Espresso Me to Nirvana!

9/365 Paintings of 2013

“Express Me Into Nirvana” is what I feel when I walk into a coffee house. The sounds of the espresso engines roaring, milk foaming against the backdrop of a brick wall. Baristas laughing about nothing at all, happy for the buzz of talk and coffee. And the smell, oh the smell of coffee. For a second we are important, happy people with things to say, concepts and emotions to express. Back to a time when society ran around in numbers, tribes, gatherings.

There is a wonderful article at Smithsonian.com: Design Decoded about the history of the espresso maker. The thing that jumps out at me is the “PRESSURE” of the chemical process. Illy’s (Italian roasters) describes it: ‘A jet of hot water at 88°-93°
C (190°-200°F) passes under a pressure of nine or more atmospheres…’ “‘Nine atmospheres of pressure is the equivalent to nine times the amount of pressure normally exerted by the earth’s atmosphere. Good espresso is good chemistry.'”

Pressure—pressurized pure sensorial brain pleasure. Combine this with the shortness of morning hours or a coffee break in the afternoon “in between” things and we have the makings of a marvelous, creative experience that only tightly structured spaces can produce.

I suppose this describes the process of a painting per day as well. : )