Art | Bull Creek Studio

Spice Up Your Art with Cardamom Cinnamon Tea: 10 Reasons to Ditch the Latte (and Keep the Laughter Lines)

by J.W. Spencer | Jan 29, 2024 | Art

Howdy, Bull Creek crew! JW here, back from my annual brush with existential dread courtesy of my studio floor covered in tubes of Prussian blue and charcoal dust. It’s enough to make you reach for the instant mocha, but hold your buzzers, my caffeine-crazed compadres! There’s a new muse in town, and her name is Cardamom Cinnamon Tea.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “JW, you’re about as spicy as a wet noodle. Why are you hawking herbal hooch?” Hear me out, y’all. This ain’t your grandma’s chamomile sip-fest. This is a flavor fiesta that’ll tango with your taste buds and waltz your body back from the brink of burnout. And that’s not just my inner hippie talking (although, peace to the patchouli-clad poets out there). Science, that steely-eyed mistress, has a whole chorus of benefits singing this tea’s praises.

Top 10 Reasons Cardamom Cinnamon Tea Beats the Buzz (and Boosts Your Brushes):

Antioxidant All-Stars: These spices are like tiny ninjas, disarming free radicals that want to wrinkle your skin and rust your creativity. Think of it as internal bubble wrap for your cells.
Inflammation Foes: Feeling all stiff and cranky like an easel caught in a hailstorm? Cardamom and cinnamon chill your inflammatory fire, making you as limber as a willow in a West Texas breeze.
Blood Sugar Buddies: Spiking glucose levels got you seeing double (not the good kind)? This tea helps keep your sugar dance graceful, no jitters or crashes allowed.
Digestive Delights: Bloated belly got you feeling like a paint-splattered balloon? Cardamom is your gut’s new BFF, easing digestion and bringing a smile back to your stomach (and your studio).
Bad Breath Beaters: Garlic-infused brushstrokes got you socially distancing yourself? Cinnamon freshens your breath, making those museum openings a conversation, not a cough-fest.
Brainpower Boost: Feeling like your creativity is trapped in a watercolor washout? This tea perks up your cognitive function, sharpening your focus and making those brushstrokes sing.
Heart-Healthy Heroes: Cardamom and cinnamon give your ticker a high five, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, so you can keep painting masterpieces for decades to come.
Cold Conquering Crusaders: Feeling under the weather with a studio full of unfinished masterpieces? This tea is a natural decongestant and immune booster, kicking that sniffle to the curb.
Weight-Wise Wonders: Struggling to fit into your skinny jeans after all those paint-chip snacks? Cardamom and cinnamon may help manage your weight, keeping you light on your feet and heavy on the inspiration.
Deliciously Different: Forget the bitter dregs of burnt coffee. This tea is a warm hug with a spicy kick, a taste adventure that’ll tantalize your taste buds and fuel your artistic fire.

My Tea-Fueled Transformation:

Okay, confession time. I used to be a coffee and craft beer fiend, the kind who could paint a still life of my jitters. But since switching to tea, I’ve seen a metamorphosis worthy of Van Gogh. My mind is clearer, my body less achy, and my brushstrokes bolder. Plus, it’s a ritual I cherish – the steam curling like inspiration, the aroma weaving through the studio like a muse in a sari.

So, ditch the jitters and grab a mug. Let’s raise a toast (of tea, of course) to a healthier, happier you, and let your art bloom with the fragrant fire of cardamom cinnamon tea. Remember, creativity thrives on a canvas of well-being, and this brew is the magic primer for your masterpiece.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with a canvas, a cinnamon stick, and a pot of inspiration simmering on the stove. Happy painting, y’all!

P.S. If you have any weird tea-related side effects, like spontaneous bursts of flamenco dancing or an uncontrollable urge to write haikus, do let me know. We can start a support group – the Cardamom Crazed Creatives, perhaps? Until then, keep those brushes wet and your spirits high!

Bull Creek Studio Columnist and Tea Enthusiast (Extraordinaire)

What is Art?

by J.W. Spencer | Oct 9, 2021 | Art

Art is that which is created by an artist, and an artist is someone who creates art. This is a tautological argument that is incomprehensible to a Vulcan, such as myself, who objectively uses the rules of logic to deduce facts.

In an effort to arrive at an answer, the Vulcan mind thinks about breaking down and putting art into categories.

Performing arts are acts of creation by entertaining performers such as singers, performing musicians, actors, or television script readers of news broadcasts.

Creative arts are acts of creation using the studio of the mind such as painters, composing musicians, songwriters, photographers, videographers, script writers, illustrators, and book authors.

It is a co-dependent relationship between the performing and creative artists. The relationship between the two groups is undeniable.

It is also true that the creative arts is the primary source of creation. That is to say, before someone can sing a song, a song must be created to sing. It’s not a chicken and egg analogy. The egg comes first.

Accepting this, we must conclude that some artists are superior to others in that they not only create the song, but perform it as well.

Did you know that Colonel Sanders had a chicken farm, where he not only hatched chickens from eggs, but used the animals in laboratory kitchen experiments to conceive and perfect that pressure frying method used by Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants all over the world? It’s true. He was an artist.

But this Vulcan attempt to classify art doesn’t define what constitutes art other than the obvious fact that one can create art and another can perform art on behalf of a creator or art using artistic talent.

Is an actor an artist? Yes. Sorta.

And thus we arrive at my definition of art using my superior Vulcan intelligence, imbued by unassailable logic to escape the tautological trap of human emotional hubris. .

Art is anything that Jeff says is art.

When we visit an art gallery – I’ll look at a painting and say, “Wow, that’s a real piece of art.” and you’ll look at it and say something like “Hmm, I don’t get it.” You’re not a Vulcan capable of understanding the fine nuanced lines required to create aft. I’m a Vulcan. I just know these things instinctively.

A professional artist is someone who is paid compensation to either create or perform art on behalf of someone else. A hair stylist is an artist who accepts money to play with hair and gossip all day. A beermeister is an artist who accepts money to brew beer, or serve beer in a beer stein.

A professional oil painter is someone paid an insane amount of money by Chinese communist party members because their father is a elected national political figure. What? That’s not what a professional oil painter is? Damn — being a Vulcan and using the rules of logic sucks because humans don’t know the rules of logic.

Having a mind keenly attuned to the rules of logic is not as easy as it looks. It requires the touch of an artist.