Some postcards and letters. Dry leaves and stones. A sketch or a journal. A tiny bottle of perfume or the picture of somebody that is not here anymore. Is the old box of memories a forgotten habit? A box to be opened during a winter night, while you share a story with a friend, or maybe to be hidden… as a time capsule. A treasure to be opened when you find yourself missing home.
When I started the Miniature Watercolour project I was probably thinking on creating something special for the small box of memories of nostalgic travellers who need to carefully select what to carry during their journey. A miniature watercolour is a piece of art that can inhabit in this tiny space, and is capable of depicting, in a few centimetres, a landscape connected with what home is.
My first attempt was a starry sky from Combarbala, a small village in the north of Chile where I lived for a year. Then I continued with the roof of the houses from my neighbourhood in Santiago, many Bargates for Sotonians, cathedrals, rivers around Spain for different friends, and a long list of requests. For every painting I try to use details to build the bridge between the observer and the place of their memories.
I like the fact that people can connect with their own memories of home by looking at these pocket sized paintings. Currently, my attention is focused on the idea of using the small scale as a storytelling whisper, which narrates forgotten details of a fleeting cityscape. Is the collection of daily life scenes, ordinary situations or even marginal moments, what will help me in the future to describe what home is?
