I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  I was invited to the Middle East Coffee&Tea Convention, to share my art and paint some prizes for the barista championship. Here I am lugging my tradeshow booth stuff past the world’s tallest building.

Dubai is a city of skyscrapers, impossible but real islands shaped like palm trees, indoor ski resorts, deserts, horse and camel races, excellent food and more giant malls than any place needs. Here are some highlights: Continue reading…

Vintage Beer Poster

Beer Nouveau

San Diego Beer Fair, here I come!  On September 24th, I’ll be painting live on behalf of Arts ‘n Drafts, Continue reading…

The Fort George Brewery in Astoria, OR  gave me the pleasure of painting a chalkboard in their tasting room last week.  Astoria is a town of hard-working guys, with lots of fishing and logging.  I worked from a historical photo of loggers in a huge tree (sniff sniff, goodbye lovely tree!) and here they are enjoying beer from the Fort George.

This was part of the Beer Art show on display during August, and here are some paintings I created using their Working Girl Porter and Cavatica Stout as my paint.  If you’re near Astoria on a weekend, stop by the Fort George for some tasty food, beverages, and art!

The Lager Loggers

Bieres de la George, scenes of Astoria and the Brewery inset

Beer Nouveau

Fort George Logo

If you will be visiting Astoria, Oregon the next few months, come visit me at one of the Sunday Markets!  I’ll have a Coffee Art booth featuring my usual work, as well as the newest paintings of Astoria town themes.  I’ll also be participating in the Cruise ship markets on May 4-5, 19-2o, and later in September.

What’s the draw to Astoria?  It’s the 200th anniversary of the oldest permanent U.S. settlement west of the Mississippi, and lots of festivities are planned to celebrate it, including Tall Ships sailing.  I love the hilly fishing town at the mouth of the huge Columbia river.  It’s got lots of historical and seaside charm, and beautiful scenery surrounds.  Come see for yourself!

This summer the charming town of Astoria, Oregon celebrates 200 years of existence.  I’m doing several paintings relating to it’s history (with coffee twists, of course!) and will be visiting during several art fairs and events.  Here’s one for all the hardworking fishermen!

In February I had a show up at Dudley’s Bookstore in downtown Bend, OR. Here’s the upstairs reading room area:

Dudley's Bookstore

Last week I went to Seattle to hang coffee art in Irwin’s Bakery and Cafe and The Green Room. Continue reading…

I was honored to have several new pieces included in the show “The Nature of Words” at the Central Oregon Community College gallery. I created “DaVinci’s Barista”, “Vermeer’s Barista”, and “Beans 1″ and “Beans 2″. The show went along with the college’s literary event and the art needed to include words in some way, so I reworked da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” text to be about coffee, and thought the origin words on the bags of beans would count as well.

This Portland museum has a temporary exhibit called “Coffee, The World in Your Cup”, which shows the history and processes involved in the coffee industry.   Three coffee paintings are included, and I got to have a booth in their Coffee Fair last weekend.  Attendees got to sample about 15 different coffee companies’ products and more coffee art.  If you’re in Portland, Oregon, stop in and learn a lot about coffee!  I was struck by how many people are involved with each bean that ends up in my cup.  Tons of hard and painstaking work; someone’s hand in Ethiopia or Guatemala or Brazil has touched and selected the very bean I grind up this morning for my cup, or dip my brush into for the next painting.  Thanks to each one for enabling me to enjoy coffee in so many ways!

My booth, and in the 2nd floor of the building behind, my new studio!

Bend, Oregon’s largest outdoor event took place recently.  Thousands of people were strolling around enjoying all the art, music, and food.  We had an exciting early conclusion though- the event staff came running telling us all “75mph wind and hail is headed our way! Pack up now!”.

I’m often asked how durable coffee art is- my first piece did survive being sat on in my car by several frantic friends as we fled a tornado in Oklahoma… but I wasn’t anxious to repeat that test.   Continue reading…

Scenes from Cafe Femenino

I had the privilege of creating a work for auction for the Cafe Femenino Foundation, being inspired by the Millrock Latte Art contest going on at the same time.   Coffee Fest graciously gave me space on the skybridge of the convention center where I was able to watch the contest, paint, and display other coffee paintings. Continue reading…