The Painting
This piece highlights the coffee in the center, using warm-toned browns and reds to paint the drink, while cool colors occupy the space around it, framing the piece. Where the milk hits the coffee, oranges and reds appear; highlights in the background are lighter blue than the rest, but never dull. The use of complementary, vivid colors, with crossovers like orange spots in the background and hints of blue in the milk, bring visual balance to the image. The shapes involved also bring the onlooker’s focus to the center. The background is full of straight lines and blocky colors, but the milk being poured into the coffee is swirling with organic shapes and full of movement.
In June of this year, inspired by a picture she saw on Pinterest, Vivi painted this vibrant still life. Although the photo had the standard coloring you might expect from a cup of coffee, she put her own spin on it, using an unconventional color palette to make the piece pop. The idea and process was new to her, as her preferred style is realism in pencil. This work (one of her first paintings!) is slightly more abstract and was done in acrylic on canvas. During the process, she focused less on small details and harsh lines (things she might prioritize in realism), instead putting her time into maintaining bright and saturated colors and using smooth brush strokes to blend everything together.
The Artist
Vivi wasn’t able to take Drawing and Design this year, so she currently only makes art in her free time. Despite this, she hopes to take it next year, and will continue taking visual art classes afterwards so that she can reach advanced art before she graduates. She mainly draws people, in motion or still, from different perspectives. As mentioned above, her favorite medium is pencil, and she normally draws without color because it makes shading and blending easier- making this piece a bold and significant change in style. She also likes drawing short comics from time to time. Thanks, Vivi!