First page uses to be the last one to be filled

These days I’m finishing the former notebook beginning 2017 to end of 2018. How fat it became! Two full years. This is the first page which includes my fingerprint, 3 hairs and a sample of blood (to be cloned in a future). Its name is MS Chang. Chang means elephant and by coincidence I set a Ganesh in this page long before choosing the name.

I try to have fun with all the points about notebooking as far as it's the only way to keep passion and perseverance. However I found out finishing some pages and filling gaps is a task I don't enjoy. It's a necessary step before scanning the notebooks and store them.

Each label in the next photo shows something to be done in that page. I guess the solution is trying to minimize those gaps and incomplete pages while writing in the new journal.

Notebooks collection

Each notebook is a little universe. All together are a family. And they have a proper home (click here to see it)

I can see the evolution along the years. Fortunately my favorite notebook is always the last one.

Traveling here and there

August 6th is something like my second birthday. It's the day I started my round the world trip, a collection of experiences which changed my mindset.

To celebrate it, I created a folder with photos from different trips during the years. Just a short sample! I will add more files from time to time.

It's easy to know the chronological order since the hair in my head is decreasing with time.

Here is the link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lcUZKYOplbgQ8UiWZzKQtjysQO8MTlfG

And some photos in advance here to decorate this post:

Huge elephant looking at me in Nepal, 2007

Beijing 2007

Aitutaki, Cook Islands, 2008

Writing in Sarajevo, 2013

With my Orange friends in Laos, 2016

Some lost place in my dear Asia

Mumbai 2017

USA 2018

Slovenia 2013

Testing new papers

I'm still trying to find the perfect paper even when I know it doesn't exist. However  I feel lucky to try these AMAZING Hahnemühle papers. They were so kind to send me some samples of my favorite one: Verge paper (also known as laid paper) in cream color.

All of them are excellent. See the amazing texture! Watercolors look better than ever. No see through, feathering, bleeding, ghosting, etc. The only finding I detected is the surface could peel easily when using an eraser (see photo bellow). Maybe I found the way to transform this weakness into a positive power.

Serious candidate for my next notebook.

Laid paper texture.

The Surface peels after using an eraser.

Little new project

I found a deck of cards as a great support to create a new universe. It allows the representation of a fantasy world with just a pieces of cardboard. For example, the creatures come to life from nothing and they have their own ID which is the card. Think about it, magical.

After discarding the possibility of a board game I'm developing a kind of "collection of aesthetic cards". The area for an illustration or photo is huge. On top of that the combination with a little text adds a new dimension.

I'm enjoying a lot designing a big number of cards. It's fun and relaxing activity. I don't want to set any barrier. Creativity should flow with freedom. No commission, no deadlines, no limitations. After that I will (hopefully) find the way to organice everything.

Taking care of the colors, frame, typography (I use my dear Olympia typewriter font), composition and every detail part of the enjoyable process. Now I can have this first test in my hands. The cards are REAL. Still a lot to do. This is just a draft. I even made the box. I will create many more cards and improve everything.

And what is this about? Well, at the moment I will say it's a story-prediction based in a near future, year 2050. And those are the years, months or maybe just hours before the singularity. The last days of mankind.

Writing tools while traveling (updated)

These are my writing tools I'm carrying in my trips. I try to optimize volume and mainly weight. Simple is better. Even sometimes I have the feeling I'm using too many colors.

Notebook size is 9x14cm. The second case keeps some spares and tiny ink bottles. I included a pocket watercolor pad but it's an alien item and not a regular part of the kit.

Travel route is getting a very different shape

Latest trip.

Once upon a time my route used to be a line across a map. Recently it's more like a magnetic field around Bangkok. Thailand catches me and it's good.

Trip years ago.

Watercolors to illustrate a future deck

I'm doing some watercolors in order to illustrate several cards of a future deck. I chose a new watercolor paper brand Hakuho. Experiment. The first feeling was not very positive but the second day of use I discovered how magical its texture is. See some close up to appreciate it.

More fantasy creatures come to life. They enrich the atmosphere for the story to tell. Definitely more interesting than the real world.

Encapsulated Thunderbolt

2050. Some years ago a capsule with a huge thunderbolt inside was found in a lake in the Earth. Some people say they saw a big eagle flying with the capsule in its claws. People often say crazy things but also they see even more incredible events.

Despite its origin, the capsule is now one of the main energy supply. Engineers and tax employees worked hard in order to juice the energy to satisfy hungry customers. Actually they don't understand well the mechanism inside but taking each volt from it is enough.

Something like free energy. 500MT can cover the waste of energy for an average wester family.

 

Ba Na Hills. Cult to fake.

I stopped visiting tourist spots long time ago. They are places overcrowded. Even the amazing places like Angkor Wat are ruined by people and the final experience is poor. See here my photos there.

Da Nang was my greatest discovery in the last trip. I guess it will be also full of visitors in a couple of years if not months. However now is almost a perfect place combining Vietnam style with facilities, beach, not many people and the best: It's free of motorbike traffic which is a common torture in other Vietnamese cities.

But Da Nang is a future tourism hub. The beach will be a new Benidorm and the highlight is a kind of Disneyland built in the mountains. Welcome to Ba Na Hills. Sunworld.

Someone told me to go there the day before and I guessed it was something like a trekking in the mountains. What a surprise when I arrive there and I saw a crazy scenario designed for masses. The perfect environment for a session of photos by the master photographer Martin Parr.

They are created a medieval city with real stones... in Vietnam! In XXI Century! All is fake and ready for fake photos of people posing. Recently I read it's the most posted place in Instagram.

Too much for me. Bye bye to tourism places, whatever they are, for the rest of the year/decade.

Btw, the ticket costs 1 million VND.

Here some photos of the modern wonder:

The cablecar is the most interesting part of that place.

See the new cathedrals under construction.

Voila, a medieval city is ready.

Sunny place for happy people.

Me enjoying the colorful happiness.

It's Vietnam in 2019.

Dedicated to Martin Parr I.

Dedicated to Martin Parr II.

The famous bridge seen everywhere.

Sooner or later the fake will appear.