Source: CCTV.com

08-28-2008 12:02

There are some who would have us believe that coffee is an art, but no barrista nor any brew master can make the claim as powerfully as one Filipino painter. She doesn't drink coffee at all. She does use coffee as her paint pigment because it's cheap.

There are some who would have us believe that coffee is an art, but no barrista nor any brew master can make the claim as powerfully as one Filipino painter.
There are some who would have us believe that coffee is an
 art, but no barrista nor any brew master can make the claim
 as powerfully as one Filipino painter.

Something's brewing in Sunshine Plata's paintings.

The Filipino artist uses coffee to paint whimsical scenes and rural landscapes on canvases. The paintings exude an earthy aroma of their own -- unmistakably coffee.

Plata tries to enhance her monochrome medium by mixing different quantities of coffee grounds with water to create contrasting shades of brown.

Plata started out as an oil painter. She switched to ground coffee after seeing a painting whose signature was signed in coffee.

Sunshine Plata,Painter,said, "I started painting with coffee because I wanted a cheaper medium that was accessible to me."

Though she specializes in using coffee as paint, Plata confesses she's no fan of the beverage.

Sunshine Plata,Painter,said, "I'm a tea addict, as a matter of fact. I don't drink coffee, because I love to sleep. If I ever drank coffee, I wouldn't be able to sleep, and it's through my sleep wherein I get my ideas and my dreams and my paintings from. So you don't have to be a coffee drinker."

Two of Plata's coffee paintings were featured on the Martha Stewart Show on television, last April. The paintings were part of the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum collection. Ripley's bought the works and exhibited them in its Times Square museum in New York City.

While the lack of colour variations in coffee painting might pall on some art connoisseurs, the reception to Plata's paintings has been essentially positive.

Richelle Ramirez,Student,said, "Even though it lacks colour, it's still beautiful in its monochromatic sense. Like, it's just beautiful as it is."

Now Plata conducts coffee painting workshops for schoolchildren and the general public. She's spreading the word, acquiring new disciples for coffee art.