Common Grounds Sphere

My latest Termesphere is called COMMON GROUNDS.   It is a 16 ” diameter sphere of our local coffee shop.   Markie and I go for coffee there most mornings.  I spend a lot of time watching people when we are there.  Commons Grounds is a place where everyone, young and old, interact with one another.  Different tables have different topics of conversations.  The weather at one, religion and philosophy at another, business dealings at another,  and wifi connecting some with the world.  It has a feeling of community.

I thought it would make an interesting subject.  The building the coffee shop is in is one of the oldest buildings in  Spearfish SD.  I started this sphere by taking pictures of people at the tables without them knowing I was doing it.   I didn’t want people posing for me. I played with this technique years ago when I was going to Otis Art Institute in Los Angles.  I would walk around MacArthur Park pointing and shooting without bringing my camera to my eye.   It caught people being themselves. This worked very well at Common Grounds too.  Then I brought the sphere into Common Grounds to do all the drawing and much of the painting.   If I have a chance, I like to create Termespheres in the actual environments.  I found a windowed corner where I could see the whole scene to do my drawing and painting on the sphere.   I also enjoyed talking to people explaining the process.  Most were amazed how long it took to create this piece from beginning to end.   After it was finished, I hung it in Common Grounds.  It is exciting to see the reactions of the natives and visitors to it.  It will probably be there another month.  If you are in Spearfish, stop by and let me know what you think.