2:54pm: i worked on best left unsaid 8, which you see below. it took an unexpected turn, and keeping my plotting logical mind at bey was challenging. see what you think.
12:16 pm: i began my day with the warmup collage you see below, timewalker, 12x12. it frees up my mind & eye to avoid, if possible the habitual pull towards meaning and content while working on best left unsaid 8. and now, on to the painting. updates later today. there's trail walk in the cards for about 3:30pm. spectacular fall day in crestone! oh, and a reminder of the quote i'll be including in my posts for the foreseeable future:
Theory has nothing to do with a work of art. Pictures which are interpretable, and which contain a meaning, are bad pictures. A picture presents itself as the Unmanageable, the Illogical, the Meaningless. It demonstrates the endless multiplicity of aspects; it takes away our certainty, because it deprives a thing of its meaning and its name. It shows us the thing in all the manifold significance and infinite variety that preclude the emergence of any single meaning and view. gerhard richter, 1964-5
the painting as it looks this morning, before starting work
there's always an edge of fear when going back in to a canvas like this one. don't want to overwork it. don't want to do the predictable. i may focus on a few other warm up activities first, once i get to my studio. it's a delight to walk in & see how much less clutter there is, after mikela helped clear stuff out a few days ago.
but now, on to making mikela's second cup of coffee. here's a description of today's cup, made from raw beans i purchase from sweetmarias.com and freshly roasted in my home roaster the day before being served:
Ethiopia Sidama Dereje Station
Cups with complex fruit notes that vacillate between citrus and tropical. Fruited notes come alive - papaya, passionfruit, orange and even a bit of tart kiwi come out. The finish has pulpy citrus with a black tea-like mouthfeel in the long aftertaste. Exciting brewed coffee, and great espresso. City to Full City+. SO Espresso.
This lot of Sidama region coffee comes from Deri Kochoha station, in the Hagere Maryame (Hagere Mariam) woreda. This area of the Oromia zone is south of Yirga Cheffe town, but has similar coffee growing altitudes of 1800 to 2000 meters. The station has approximated 600 contributing farmers, and produces approximately 2 containers per year. They use a traditional disc pulper to remove the coffee cherry fruit skins, then use a very long 72 hour under-water, traditional fermentation to break down the mucilage layer of the fruit. The coffee is vigorously agitated in the fermentation tank with wooden paddles to work the mucilage off, then washed to a soaking tank for a clean water overnight bath. Finally it is taken to the raised beds for drying. It's the classic coffee processing method in Sidama and Yirga Cheffe zones, and one that develops very sweet and clean coffees.
This is a fine example of washed Sidama coffee, with a clean florals accenting caramelized sugars and fruited sweetness. The dry fragrance of City roasts have a scent of brown sugar with a honeysuckle overtone, and at Full City dry baking spices like cinnamon and all-spice come out. Adding hot water brings up a strong floral jasmine scent in the steam, along with sugar caramelizing smells and vanilla, and the break releases a fresh note of white peach. The cup has a complex smattering of fruits that vacillate between citrus and tropical, and really change quite a bit with roast. City roasts are light and bright, tart lemon and grapefruit, that shifts toward flavors of dried mango and honey. There are tea elements too, especially City/City+ roast levels. As the temperature dips, fruited notes come alive - papaya, passionfruit, orange and even a bit of tart kiwi come out. The finish is continues to be fruited (of the pulpy varieties) and with a black tea-like mouthfeel in the long aftertaste. This makes an exciting brewed coffee, and espresso has a citric brightness that overlays flavors of semi-sweet chocolate bar, and red berry.
today appears to be migration day in the bird community. there are thousands of them gathered in the pinion pines surrounding our house.