Miniature Paintings on Tea Bags by Ruby Silvious

Some of us may give our used tea bags a second life by squeezing an extra steep out of them, but Ruby Silvious takes things a step further by using the thin paper as a canvas for miniature paintings.

Silvious mirrors the simple ritual of tea drinking in quiet paintings that show slices of everyday life, like laundry drying and cats looking out the window. Since then, Silvious has compiled that year into a book, and traveled to Japan and southern France for month-long sessions of tea drinking and painting. Her work is included in a group show “Deemed a Canvas” at Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia, which opens on January 26th.

Silvious was born in Tacloban City, Philippines and currently lives in Coxsackie. Her award winning work has been exhibited internationally and is included in institutional and private collections. She won the “People’s Choice Award” at GCCA’s 40th Anniversary Party at the unveiling of the “40 Years/40 Artists” Collection.

Ruby Silvious is a visual artist and graphic designer, whose recent work includes experimenting on recycled and found materials. On January 3, 2015, she started a project called 363 Days of Tea, a visual daily record of her impression of the moment, using the emptied-out tea bag as her canvas, and altering it to create a new work of art every day for 363 days.

She draws, paints, prints and collages moody, evocative and sometimes whimsical art on used teabag paper. She is the author of a newly published coffee table book, 363 Days of Tea: A Visual Journal on Used Teabags (Mascot Books). Silvious was educated in the U.S., Europe and Asia; she currently lives in Coxsackie, New York. Her art is exhibited internationally, and is featured in public and private collections.

Every day she creates a new piece that reflects her impressions in that moment. Currently based in New York, Silvious’ work has been exhibited internationally and she has received awards and recognition for her talents in paper work, print making and now her most recent endeavour of re-purposing recycled and found materials.