February 29, 2012

Smoke from Roasted Coffee

I watched the roasting process today and tried to focus on what the smoke looked like when the beans were released from the roaster into the cooling tray. The puff of smoke -- which is pretty dramatic as well as aromatic -- lasts a few seconds, maybe not even that long. It seemed blue/gray in color, but the light is very limited and I still feel like I'm not seeing everything as I need to. I need to think about balancing the effect of seeing smoke with seeing through it, seeing the roaster and seeing the beans pour out. Not to mention watching what Calvin is doing.
I brought an odd size canvas to work through my ideas. I moved the logo up (good), didn't notice that the logo on the wall is the "old" logo, missing red, need to rotate Calvin's sweatshirt in a more natural way to show the turn of his body, and need to fix that smoke. I think I am feeling pretty good about understanding the industrial look of the roaster. I'm going to get a clip-on light to put onto my canvas and hope that helps me see the colors I'm using better. With any luck, next week I'll work on the real commissioned paintings when roasting resumes on Tuesday.

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