Kenneth! indeed it does, plus if one has little ones – then at least the food “paint” is not harmful. thank you again for your comment 🙂

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