What comes to mind - coffee, beards, man-buns... and bison... no?
The main ideas that sparked these paintings aren't really deep and complicated. (That's ok too, right?)
I wanted to approach an interesting concept with liberty - just rolling with what would be enjoyable for me, personally. Of course I do enjoy everything I get to paint - but I've always wanted to paint a moody femme-fatale. So, I decided on a contrast of her fine, delicate appearance with a burly symbol of strength - the bison. The bison characteristically has a beard, looks excellent in coffee-tones, but to keep viewers guessing... this one has a man-bun.
On the compositional side, I made sure to process the canvases side-by-side and keep the background elements (repetitions and overall flow) consistent. You may notice that the main splatter begins at the base of the bison's canvas, while the woman's canvas splashes from the top - an intentional inversion.
This canvas-couple also showcases the first time I've managed to get more than one hue/colour note out of the coffee! Of course it took two separate blends (and different boiling times), but I've got a warm, carmely brown, and then a much more neutral, desaturated (almost gray) one. It certainly adds some interest, I'm not sure if I'll be able to stick to truly monochromatic painting much longer! The two blends were Dark Columbia and Reserve - from Generous Coffee Co.
Copies of these can be found in my print shop - and the originals will be for sale as well. I'm just hanging on to them at the moment, for the proposals to exhibit (the Collected & Caffeinated series) in future :)