Porn, glitter, and ugly ladies are what Vivian Grimes paints. Crown Royal, Guinness and Canadian Club are what she drinks. Bartenders, drunken losers and a high school janitor, who she’s still trying to forget, are the men in her life. At the age of twenty-five, Vivian Grimes is a successful New York artist but she is an alcoholic. Her days begin in the afternoon, hung over with a horrible painting from the night before that she fixes into something she can sell. The Coffee Painter is a dark portrait story narrated by the inebriated Vivian Grimes an unlucky Canadian artist who is trapped by booze, bad lovers, and ugly paintings.