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: Read on…

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, Read on…

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!

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. Read on…

Passing through Redmond, Oregon anytime in December? Stop in at new and charming Green Plow Coffee Roasters and enjoy some coffee and art.  On Saturday, Dec. 5th, I’ll be adding the new art from the COCC gallery.

I’ve been hard at work in my new studio; here are some of the results. They aren’t quite ready for prints yet, but should be in time for Christmas. Contact me if you would like to purchase something.

This is “DaVinci’s Barista”, about 32×36″. His original includes text about the measurements of the human body, but since this was for the COCC gallery’s “Show of Words”, I changed the text to be coffee related. He holds the tools of the Barista’s trade, and is standing on bags of coffee.

DaVinci's Barista

Read on…

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!