My Cup Runneth Over

 


Have you ever worked with a piece of food and looked at it from an artistic point of view? 

Recently I was making an avocado salad and when I emptied out the skin I asked myself, 'what does this feel like and how can I use it?'  It felt like a small water cup that fit perfectly in my palm, which made me think about cups, water and then the phrase, 'is your cup half-empty or half-full?  I then thought, well, it depends on whether I am filling up the cup or emptying the cup.  The intent of the original question was to help identify if one is a pessimist or optimist.  Again, I though, well it depends on what experience I am being faced with: sometimes an optimist and sometimes a pessimist.  This piece embodies both sides of the phrase.  

I really liked the leathery texture of the avocado skin which I had cut perfectly in half.  I washed it out and let it dry and then gave it two coats of varnish to prevent it from deteriorating.  I then did three layers of papier mache in the interior of both pieces to give them more strength and security.  I dappled gold acrylic paint on the outer side of the skins to add a little sparkle.  I glued two pieces of spalted maple together for the stand, attached the avocado skins, and then ran acrylic painted strips of recycled paper from the top cup to the bottom cup.  I hand-wrote quotes on thirteen pieces of gampi paper and added them to the waterfall.  The piece is very light in weight.  



Mary 
bbinder999@gmail.com 



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