When Life Gives You Lemons Make a Cup of F*ckin' Coffee

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I started this project by asking myself what I thought of as art and I decided that, in relation to my purpose for this project, art is whatever in my life is connected to a story or emotion. My boyfriend, Keon, and I are moving in a couple of weeks so a lot of our stuff is already packed including most of the art we had hanging or displayed around the apartment, so I had to think outside of the fine-art-box a bit. I was considering a few different pieces to recreate, one was a cheesy mass market peony print that I bought on clearance from a craft store and wrapped around a canvas because even thought it's cheesy I still thought it was pretty and peonies are my favorite flower. I also considered recreating a pillow with Danny DeVito's face on it in sequins, that I gave Keon for Christmas because he likes Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Finally, I thought of my collection of cute mugs, one of which is a fox with a heart shaped face, a cat with a unicorn horn, an owl, and a lemon. I realized I wanted to go with one of the mugs because they've become a habitual part of how I start my day, when I wake up to have breakfast I make an iced coffee. A terrible habit to have during quarantine because caffeine raises anxiety but eh, it is what it is. But I use one of the fun mugs because it's a really small and simple way for me to smile a bit every day. With life being as stressful as it is right now during quarantine, preparing to move, and trying to keep up with schoolwork, all while my boyfriend has been recovering from COVID, I've just needed to find happiness and respite wherever I can, even if it's just a mug. I narrowed my decision down further and went with the lemon mug, a decision I made because my favorite color is yellow and it's the only mug that is dishwasher safe so it's obviously slightly superior to the others in practicality. I used gouache and felt tip ink pens to make a 10 inch by 10 inch painting on mixed media paper. I knew I wanted it to be really vibrant, borderline obnoxious, so I used a CMYK color scheme, bright highlights, and just tried to have some fun with it. 

       

Original Mug:

My Mug:

Brainstorming and Thumbnails:

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