Creating the painting "Give It to Me IV."

Fiesta San Antonio is the soul of the city. Although it is technically only a weeklong event at the end of April – filled with street parades, river parades, festivals, and balls – the city’s citizens and businesses always find a way to stretch it out into a whole month. And with that amount of non-stop socializing, excessive partying, and still having to go into work on Monday, it is no wonder that this city has become well stocked in coffee shops. I particularly appreciated this when I participated as a Duchess in the 2013 Fiesta. When you have to be dressed and looking fabulous at a parade route by 8 am - after attending a ball the night before - your saving grace, your life line, your power to fight away the puffy eyes … is caffeine. And LOTS of it. Coffee, Redbull, Monster, Rockstar – just about anything we could get our hands on.

Fast forward to a couple years later, … while I was working as a veterinary technician, I gave a lethargic dog (suffering from nausea and dehydration) a large amount of fluids, and an hour later, when we came back to check on him, he had made almost a full recovery. That night, on the way home, I have the memory of absently thinking to myself and an idea just clicked into place. “Ya know, wouldn’t it be nice if us San Antonians could have an IV of caffeine for Fiesta week?” And from that point it was just a funny, random thought that remained in my mind.

As I built up my Fiesta inspired collection, Viva by VC Art, I started thinking – how could I make this funny idea into a painting? The idea of IV bags filled with coffee came to mind, and I thought arranging the bags in a symmetrical formation would give them an interesting “pop art” feel (rather than a scary medical feel). The final touch to brighten up the painting was making the background a vibrant, beautiful color that would complement the brown of the coffee. So, I chose one of my favorite colors to use when painting, a turquoise blue swirled with a pearlized blue.

If you are interested in buying a print of “Give It to Me IV” or ordering your own custom made painting, please email me at victoriachampionart@hotmail.com!

Viva Fiesta, ya'll!!

Victoria Champion