I always turn to art when I’m feeling stressed out or emotional, and with midterms coming up you bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be painting! As a college student it might seem daunting to spend money on paint supplies you probably won’t have time to reach for, so here’s an easy alternative that is right in your kitchen cupboard: coffee! If it has expired, even better! Jk that doesn’t really matter…
If you do want to try painting with coffee, I highly suggest Nescafe because it dissolves easily in water. I recently tried using some Arabian coffee, and I ended up with little brown grains of coffee that looked like a child had painted with a dirt and water mixture. The more dissolved the mixture is the better, because you’ll have less trouble blending later on. You can add water to lighten the shade of brown you have created or you can add more coffee to deepen it. I personally like my mixtures somewhere in the middle. If you made it too dark and have already put some of it on your paper, you can simply add some water to the area you want to lighten and gently dab it with a paper towel. Just like watercolor, coffee can come out easily. If I want to darken an area of my painting, I add a few layers of what I already have and then add some more Nescafe to the mixture if I need a deeper shade of brown. Coffee is extremely forgiving, and you can create a lot of different textures on the page by making mistakes. Plus it smells really great too!
Here are a few watercolor techniques that you can apply while painting with coffee.
1. Add water and dab with a paper towel to lighten
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As mentioned earlier, if you accidentally painted something a little too dark, remain calm! You can wipe it off while it’s still wet or you can add clean water to it and dab it with a paper towel. I prefer the second method because it’s less messy and more precise (:
2. Use water to blend out harsh lines
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Water is basically your best friend when it comes to painting with coffee. Sometimes harsh lines will appear when you are adding fresh ‘paint’ to dry areas. If the harsh lines bother you, you can add some water to blend it out. Just keep blending. Just keep blending…..
3. Add salt to create texture
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I learned this technique from painting with watercolors, but it also applies to painting with this medium. Add salt to wet paint and wait for it to dry. Once it’s dry you can brush the salt away and voila, you have added dimension to your work! Minimum input for maximum output!
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You can see this technique used on the branch in the monkey painting (:
4. Have fun with it
- Yes, this one might sound a little childish, but aren’t we all children at heart? Jk (just keep blending) but seriously, this is monochromatic. You only have one color to work with, so make it interesting!
Next time you’re in the coffee aisle at your local Smith’s (because they are literally everywhere), check out some of the cheaper options. Taste doesn’t really matter when you can flavor it with some expensive creamer (see Starbucks options). I hope you consider using this medium because it is seriously so cool! You also sound pretty hipster saying, “Yeah man, I paint with coffee. What do you do? Acrylic?”
*all images are my own original work*
Yeah man, I paint with coffee (;