Nostalgia Coffee & Watercolor
Patric Rozario
All paintings featured here are painted predominantly with
coffee powder & water colors.
As the years go by, we all develop a certain degree of nostalgia from our younger days. The games we played, the food we ate, the music we listened to, the ancestral home, papa’s old bicycle – they all make us feel something. They make us feel happy. And oftentimes, sad that they have gone by.
We like to return to the theme parks and pastimes of our upbringing, hoping to reclaim that feeling of childhood wonder or teenage freedom. When you go back in time for a nostalgic throwback, it can be worthwhile for both the young and old. How? The older generation, who experienced it originally, get to relive their moments. Whereas, the younger generation get a taste for what it was like before their time. Therefore, it’s important to know that nostalgia can also be felt with people who never had the original experience. We all have experiences throughout our lifetime, and often remember only certain parts. Oh, nostalgia! This simple emotion is a ridiculously powerful selling point - who turns down an opportunity to return to enjoyable experiences? We all love going back to previous parts of our lives and are usually willing to pay to re-experience it.
Reflective nostalgia
&
Restorative nostalgia,
Psychologists have identified that there are two types of nostalgia: reflective nostalgia and restorative nostalgia.
Reflective nostalgia accepts the fact that the past is, in fact, past, and rather than trying to recreate a special past experience, savors the emotions evoked by its recollection.1 Reflective nostalgia places emphasis on nostos (returning home)2 Restorative nostalgia, on the other hand, ‘romanticizes’ the ‘good ol’ days’ in stark contrast to the current harsh reality and longing for a simpler time that may not have really existed in its idealized form in the first place.
Restorative nostalgia, involving a desire to ‘rebuild the lost home,’ views the past with an eye toward recreating it — a desire to relive those special moments. It is what spurs us to pull out our phone at 1 a. m. and call up an old boyfriend or girlfriend because we just heard ‘our song’ on the radio. 1 2
Robert Yaniz Jr. of Rewire Svetlana Boym’s seminal cultural study, The Future of Nostalgia
Nostalgia is defined as, ‘a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past’. I create paintings that takes us back to times we cherish. They evoke nostalgia, transporting us back in time. Coffee & watercolor paintings recalls memories and meanings (places and things) from the past. For some it is nostalgia while for others it is aching memories – a willingness to at least dip one toe cautiously into the past in search of eternal truths. Some in fact, swim in it, wallow in it, live and die by it.
These paintings Show a Story.
Oh Nostalgia !!
Choice of subjects • • • • • • •
Ancestral home Cottages Sweet Spot of your home Temples, mosques & churches Old vehicles – cars, scooters, bikes, bicycles etc. Precious ancestral objects & furniture Hills, valley, pond or river
New Orleans
Reference Photo
Farm Guest House Inspired by Qatar’s vernacular architecture.
Thani Illam The Illam is the dream home of a couple who wanted to live their life to the fullest in pure environs, breathing fresh air and drinking fresh water. Hence, T S P Namboodiri and his wife Sharadammal bought this home in a small town called Thottuva, near the Periyar river in Kerala, India. Now a Homestay, standing for sustainable tourism, financial viability and economically responsible stay. This redone home is 200 years old, once belonging to the famed man of letters, Malayatoor Ramakrishnan.
Reference Photo
Nestled in the lush green hilly residential area of Kondotty, Kerala, India, this expansive property is an inherited one that has been turned into a modern dwelling. This home belongs to PK Salam and Saleema Salam.
Designed by architect Naseem Pandara of Attiks Architecture.
Vasco House, Fort Cochin, Kerala, India. Heritage Portuguese house which is about 500 years old building believed to be the residence of Vasco Da Gama, the Portuguese Navigator who found the sea route to India, died in 1524 on Christmas Eve.
I visited this historical property in 2011, Photographed it and drew preliminary sketches on the spot.
Fort Cochin, Kerala
Saint Francis Church (back portion), in Fort Cochin, Kochi.
Originally built in 1503, is one of the oldest European churches in India and has great historical significance as a mute witness to the European colonial struggle in the subcontinent. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama died in Kochi in 1524 when he was on his third visit to India. His body was originally buried in this church, but after fourteen years his remains were moved to Lisbon.
Thennal Jungle Camp is located in Wynad, Kerala, India. Thennal is for people who go back to the past to envelop themselves in the real luxury – nature in the raw.
