Coffee Painting Skills, Create A Steaming Cup Of Coffee Using Coffeepaint And Watercolor Techniques

1. Welcome to the Class: Hi, I'm Evgenia Cordie and in this class you can try to paint with coffee. It's such a fun experience, you'll enjoy it greatly. The coffee smells delicious, and your painting will smell too. Like coffee. The shade is warm and beautiful. You haven't to concentrate on color or mix colors. The texture of the dark shades is thick and is easier to manage than the watercolor, that all makes it nice to try watercolor techniques. In this class, you will make your paint and try different watercolor techniques, such as wet on dry, wet on wet. Splashing paint drops on dry paper. Removing paint to create light accents. Also, you can download a free book with questions and answers about coffee painting. So let's begin. 2. Making Coffee Paint: For this lesson I’ve used grounded soluble coffee. Now we are going to divide the coffee grains. We begin with a small amount of grains, we do more grains in the next cell and so on. The last cell will contain a big amount of grains. Now you can add water to the coffee grains. It can be warm water, but you can perfectly use cold water as well. Notice that it will take a bit more time to dissolve the coffee in cold water. With a coffee spoon stir well to dissolve all grains. You add the same amount of water, but the shades will be different. A small amount of grains and much water will create a very light shade, when a big amount of grains will become a very dark shade.. The texture of the dark shades will be thick and sticky. Take a piece of paper and try each shade. You can also add more of the same shade to the same place. That will make the color darker. In this class we will use different watercolor techniques. I will show here the difference between two classic ones. You paint with a color on dry paper. That is called wet-on-dry. Then you clean your brush and with a wet brush you paint along the edge of the still wet color wash. The color will flow to wet areas and create fuzzy edges. It looks very artistic. If you don’t touch the edge of the color wash it will stay sharp when dry. Wet the paper and add some color on it. That is called wet-on-wet. This technique is perfect for fuzzy backgrounds. 3. Painting a Steaming Cup: A good under drawing is very helpful to make a nice painting or a sketch. If you don't like to draw by still wish to make a nice drawing, watch my previous lesson where I explain 3 ways to do it. We begin with painting on dry paper, with other words wet-on-dry. Notice that the coffee paint is much thicker than the watercolor. Don’t forget to wet your brush a little bit If it becomes dry. Just a point of it, it will be enough to stretch out the color. We always paint with a reference picture or from life. Try to look regularly to the reference photo while painting. Notice where the object is dark or where it is light and try to copy it in your painting. We paint around the marked light place. Then we use lighter shade on it. It will smooth the edges of the previous dark wash. If it becomes darker than you wish it to be, don't worry. When this place is a little bit dryer you can lighten it up with a clean dry brush. On a still wet background we add darker strokes. That is called wet-on-wet. The color shades will flow into each other and when dry we will have soft edges. Clean your brush and dab with the paper tissue. With a dry brush we remove some paint and create light accents. Now wet your brush and make the paper wet under the still wet paint, the paint will flow to wet areas and create soft edges. Tilt the painting board and let the wet paint flow. It will create some interesting shapes and texture. It is okay if you don't want to do it, but sometimes it’s nice to distribute the wet color over the surface and create artistic effects. Add some more dark shade on the still wet cup. Because the background is still wet, the shapes will smoothly flow into each other. Now we begin with the background while the cup becomes drier. We begin painting with a light shade on dry paper. Along we add darker shades on it. With a wet brush rub on the paint to remove it and dab with a tissue. Paint around the steam with a light shade, use a paper tissue if you make a mistake or if your paint is too watery on the edges of the steam. With a very light shade paint just along the edge of the cup and in just one place touch the cup. The cup h will remain sharp except that one tiny place. It creates a loose artistic effect. With a clean wet brush paint the steam smoothing the sharp edges of the previous washes around it. Dab with a tissue on the steam to prevent the floating color from going too deep into the steam. We would like it to remain white. A little bit more dark color around. We tilt the board again to let the coffee distribute over the background. If you make a mistake, then use a wet brush to remove the paint and dab with a tissue. We paint the shadows dark. Smooth the edge with a clean, almost dry brush. We paint the table with a light shade then we use a clean wet brush to paint alongside and touch the wash. The colors will flow to wet areas. Paint the dark accents, notice how it is on the reference picture. With a wet brush smooth the strokes. With a wet fine brush you can draw light lines on the still a bit wet paint. Wet your brush and place it on your finger. Tap a couple of times and let the water drops fall randomly on the still a bit wet painting, that will add more texture. We rub on this team with a wet brush to remove some paint. The same with the edge of the shadow. Dab with a tissue to prevent water from adjusting darker places. The table is still wet and with a fine brush, we will draw the dark lines on it. They will be fuzzy. When you paint the lines on dry white places they will be sharp. When the paper is still too wet the lines on it will disappear. No problem. We will wait till the table is dryer to paint again. With a fine brush, we draw a couple of lines for the table. Take a paper tissue and rub between the lines to remove the excess of paint. Rub with a wet brush to remove some dry color or make it lighter. A tissue will be helpful too. By rubbing we can create more shape now. The paper is dry and the paint will not flow. Like this we can make soft edges too. Now add more dark shades to the handle and to the cup. I take with the point of my almost dry brush the paint from the previous dark strokes. They are still wet, but my brush is dry and when I distribute the paint over the spoon edge the paint will lie rough on the paper. This is called dry-on-dry technique. Regularly I rub on the cup to make light accents. The paint is still wet however, and the light places will get smaller from the flowing paint. Later I’ll do it again on dry paper. Now it is good to create the shape and add some dark strokes here and there. Now that the table is almost dry we can add sharp dark lines and shadows. Some light places are still there. Let's add some more. That becomes to look like a nice cup with reflections on it! Just a little bit more dark on the shadow. That will make the cup stand out. Take a dark shade and put your brush on the finger. Tap a couple of times and let the color drops fall on the dry paper. That will add more texture to the background. Paint very dark places on the cup. Let your painting dry or use a hair dryer. Now we will remove some paint and create more shape. Now we can make beautiful light reflections on the cup. The coffee lets you do it easier than the watercolor. A little bit of paint to make the cup stand out. With a flat wet brush we can create light lines on the table. We make the background darker to let the steam shine. With a wet brush you can remove dry paint on the background to make fuzzy spots of light. When the painting is absolutely dry use an eraser and a flat brush to remove the pencil lines. Sign your painting and add the year of creation. Nice for later!