STARBUCKS

Color Watercolor Maps

6 custom large scale watercolor maps of coffee growing regions, 3 x 3 feet

Starbucks has been my biggest endeavor to date. 6 large scale watercolor maps of coffee growing regions across the globe: Asia/Pacific, Africa and Indonesia. These large scale watercolor maps are 3 x 3 feet big. They are executed on Fabriano Italian Watercolor paper.

Elephants, tigers, and coffee plants adorn the maps to delight the eye and spark curiousity. Hand lettered text on the paintings highlight key facts pertaining to locations/regions. As a result of my handwriting, the lettering is highly expressive with a distinctly unique style.

These maps are installed in Starbucks across the country.

Monochromatic Watercolor Maps

AFRICA

Painting the elephant was my favorite: all the wrinkles, it's tusks, the giant body, it's huge ear flaps and long trunk with whiskers at the end. Truly a celebration of one of Africa's oldest inhabitants; they can weigh up to 15,000 tons and be 13 feet in height, living up to 70 years in the wild.

Walnut ink, once employed by da Vinci and Rembrandt, was used to fill and indicate the coffee growing regions. The green husk surrounding the walnut fruit combined with water makes walnut ink. Water based mediums are my favorite materials; they are spontaneous and expressive, resulting in beautiful happenstance on paper.

LATIN AMERICA

Carreta, is Costa Rica’s most famous craft tradition of painting oxcart wheels. Oxcarts were used to transport coffee beans, a journey that could take as long as 15 days. Each cart is unique in painted design and also “song”. The “song” refers to the chime that sounds that the cart bumps along, a result of a metal ring that strikes the hubnut of the wheel. The designs on the wheel are incredibly intricate and great fun to render.

The rich, deep blacks of the smoking volcano was a custom color, created by mixing primary colors, resulting in velvety ebony. Magma flows, hardening to become Igneous Rock. Volcanic earth is one of the best soils on earth-insanely nutrient rich, perfect for growing coffee.

$ASIA\PACIFIC$

ASIA\PACIFIC

The Sumatran tiger was completed using Inkblot technique. As a result, the markings on the coat and face are far richer and wilder.

Inkblot creates an expressive uncontrolled mark. It's made through transfer on trace paper. It's incredibly laborious but well worth the effort. This technique was the finishing touch on all the maps created for Starbucks.

The Tongkonan ancestral homes are the focus of family identity and tradition. As I lined the drawing, I studied how each piece of wood fit together, architecturally so different than anything I know. Tongue and groove joinery is used-no nails. They are laborious to build, usually employing the entire family. Tongkonan translates “to sit” and literally means where the family members meet.

$ASIA\PACIFIC$ The Sumatran tiger was completed using Inkblot technique. As a result, the markings on the coat and face are far richer and wilder. Inkblot creates an expressive uncontrolled mark. It's made through transfer on trace paper. It's incredibly

*click on thumbnails to see painting details*