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another bang up job from the folks over at S6. these mugs are my mother's day gifts this year...filled with gourmet teas, i thought they made an excellent choice...and S6 did not let me down (once again). love that the mugs are available in 11 oz size (pictured here) and a bigger size (15 oz) for the coffee addicts like myself who need just a little *extra*. of course these mugs would be great for soup too (another favorite thing of mine...even in 90 degree temps, i'm eating soup and covered in blankets. the girl who loves winter...conundrum, that's my middle name. ;))

wishing all the moms and grandmoms and mommies to be a very happy mom's day! now, go have some coffee..or tea. :)

{disclaimer-french press in the background is not included with your mug purchase}

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Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!

When you don’t know what to draw… Then, what to draw?
The things you like most are actually a lot of fun to draw. The subject will be familiar to draw, and enjoyable.
I love food related art, and I love good coffee, so today I just pick a few favourite styles of coffee, and draw those. Adding banners to use as ‘titles’ for each item is a great way to unify the elements in your illustration. For these coffees, I can write the ingredients and even the measurements next to it, and then it becomes an illustrated recipe!

One of my favourite “go-tos”, to draw in my art journal is coffee. What’s yours?

The post Draw Tip Tuesday – Illustration ideas appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

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www.society6.com/theenchantedeasel

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I dedicated my Strathmore Grey toned paper sketchbook to draw places. Whenever I have a bit of extra time, I pick it up and make use of it. I find drawing with blanck ink, and then adding some colour with colour pencils, works really well with the grey background paper.
The cappuccino I ordered in this coffee place in Amsterdam lasted as long as my drawing time; an hour. Yup, I ended up with the last sips being really cold.

The post Coffee Break Drawing appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

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“Never underestimate the importance of staying caffeinated”

It’s a quote I have framed, hand lettered by Aimee from Artsyville. Not that I need to be reminded – I am quite a coffee addict. I love sitting down in one of the many coffee places here in Amsterdam. And what I enjoy then is not always about the taste of coffee or the caffeine rush – it’s the time I take to make a drawing, 

The post Artist on Caffeine appeared first on Make Awesome Art.

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Life as a freelancer is chaotic and unpredictable. So I decided if I ever gave a SCBWI talk on how to prepare for a career as a children's book illustrator I would advise developing three basic skills.

1) practice your expertise in Photoshop

2) practice your expertise at 'Whack-a-Mole'

3) practice your expertise at playing 'Publisher Poker' - which is the fine art of trying to juggle deadlines and art directors without losing your mind or going broke.

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End of the week, and believe it or not, this is when things get real busy. Our weekends are usually socially full with friends, family, and yard work. So on Friday I try to get one more big push to paint or draw.

Everything else typically gets pushed to Monday. Because of our weekend schedules working on Saturday or Sunday nights becomes quite difficult, so it becomes easier to just not work and give my loved ones my attention.

It was mentioned on Twitter that I create a fairy delivering coffee. I couldn't let it go, being a big coffee person myself, and on a weekly basis wish there was a coffee delivery service here in Des Moines. At that, I just got started and let other projects go to the side. When you feel it, you must go with it. That's how you know it's from the heart. :)

It wasn't raining either, so Norah and I did some errands to Hobby Lobby, Target, then some weeding out back to get some vitamin D. Loved watching her play in the dirt (helping mom weed) and pick dandelions.

I worked on the coffee fairy during her morning nap (2.5 hours) and in the evening (2 hrs). Brian and I finished the night off with an episode of Dr. Who. ^_^

Have a great weekend!

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For my birthday I treated myself to a trip to the new Starbucks Emporium - where people go to feel famous while sipping a cup of coffee. (at least that's my guess).

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Does coffee enhance marijuana? A study published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience (Vol 34 (19):6480-6484, 2014) by neuroscientists from the Integrative Neurobiology Section of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, has finally provided a definitive answer: Yes, No, and it depends.

The post The role of marijuana in your coffee addiction appeared first on OUPblog.

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Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!

Who needs fancy art tools when you have a simple sharpie and a little bit of coffee? And who needs inspiration? Just draw what’s in front of you - in this case: a cup of coffee!

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Caffeine is the world’s most commonly abused brain stimulant. Daily caffeine consumption by adolescents (ages 9-17 years) has been rapidly increasing most often in the form of soda, energy drinks, and coffee. A few years ago, a pair of studies documented that caffeine consumption in young adults directly correlated with increased illicit drug use and generally […]

The post Is caffeine a gateway drug to cocaine? appeared first on OUPblog.

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Okay I know, it's just spring since a few days - still I wonder: Is it summer yet? I'm so looking forward to have one of those Shakerato's on a warm day!

