100 Cups of Compassion by Robin Hamman

For decades, Robin Hamman has been creating little paintings or doodles of coffee and or teacups. They started out so organically as a way to loosen up her brush strokes when she was painting something complicated like a human being. The doodles evolved into a massive body of work that always left her asking, “What are these things and where are they coming from?” They just kept coming! She kept painting them.

Community and compassion. Those two words became the foundation for these cup paintings. In the beginning, Robin would sit for hours in coffee shops around Florida and paint. If she heard of someone having a bad day she would give them a painting. She would also blog about the experience. As her blog went out into the world, people would contact Robin to inquire about acquiring a painting. She always responded, but being compassionate did not always come easy. Robin, as a human, grappled with taking one of her creations and just handing it over to a complete stranger. She put several hours of her time and energy into these paintings and in some cases, because of pride, she simply didn’t want to GIVE them away! What if her creation ended up in a garbage can or worse, a garage sale!? This is when Robin would hear God speaking to her about the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. God was revealing to Robin that her pride was causing her to not share the gift and talent that He had given Her.

Robin believes God breathed life into these paintings, and she believe it is His direction leading her to and through the creative process. Each painting was painted with love, pain, sadness, happiness, struggle and frustration. They have found homes all around the world—from North Africa to Cuba to Mexico and all across this beautiful country. They are meant to brighten someone’s day, to uplift and to encourage.

Each one of these paintings picked its current owners. At least that is the way it usually happens. Robin hopes you enjoy this little book, read some of God’s words, write in it, paint in it, create with it and share it with friends and family.