If you're in the mood to do some watercolor painting but don't have your paints on hand, look no farther than your kitchen pantry. Painting with coffee is all the rage on TikTok, and there are some seriously inspiring techniques to be found. From adding a splash of coffee as an accent color to creating an entire painting with coffee alone, these videos are sure to get your creative juices flowing.
Video of the Day
Creator @eyeinspired uses coffee as a creative way to add color to a sketch. As the artist points out, this technique is called "coffee spill art." By pouring a splash or two of coffee and spreading it around with your fingers or a brush, you can add pops of rich brown color that dry in unexpected patterns. @eyeinspired also enhances the coffee stains with colored ink pens. Beautiful!
TikTok artist @andhara.art uses an entirely different technique. The creator first dips a piece of string in a mixture of instant coffee and water and then lays down the string in an "S" pattern. Once the string is laid down, @andhara.art pulls it straight down the paper. This creates an abstract shape that looks similar to a flower. Our favorite part of this technique is that it's impossible to predict what sort of shape each pull will create!
Tip
If you plan to try one of these techniques, do so on watercolor paper! Its heavy weight is best for large quantities of (you guessed it) water.
Finally, creator @theartge uses two different "strengths" of coffee to add dimension to their coffee watercolor art. By using different amounts of instant coffee, the artist creates lighter and darker shades of brown and uses them to add shadow and dimension. Beginning with the lighter colors and finishing with darker ones, @theartge produces a lovely mushroom painting with impressive depth and warmth.
Personally, we're feeling inspired to spend a slow weekend morning drinking coffee and painting with it at the same time (from different mugs, of course). Thanks for the inspiration, TikTokers!