Mocha Moment

This painting was going to be a bowl of fruit.

 

Mocha Moment is my submission to Tastefest in Chatham, ON at the Downtown Chatham Center July 11-13, 2009.

It was a challenge for me to come up with something meaningful to me for this show that deals with all things food and wine and tasty.

I thought about wine bottles and glasses. I love the way other artist’s depict them, but honestly I am still a novice with wine and I don’t think I have the love it would take to create art that says something about the subject.

 

I don’t drink coffee either.

 

But I absolutely LOVE the smell of coffee beans, and coffee being made. The round shapes of the coffee bowls and the pretty patterns that barista’s make in lattes fascinate me as well.

 

I love the feel of holding a hot tea or a mug of hot chocolate on a cold day and absorbing all its warmth, cupping my hands around my warm beverage of choice for the day and curling up on the couch talking with a friend.

So how did a bowl of fruit become a mug of mocha?

I am a bit of an introvert (shocking! an introverted artist!!) and I need my own space, where no one can bug me or get to me. At least every now and then. My husband understands this and offered to work from home so that I could go out for the evening.

It was after nine, but I have to take the opportunities when they come up. I threw my sketchbook  into my bag and headed off to Chapters to see what would jump out at me.  That night I was extremely bored of myself, and of just about everything else, so not surprisingly, nothing jumped off the shelf at me.

A little disappointed I left and headed to Williams, with the intention of purchasing an overpriced tea, doing some covert people watching and perhaps some sketching.

I didn’t buy a tea.

I bought a fancy pants thing called a London Fog – Earl Grey tea with steamed milk and vanilla. No matter how many times I have tried a steamed milk beverage it usually leaves me cold.  No exception here – but it came in a wonderful bowl of a cup and I noticed some beautiful shadows created by the “atmosphere” lighting.  I pulled out my pencil and did a sketch of the cup and the intersecting lines and went home.

Later, I continued to play around with composition options for my bowl of fruit and I didn’t really love any of the options. I kept coming back to the simple sketch of the cup. Eventually, I gave in and changed the plan.

Keeping your options open can be a good thing I think.