In June of 2021 SWSBA hosted a Workshop on Coffee Staining lead by SWSBA member Deborah Ravin. The coffee stain technique was developed by Deb’s medical illustration masters degree mentor Gerald P. Hodge at the University of Michigan. He developed the technique to mimic the “foxing” he saw in old books of medical illustrations. While librarians and curators may find the foxing on old documents a major problem, he found the “unwanted” patterns artistically pleasing and he wanted to recreate the patterns in some of his own work. The workshop was presented over Zoom. It was held in three sessions
- Session 1: Presentation on Gerald Hodge and introduction to the staining process
- Session 2: Preparing and drawing on the stained background
- Session 3: Sharing of workshop participants’ progress from works in progress to completed work
Workshop leader Deb Ravin on Zoom.
Deb Ravin demonstrating how layers of coffee grounds are built up and then 2 colors of dust from Conte sticks are brushed on to add more color.
Some of the workshop participants.
Deb Ravin starts to paint butterflies with ink and watercolor.
Deb Ravin’s nearly finished butterflies.
Deb Ravin’s second piece is some unusual mushrooms and lichen. She used pastel dust for the greenish lichen, built up watercolor, and scraped highlights.
Deborah Douglas’s finished piece of Devil’s Claw.
Joyce Peters shows a humming bird next in its early stages.
Sandy Turico shows her work in progress of lotus seed heads.
Susan Ashton nearly finished ocotillos. Highlights were added by scraping right after this.