“Wake up and to smell the coffee” goes the metaphor, which has been taken a step further by a New Zealand-based Filipino painter – who destresses himself by not only consuming the brew but also using coffee in his paintings
“Coffee painting helped me stay sane, creative, and productive during the pandemic lockdown,” said painter-poet Larry Abreño, who has done several coffee paintings during New Zealand’s month-long lockdown in March last year.
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2014 witnessed the beginning of Abreno’s tryst with coffee while working in the University of Perpetual Help in Isabela province. Seeing a colleague teaching coffee painting on paper, he tried it out successfully and never looked back since then.
Describing coffee as his stress-buster and medium of expression, Abreno said it also became his solace in dealing with homesickness and loneliness after moving to New Zealand.
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Not a coffee person before, Larry admitted that he can’t resist the addictive aroma of coffee every time he paints. One can imagine how he maximizes the benefits of coffee to his advantage when he needs to relax or calm down.
Highlighting the coffee effect through not only its “energy and pleasant fragrance emanated while painting, but also its natural monochromatic color that creates a “vintage or antique effect,” the painter said while noting that powdered coffee and coffee beans are affordable, accessible, and eco-friendly. (AW)