It’s a Jungle Camp amidst thousands of pillars of nature – Trees. Stay in a fairytale land where luxury is not having any luxury, Thennal has cottages and canopy huts for you to stay and run away from the demands of our current hectic and overdemanding life. They make you realize that a window is better than AC and a bird’s tweet is far better than your twitter account. As dense as the forest, the painting on the previous two pages have been painted with layer after layer of coffee, dense as I wanted it to be.
http://thennaljunglecamp.com
Disappearing colonial architectural gems in Mumbai.
Old glory still shining in its ruins. Sometimes you don’t have to travel far to witness beauty. Nostalgia could be right across your house. This house located opposite Mehboob Studios in Mumbai certainly could have belonged to a Jew family.
Paintings that are rich and evocative.
Sweet Spot of your home.
Malay house. Terengganu, Malaysia The Terengganu classic house (Rumah Bujang & Rumah Bujang berserambi) is similar in a number of ways to Cambodian and Thai houses. With its raised platform on stilts, triangular shape, steep gabled roof, its walls are made of timber panels slotted into grooved frames. No nails, screws or bolts are used, meaning houses are able to be disassembled and reassembled like Lego and moved from one place to another. Built entirely of Cengal wood (Neobalanocarpus Heimii), the walls, doors, windows and gables consist of separate wood panels which are fitted together using wooden joints held in place by pasak (wooden pegs) from penaga wood.
Prasanna Kottayam, Kerala, India
Narrative is vital for art. We are pattern seekers. We find stories and meaning in clouds, in the whorls on tree-trunks, and famously in the palm of our hands.
Prasanna. The house built by my Grandfather When I was just 7 years old, I would hold on to Appupa’s hands and go with him as he visited his printing press and then later to a construction site. When I asked him about the building he told me that he was building a house for me. I was thrilled and used to make it my daily chore to go and see the progress. After all the work was done, on the day of the puja he revealed the name of the house and it was “Prasanna”. It was my mother’s name. I was devastated. I remember feeling hurt and cheated. Now looking back, I am happy that he did that because the name he had chosen was filled with hope and happiness and my mother’s love. What more could I ask for?
Hence when I redesigned the house, I celebrated my Grandfather and his unique entrepreneurial skills. The house is about telling his story; the man who published the first film magazine to Kerala and bought celebrities from around the country for the first Film festival. His love for his hometown Kottayam and for cinema is reminded through mixed media art, a photo collage, film boxes to store the old movies and the statuettes. Generations of Nairs will be reminded of their great grandfather who was a film entrepreneur. The house is a play of light and greenery. It has green intercepts in all the floors. Warm colors flood the interiors with love and character while wooden floors add to its old-world charm. The lack of outdoor space was managed through landscaping. Architect Sindhu Nair
Retro Nostalgia
Katara Tower, Lusial Marina Qatar.
“I love the way the ink bleeds into water, and the coffee bleeds into ink – they swirl around each other and mix themselves in such a fluid and beautiful way. I just introduce them and let them do their thing.” -Patric Rozario
The art of painting with coffee has a story with roots which go back much further than you might think and became widespread with the discovery of this fragrant drink. Tea and coffee have been used for painting since ancient times: the Chinese used tea to create the backgrounds for their artworks, while both of these drinks were used also to give particular hues to fabrics and to give an aged effect to the marble of statues.
In the last few years, I have been using natural pigments to create artworks with textures and tones different from the classic colors of oils, acrylics or tempera. Coffee also features among the most used natural colors, with its range of nuances from hazelnut to dark brown, which can bring to life evocative monochromatic works. The subtle highs and lows that come from natural dyes are considered part of their beauty and distinguish them from synthetic colors. -I have been painting with various natural pigments, extracted from Beet Root, Strawberries, Tea, etc. But coffee is by far the best medium that I use. I must admit that I am obsessed with coffee painting.
I have with me coffee paintings that are 20 or more years old. The hues and tones still have its beauty. I suppose they age gracefully over long periods of time. Paintings created with coffee has its allure and almost always spark interest with people of all ages. When you have a nostalgic coffee painting on your wall, the narrative and the coffee medium spark so much interest and admiration that mediums such as oil and acrylic cannot provide.
A ubiquitous beverage in the modern world, coffee is rarely a colorant typically found among a conventional watercolorist’s palette.
What you need to provide to create a nostalgic painting
Several digital photographs & Narratives + Stories
What you will get A coffee (and or) watercolor painting Framed Approximate size 40 x 50 cm (15 ¾ x 19 ¾ inches)
Contact Patric Rozario prozario@me.com +974 6626 3737
www.ownarozario.com
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