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…

Here is my latest coffee painting, “Destiny”, originally by Waterhouse.  I’ve also painted 2 others by him, “Ophelia’s Last Sip” and “Lady of Chocolat”.  “Destiny” is his title but doesn’t seem very coffee-art-ish.  Suggestions?

I often get asked to do portraits from photographs and never see the people in ‘real life’. Recently, I got to meet this couple in person when they picked up their completed portrait. It was fun to see how the kindness I saw in their eyes while painting them was truly present when we met.

Please email me at coffeepainter@gmail.com if you would like to commission something.  It’s not too early to plan for the holidays!

I’ve spent most of last year working in my studio instead of out and about in coffeeshops. Recently I discovered the charming shop called Coffee Girl. It’s on a pier overlooking the mighty Columbia River in Astoria. Here’s what I saw as I worked on some new paintings…

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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!

Here’s what Guinness looks like on paper, along with some interesting facts I discovered about one of the world’s most famous brews:

Arthur Guinness first brewed beer in 1759, and there was almost no advertising until the 1930′s.  Despite that, the company had become one of Great Britain’s top three breweries.  But finally the ads did come, and among the most familiar is:

Dorothy L. Sayers, mystery writer and friend of C.S. Lewis, actually sketched the Toucan and worked on the ad campaigns.  I like her books and had no idea she was connected to Guinness!

This new painting combines two of my favorite things- drinking coffee and dancing, though I’ve yet to try them at the same time.  I’m taking suggestions for a title; what do you think it should be called?

People often ask if I paint using mediums other than coffee.  Yes, though not as often.  I started out as a colored pencil and watercolor artist, then got into oils a bit.  About 3 years into my coffeepainting journey, an interior decorator hired me to paint oils for an Oklahoma restaurant called Rib Crib.  The subject matter was quite different from my usual classic masterpieces- this time it was cowboys and old west themes.  We quite a few of these restaurants together throughout the Southwest, and now it looks like we’re at it again.  This job has to be done in 2 weeks!  Here’s a bad phone-pic of yesterday’s work.

This store will be in McAlester, OK.  The founder of the town, J.J. McAlester, is one of the characters in True Grit, interestingly.  Now the town is where the state prison is, and they have a prison rodeo!  So one picture shows that, and we’ll have a train scene, and J.J.’s old storefront.  Yeehaw!

This lovely lady can’t wait for her man to finish proposing before snitching some Valentine’s chocolates. I couldn’t resist drinking the chocolate paint!