SKETCHING WITH COFFEE (LITERALLY)

A desire to throw down some ink wash resulted in a series of "instant" and OH so good smelling art pieces.

I woke up this morning deciding it was the perfect day to revisit my skills in ink wash.
I have no india ink left.  ugh.
The snow, the ice, gas money and a long trip to either Portsmouth NH or Portland ME for a small bottle of ink was dampening my enthusiasm until I spotted the coffee stain on my sketchbook.

I don't think this is a new idea.... in fact, it's definately not new to me.

When I was getting my start in art school in 1989, just like most college students, I had very little money, and minimal supplies.  On the first day of my "conceptual drawing" class we were given a long list of supplies we were required to purchase by the next class.  On that list among other things was india ink.  I had no money and the same problem I had this morning, no immediate access to art supply shopping from a rural area and very little money.
PS: Walmart won't sell india ink for fear that brave teens will badly tattoo each other on bored Friday nights. (pssstt...they are correct, I know this first hand)
I am happy to report, that my drawing professor was so very impressed with my creative solution to the missing ink, that I received my first college A in 1989.
....and so today began, with that burst of wonderful smell filling my nostrils, along with a little bit of bitterness that I'm getting older and had to give up coffee because of a sensitive stomach. 
The smell, and the color and tone of the coffee washes away my bitterness (bitter-pun intended) and I'm sure I will get an extra kick out of pissing off my 13 year old when she comes home from school and realizes I dipped brushes in her instant coffee.

My art lesson for this week is NO EXCUSES.  There is always art supplies available for whatever creative movement you have.  My favorite local artist that continuously utilizes this philosophy is Bob Farrell...so be sure and check out Bob Farrell's Art on Facebook .  Thank you Bob, for always keeping the "make it work" attitude in my frontal lobe.


Here is a video I made a couple years ago of Bob and his work:

Erin Thomas is an artist, designer and photographer from Southern Maine