Tag Archives: Coffee

Klatsch Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

Klatsch-Leah-Palmer-Preiss  My name is Leah & I’m a coffee addict. Maybe it’s too many tight deadlines, maybe it’s just weakness of character, but I sure do love the stuff.  It’s probably bad for my anxiety & sleep issues… okay, definitely bad… but still, so delicious & uniquely fortifying! Around this time of year I follow the traditional coffee advent calendar: one cup on the first of the month, two on the second…

To add to its charms, coffee is conducive to conviviality. And it may be more than the caffeine that does the trick. Check out this intriguing study.

I was introduced to the “kaffee klatsch” in college, where there were regular gatherings in various departments for conversation & coffee (the coffee was abysmal but the conversations great). The word always made me think of “kitsch,” which no doubt influenced this image.

It was quite a challenge getting the “K” shape in there. I finally made it happen, more or less, with the four arms (or should I say wings?) connecting in the center.

For extra kitschy goodness, there’s a little snippet of lyrics from The Music Man hidden in there. Can you find it?

You are invited to join the party at my Etsy shop!

 

Tinctures Sepia-tinted prints

Sepia print of bird from acrylic painting by Leah Palmer PreissI’ve recently added a new section to my Etsy shop, called Tinctures, where I offer digitally recolored versions of some of my most popular prints. I know not everyone shares my rabid enthusiasm for highly saturated colors, & to be honest, sometimes I’m in the mood for something a little more subtle myself! I do the recoloring in Photoshop, & I try to create a pleasantly muted effect without completely losing the color variations of the original– keeping just a breath of the original hues.

My word-loving friends may be curious why I call this series “Tinctures.” Though most commonly used today to describe a medicinal alcohol extract, “tincture” can also mean a tint or color. In fact it originated in Middle English, from Latin tinctura act of dyeing, from tinctus, past participle of tingere to tinge.

I like to think of these as coffee-flavored versions of my work! (Yes, I’m a java junkie.) What does that make the originals, I wonder? Fruit salad, perhaps?