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This week we Brewminate with a video from Miss Neff’s Art Lab where she shows her techniques on painting with coffee. That’s right – COFFEE! Old coffee, new coffee, light coffee, dark coffee, so many options are available.
Aiello Coffee also offers some tips and techniques. They even point to international artists who have made use of brewed coffee and grounds used in various ways, including British artist Maria A. Aristidou, Italian artist Giulia Berardinelli, American painter Karen Eland, and Malaysian artist Hong Yi.
Aiello’s Suggestions
Before the introduction of artificial colours, tea and coffee were among the most common substances used as natural dyes. There are two main coffee painting techniques: one involves using liquid coffee made with a moka pot as if it were a watercolour, and with the other one you can reuse coffee dregs. In this article, we’ll be teaching you about this second technique.
Prepare the Materials You Need to Paint with Coffee
- Watercolour paper.
- A flat paintbrush.
- A round-tipped paintbrush.
- A pencil.
- Coffee grounds: we recommend you mix them with instant coffee for a better result.
Prepare at Least Two Different Solutions
To create your masterpiece, you’ll definitely need some lighter colours and other, darker ones. We recommend you make at least two different solutions:
- One darker one, made of two parts coffee and one part water.
- One lighter one, composed of two parts water and one part coffee.
If you want to create other shades, simply add more water to make them lighter, or more coffee to make them darker.
Do a Sketch, then Get Painting!
Before starting to paint with coffee, you should preferably do a sketch of the design that you intend to create. A portrait, a landscape, or perhaps something abstract: there are no limits to your creativity!
Having finished your sketch, you can begin painting with the lighter shade. Wait for it to dry, otherwise the colours will get mixed up and be difficult to control. When the lighter shades are dry, you can begin painting using the darker ones.
Leave Your Coffee-Painted Picture to Dry
When you’ve finished painting with the darker shade, leave the painting to dry for at least 24 hours before framing it. To protect the painting and ensure it preserves well, apply a thin layer of varnish.
Video published on YouTube, 04.03.2020, by Art Lab with Miss Neff, republished with embed permission. Aiello suggestions republished under fair use from Caffe Aiello.