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The Roasterie, a specialty coffee roaster company, has created two different products to support libraries.

The Library Blend was crafted in honor of the Kansas City Public Library. The Library Lovers Blend was created to help the Mid-Continent Public Library.

Here’s more from BookRiot: “Buying bags of these beneficent beans sends 10% of the proceeds to these amazing libraries. The Library Lovers’ Blend even offers their Autopilot program, so anyone living anywhere can get the grounds or whole beans delivered directly to their door on a regular schedule.” What do you think?

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So I took out my black watercolour paint and used that to portray the reliable coffee maker.

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So a while ago, I bought this super mini sketchbook, and I have been carrying it with me, sketching in it a few times a week.
It's, 6x8cm, which is 2.3x3.4" Somehow, the little book is very accessible; the pages are small, it feels like you almost can't get wrong.

I draw small scenes in it, like this coffee sequence below (which by the way, fits right into my friend Suzi Poland's "Coffeeosophy", which you'll find a lot of at her instagram feed

Or I'll pick it up at the breakfast table, and draw what's in front of me:



When, a few weeks ago, I watched the news during breakfast and heard the sad news that Robin Williams had died, I drew his portrait.

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Of all the beverages favored by Oxford University Press staff, coffee may be the lifeblood of our organization. From the coffee bar in the Fairway of our Oxford office to the coffee pots on every floor of the New York office, we’re wired for work. Here’s a brief gallery of employees with their preferred roast — grabbed from a street cart, made to order, or part of an elaborate weekly routine.

Oxford staff are ready for their next meeting!

“My cappuccino from the OUP coffee bar in my Shakespeare insults mug – so I can fire creative insults and keep caffeinated at the same time…you canker-blossom!”
— Hannah Charters, Senior Marketing Executive, Online Product Marketing

“An Americano from the OUP espresso bar. The mug shows the mantra I like living by!”
— Rachel Fenwick, Associate Marketing Manager, Online Product Marketing

“Tall Pike in a Grande cup from Starbucks”
— Jennifer Bernard, Assistant Online Marketing Manager

“A Vacuum Pot Coffee at Edison Food and Drink Lab, Tampa Florida”
— Erin Rabbit, Designer, Creative Services, Marketing

“Grabbing coffee with a friend is one of my favorite pastimes. Good conversation over an even better coffee is the best! I’m a huge fan of locally owned coffee shops, so I always find myself recommending the Stumptown Coffee on E 8th downtown. I splurge and get the largest latte I can—iced or hot, depending on the season. The flavor is so strong! It’s a kick in the face. Otherwise, my typical go to is a cup, (or 2…or 3) of any flavored Keurig coffee in the OUP office. No match to Stumptown, but it does the job. I grew up in the south, so I like my coffee southern-style—lots of sugar and cream. Props to Mom and Dad for the sweet mug!”
— Ryan Cury, Assistant Marketing Manager

“Always opt for an espresso mid-afternoon for two equally important reasons. Firstly, it provides the boost I need to conquer the remains of the day and, secondly, it makes me feel like a giant when drinking.”
— Dan Parker, Social Media Marketing Executive

“I enjoy a standard Americano with cold milk. Because: I can’t be done with faffy coffee.”
— Kirsty Doole, Publicity Manager

“Mine was a salted caramel mochaccino.”
— Simon Thomas, Content Marketing Executive, Dictionaries

“Mine was a lovely frothy milky latte – filling and delicious!”
— Kate Farquhar-Thomson, Publicity Director

“Decaf filter coffee, for those times when you think three coffees in three hours might be too much.”
— Nicola Burton, Publicity Manager

“Put that pungent brew to your lips and feel the satisfaction.”
— Sam Blum, Publicity Assistant and member of the Fresh Pots Society

The post Keeping caffeinated for International Coffee Day appeared first on OUPblog.

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Imagine a possible world where you are having coffee with … Aristotle! You begin exchanging views on how you like the coffee; you examine its qualities – it is bitter, hot, aromatic, etc. It tastes to you this way or this other way. But how do you make these perceptual judgments? It might seem obvious to say that it is via the senses we are endowed with. Which senses though? How many senses are involved in coffee tasting? And how many senses do we have in all?

The question of how many senses we have is far from being of interest to philosophers only; perhaps surprisingly, it appears to be at the forefront of our thinking – so much so that it was even made the topic of an episode of the BBC comedy program QI. Yet, it is a question that is very difficult to answer. Neurologists, computer scientists and philosophers alike are divided on what the right answer might be. 5? 7? 22? Uncertainty prevails.

