Starting...
10/01/09
Mug Note Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 8” x 10”
I start each day with coffee, that wondrous cup of life. Actually many cups of coffee. I spend a lot of time in my head, thinking, seemingly connected to my body only by the warmth, aroma, flavor, and sensation of holding a coffee mug.
Experts say that we have some 60,000 thoughts every day.
My thoughts, as I assume to be true for many other people, range from serious to sublime to sensual to silly. OK, too many are repeats - rehashes of experiences too mundane to be of value. Perhaps the most pleasant and meaningful thoughts are riffs off of poetry, quotes, proverbs, witticisms, with a touch of philosophy.
This is one of a series of coffee mug paintings - adding a note to a mug of coffee seemed like the perfect image to dive into painting again, after much too long hiatus. Combining text and image was further inspired by the recent exhibit, Picasso and the Allure of Language, at the Nasher Museum of Art. Picasso was the first artist to combine text and images for centuries. Now any coffee shop artist can do it...way cool.