A Slight Diversion

The dish towels were drying over the back of a chair yesterday when I caught the slanted afternoon light illuminating them. The color was so rich, like stained glass; so it was a big disappointment when I looked at the photos on the computer to see a pale imitation of what had been. Solution to most problems these days seems to be turn it into black and white and see what happens then. Hmmm I like, very graphic, strong. After the coffee cup, stripes?

The Love Affair Continues

There are 16 portraits of coffee cups now so I decided to see what happened if I layered them all in photoshop. Controlling the color was difficult so I decided to work in black and white. Really like what happened. It reminded me of the wonderful lines from the John Donne poem.

At the round earth's imagined corners, blow 

Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise

[From the Holy Sonnets]

The 16 layers

16 portraits

Coffee Heart

We were having a coffee, in a little cafe that we have never been to before. And this is what I got. Love the way coffee answers all the questions.

Coffee heart

Coffee Sleeves

Still experimenting with the coffee skirts, the possibilities seem endless but while I am intrigued by what is happening, no one way has grabbed me. And when I can't "see" anymore I go back to photographing the bottom of the coffee cups. The cafe in the village has been very kind, saving them for me; the only problem is they have been washing them out. I explained what I was doing and now they look at me with big smiles on their faces. Not sure if I haven't just claimed village idiot status.

Layers of skirts, 7

layers of skirts, 1

Getting Colder

We came close to having a frost the other night and when I came downstairs it took me a few minutes [I hadn't had a coffee yet] to figure out what was different. The old windows in the living room were covered with condensation. A job for this week-end. Put on the double windows. I love these old windows and while I know they are not in any way energy efficient, replacing them gets lower and lower on the list. To see more of these old beauties you can click here, and here.

Lovely old windows

Answer To The Big Question

That question mark that appeared on my studio wall last week freaked me out. At first I laughed, then all the doubts and questions started. Ending up with the biggies, What am I doing here, WHATS THE MEANING OF LIFE? Decided I was taking myself way to seriously, besides I still can't figure out the answers, even after all these years of asking. So I spent time in the early morning fog, drinking coffee and taking photos of what J. and I call the tree of life. As it came in and out of focus. And the sun rose and the fog was burned off.

Foggy sunrise and the tree

What?

Working yesterday, pinning cardboard shapes to paper and this is what happened. OK, it was horizontal not vertical, but it did made me laugh. And just to make certain, I added the bottom circle of the coffee cup and I played some more.

The question is.....

Panel 8, The Coffee Cantata

The Coffee Cantata Continues

Spent time cutting more skirts out of cardboard and pinning them to sheets of paper in the wall. The lines have become paths. The delicacy of the line that I first fell for, in the bottom of the coffee cups, is lost, but I like the strength of the paths, Also love the cardboard. Now; do I use the out lines.... the cardboard.....cut the lines out of left over plywood. Or, none of the above.

About the Coffee Cantata, here is what Wikipedia says" (BWV 211) is a secular cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bach between 1732 and 1734. Although classified as a cantata, it is essentially a miniature comic opera. In a satirical commentary, the cantata amusingly tells of an addiction to coffee, a pressing social problem in eighteenth century Leipzig, where this work was premiered. The cantata's libretto (written by Christian Friedrich Henrici) features lines such as "If I can't drink my bowl of coffee three times daily, then in my torment, I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat"—a sentiment that would likely have been appreciated by the patrons of Zimmermann's Coffee House in Leipzig, where Bach's Collegium Musicum, founded by Georg Philipp Telemann in 1702, would have originally performed the work."

Coffe skirt 1

Coffe skirt 2

Coffe skirt 3

Panel 1

Panel 2

De-Constructing The Coffee Cup

Started taking apart the coffee cups thinking it was the bottom circle with the lovely stains that I wanted. So I unrolled the top rim, split the side seam, and managed to separate the bottom from the sides without to much damage and voila I had the pattern pieces. Surprisingly it was the side piece that has me intrigued. It looks like a pattern for a skirt. Hmmmn, will it form an interesting circle? No, on to plan B.

Before deconstruction

unrolling the lip

the bottom with it's beautiful marks

The side piece, inside

Circle of coffee cup shirts, on to plan B

The Coffee Cantata

Definitely over caffeinated, circles everywhere. Quiet, calm was what I had in mind. Started out that way but then the rocket fuel kicked in. Let's try this, let's try that, mind and body whirling. Oh yea, it's the beginning, things will calm down. Or maybe they won't.