Even if the number of the senses is a question for future research to settle, it is in fact as old as rational thought. Aristotle raised it, argued about it, and even illuminated the problem, setting the stage for future generations to investigate it. Aristotle’s views are almost invariably the point of departure of current discussions, and get mentioned in what one might think unlikely places, such as the Harvard Medical School blog, the John Hopkins University Press blog, and QI. “Why did they teach me they are five?” says Alan Davies on the QI panel. “Because Aristotle said it,” replies Stephen Fry in an eye blink. (Probably) the senses are in fact more than the five Aristotle identified, but his views remain very much a point of departure in our thinking about this topic.

Aristotle thought the senses are five because there are five types of perceptible properties in the world to be experienced. This criterion for individuating the senses has had a very longstanding influence, in many domains including for example the visual arts.

Yet, something as ‘mundane’ as coffee tasting generates one of the most challenging philosophical questions, and not only for Aristotle. As you are enjoying your cup of coffee, you appreciate its flavor with your senses of taste and smell: this is one experience and not two, even if two senses are involved. So how do senses do this? For Aristotle, no sense can by itself enable the perceiver to receive input of more than one modality, precisely because uni-modal sensitivity is what according to Aristotle identifies uniquely each sense. On the other hand, it would be of no use to the perceiving subject to have two different types of perceptual input delivered by two different senses simultaneously, but as two distinct perceptual contents. If this were the case, the difficulty would remain unsolved. In which way would the subject make a perceptual judgment (e.g. about the flavor of the coffee), given that not one of the senses could operate outside its own special perceptual domain, but perceptual judgment presupposes discriminating, comparing, binding, etc. different types of perceptual input? One might think that perceptual judgments are made at the conceptual rather than perceptual level. Aristotle (and Plato) however would reject this explanation because they seek an account of animal perception that generalizes to all species and is not only applicable to human beings. In sum, for Aristotle to deliver a unified multimodal perceptual content the senses need to somehow cooperate and gain access in some way to each other’s special domain. But how do they do this?

A sixth sense? Is that the solution? Is this what Aristotle means when talking about the ‘common’ sense? There cannot be room for a sixth sense in Aristotle’s theory of perception, for as we have seen each sense is individuated by the special type of perceptible quality it is sensitive to, and of these types there are only five in the world. There is no sixth type of perceptible quality that the common sense would be sensitive to. (And even if there were a sixth sense so individuated, this would not solve the problem of delivering multimodal content to the perceiver, because the sixth sense would be sensitive only to its own special type of perceptibles). The way forward is then to investigate how modally different perceptual contents, each delivered by one sense, can be somehow unified, in such a way that my perceptual experience of coffee may be bitter and hot at once. But how can bitter and hot be unified?

Modeling (metaphysically) of how the senses cooperate to deliver to the perceiving subject unified but complex perceptual content is another breakthrough Aristotle made in his theory of perception. But it is much less known than his criterion for the senses’ individuation. In fact, Aristotle is often thought to have given an ad hoc and unsatisfactory solution to the problem of multimodal binding (of which tasting the coffee’s flavor is an instance), by postulating that there is a ‘common’ sense that somehow enables the subject to perform all the perceptual functions that the five sense singly cannot do. It is timely to take a departure form this received view which does not pay justice to Aristotle’s insights. Investigating Aristotle’s thoughts on complex perceptual content (often scattered among his various works, which adds to the interpretative challenge) reveals a much richer theory of perception that it is by and large thought he has.

If the number of the senses is a difficult question to address, how the senses combine their contents is an even harder one. Aristotle’s answer to it deserves at least as much attention as his views on the number of the senses currently receive in scholarly as well as ‘popular’ culture.

Headline image credit: Coffee. CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay

The post Coffee tasting with Aristotle appeared first on OUPblog.

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Right about now I am dreading yesterday's blunder. I had so much going on at one time I didn't realize how many times my cup hit that little button to refill until I'd done it
Sixteen times.
Eight cup pot. Twice.
I finally fell asleep around 5:30 a.m. after taking allergy medicine and a hot shower. I woke up at 8:30 and now I have to drink coffee to cure this never ending surge inside my head. Lord I repent in Jesus' name.
Never.Doing.That.Again.
Ever.
I feel like I've been stabbed in the eye with a coffee stirrer.
Somebody please invent a pot that sounds an alarm after three cups.
I'll pay you. Big bucks. So long as it spouts mocha once in a while.














 <--- Me @ 10 p.m.                            

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Even though the schedule for the two days we had planned in Paris were very full, I managed to draw a little.

A few days later, I found myself in the middle of Stockholm. The old city is so very pretty, and there's sketch opportunities on every corner of the street (just like in paris).

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