“Cappuccino Fluid Dynamics, A Robotic Painting”
(64" x 86") 2,956 brushstrokes, 2013
Artistic Inspiration The inspiration for this painting came from Paul’s visits to his little local coffee shop. It was the swirling foam patterns in the cup of cappuccino that the barista handed Paul that fascinated him and became the inspiration for this painting.
Technical Approach This robotic painting was created using a subset of chaos and chaotic systems, which is fluid dynamics. Paul created a fluid-dynamics computer simulator, with multiple fluid injectors, or nozzles, pointing into an empty fluid chamber. After the fluids collided and swirled around, he captured and transformed that energy into colorful, swirling brushstrokes.
Free Brushstrokes Paul got all the brushstrokes for free, since they evolved from the fluid-dynamics simulator.
Large Canvas Because the painting is larger than the working envelope of the robot, it was painted in fourths by repositioning the canvas left and right, up and down, to accommodate its larger size.