Recent Commission: Finished!

                                                                               photo credit: Dave Thomas

                                                                                     

  Screens installed in Urbane Tea Company Booth, Market at Fareway, Chestnut Hill, PA

It’s always exciting to see work leave the studio for a new home. Recently, I sent on their way three compositions I had been working on these past few months for Urbane Tea Company. urbanetea.com, facebook.com/urbanetea

Tobey Watson, proprietor of Urbane Tea, creates gourmet blends of loose leaf and herbal teas that are all rich aromatics with wonderfully enticing labels such as Cherry Cordial and Dragon Pearls to Almond Apple Bake and Lemon Chiffon, just to name a few.  Since we met I’ve been a fan and have too many favorite blends to choose from.

This past spring, Tobey opened a permanent booth for her burgeoning business in the Market at the Fareway in Chestnut Hill, Pa. farewaymarket.com/urbane-tea/

The booth’s set up is an open space construction, the only one like it in the market, allowing customers to walk in and savor the many infusions and decoctions. During one shopping visit to replenish some of my ‘can’t do without’ teas the idea surfaced to design some artwork for the booth. Since some of my work incorporates the paper from tea bags it seemed a logical match. The concept we arrived at was to design screens that would utilize the top or ceiling portion of the booth making the space more cohesive and provide a warm, serene atmosphere for customers.

I loved the challenge and process of working on these three compositions. Each screen has multiple layers of paper that are painted, cutout or printed on. The colors and images were inspired from the many different botanical ingredients as well as passing daydreams that might surface from simply drinking a cup of tea.

So if you find yourself passing through Chestnut Hill go visit Tobey, be sure to ask her about her new favorite Edward and Mae product line of simple syrups too.  If not in Chestnut Hill, you might be able to catch her in Stockton, NJ at the Stockton Farmer’s Market realtimefarms.com/source/7298026/urbane-tea-company or in Rittenhouse Square in Philly. facebook.com/RittenhouseFarmersMarket

Below are images of the work in progress and completed installation views.

Enjoy, drink some tea and thanks for reading!

                                                                                   Template drawings for two of the screens

                                                                                  template and color studies

                                                Sections of patterns for the screen "The Cranes"

                                                                                           Cutout in progress for "The Cranes"

                                                                              Layering individual sections against template

                                                                           Cutout for pattern "The Vines"

                                                                                       individual sheets drying

                                                                                sheets for "Chrysanthemum"

                                                                                                               Each screen is 28" x 66"

                     Installation Day with Toby Watson.    Photo credit: Dave Thomas

                                   Installation of two screens.    Photo credit: Dave Thomas

                                                 with Tobey               Photo credit: Dave Thomas