Matisse y libélulas

Matisse (1869 - 1954) sujetando un palo. En realidad es más que un palo, es una pasión que sostiene con energía bajo cualquier tipo de condiciones. En la línea de Peter Beard: "I will write until I die". El palo está apuntando hacia arriba, claro. La inspiración muestra el camino, pero se debe volar y mirar fuera de la caja para alcanzarlo. Muy simbólico todo.


Poco después de esta imagen, Matisse acudió al doctor L. y tuvo lugar la siguiente conversación:

Matisse: Buenos días, doctor.
Doctor: ¡Matisse!

Evidentemente la conversación transcurrió íntegramente en francés. El lector puede añadir mentalmente la entonación y música de fondo francesas que prefiera. El acento francés del doctor es realmente marcado. A partir de ahora Matisse será "M" y el doctor L. será "D".

D: Adelante. ¡Un honor tenerlo aquí! Lo veo en plena forma -dijo el doctor, continuando la frase para sí mismo "... forma piramidal".
M: Gracias, estoy trabajando intensamente en mi forma corporal y, como ve, he hecho grandes avances.
D: Magnifique! Dígame, ¿qué le trae por aquí?
M: Verá, he estado jugando con libélulas y...
D: ¡Libélulas! -exclamó el doctor, abriendo los ojos expresivamente.
M: Y...
D: ¿Y?
M: Doctor, ¿las libélulas pican?
D: Oh, eso depende.
M: Una libélula ha estado revoloteando por el estudio y creo que me ha picado. Mire, mire el picotazo. Aún está el aguijón.
D: No se preocupe; ha acudido usted a un experto. Estudié la especialidad de libélulas en la facultad. ¿Ve allí el título? -dijo el doctor volviendo la vista a un título universitario colgado de la pared.
M: ¿Aquel? -preguntó Matisse señalándolo con el palo.
D: Ese mismo. Dígame, ¿qué tipo de libélula era?
M: Qué sé yo, apenas las conozco y no puedo diferenciarlas. Antes no había libélulas por aquí.
D: ¿Algún rasco concreto?
M: Ahora que lo dice... Era una de gran estética. Curvilínea, delicada, bellísima y de sensualidad extrema. Por donde volaba, dejaba un rastro de purpurina y todo lo que tocaba cuando se posaba, aumentaba de valor.
D: ¿Color?
M: Verde. No... ¡azul! Azul verdoso, creo.
D: Interesante, pero la clave podría estar en las patas. ¿Cómo eran?
M: Ah, ya recuerdo más: las patas traseras eran de color naranja. Las patas naranja se posaron sobre el palo naranja. ¡Todo encaja! ¿No serán venenosas? -dijo preocupado.
D: ¿Patas naranja? Jamás vi una libélula así. Debe ser una variedad rarísima o incluso un ejemplar único. Podría tratarse de una especie venida de fuera de la Tierra.
M: ¿Es eso posible? De su exclusividad no hay duda, ciertamente.
D: ¿Nota algún picor o mareos? Podría recetarle un antídoto.
M: Nunca me sentí mejor. Nada de antídotos. Me dan ganas de saltar y volar; el pincel va rapidísimo estos días, como si tuviera vida propia. Mire, mire.

Matisse volvió a coger el palo y adoptando una posición de bailarina, comenzó a pintar sobre las paredes a una velocidad pasmosa y generando dibujos de una categoría sublime.

D: ¡Qué cosas dice! Me ha puesto usted la consulta perdida.
M: ¿Qué es, doctor?
D: Parece un virus, el virus inspirationaris lilius. Aquí le dejo una cura, por si algún día cambia de idea.

Matisse miró con sorpresa el diminuto bote que el doctor había puesto sobre la mesa, que bien parecía un tintero de color verde, y lo guardó en su bolsillo. Por si las moscas libélulas.
Después la conversación se alargó un poco más sobre temas de menor interés.

M: Voy a ver si la libélula está todavía allí -dijo saliendo a toda prisa.
D: Au revoir!

Introduction to dragonflies

Dragonflies arrived to my notebook by surprise and they are welcome. ¿Las libélulas vuelan o reman?

They are so aesthetic and full of beauty. What an unique fancy created by the universe. Each thing generates its equal and just a little move in a finger could bring a river of dragonflies, like a river of inspiration. In an advanced level, someone could look closer, understand them and decode the hidden message. I'm sure it's poetry.

New constellation identified: Fishorgon

Universe is full of magic. Therefore there is an invitation to scientific and cultural interpretations. We know almost nothing but we can have fun with that little part.

Stellarium (excellent free software) helped me to go back in time and see how was the sky in my birthday, initial condition, t=0. After joining dots and training my eyes I could see a new constellation which looks like a fish, scorpion and dragon. Let's name it as Fishorgon.

Since it includes also planets, that configuration was seen during certain time only, that's worth because I can say the sky drew a Fishorgon to say welcome to me. Then it vanished.

Now, decades later, it comes to my notebook and exists again. Welcome Fishorgon!

The importance of making your own notebook

I've imagined many times my dream notebook. Too much thinking but doing nothing. However I had clear each detail in my mind: Size, thickness, leather cover, verge paper, full flat when open, etc.

Some reasons to encourage you to do your own notebook:

1. It's the only way to have it as you want. It's almost impossible to find your perfect notebook in a shop. Fortunately nowadays stores shows plenty of books with a number of brands never seen before. Most of them contain paper with non acceptable quality. If you like the paper but maybe not the cover, you get it and time later you realize it's not your perfect jewel because you see only the mistakes.

2. It's made with love. No industrial process. Everything takes energy and it's not the same if it was been created by a salaryman without any care than done with your own hands with passion. See how bookbinding is done here: http://josenaranja.blogspot.com.es/2015/07/about-bookbinding.html

3. A strong link is created with your notebook. This is the key. A mystical relation which will boost the creativity and will appear in each letter and drawing. Fountain pens note these details, you know, right?

The result can only be a beauty because it's in touch with reality.

Notebooks breathing

So many memories kept inside.
Notebooks are time machine and experiences vaults.
They are alive therefore they need to breath.

The wheel center

Big coincidence here. 

My last notebook is a mandala. Pages are connected in different ways. Some links are visible and some hidden but all of them contribute to create a new being.

The centre of the notebook is the centre of the wheel, The Wheel of Fortune. I had no idea what to draw in this singular point, too much thinking blocked me and I left this special page for the end.

The solution came in a mystical way: The universe sent me the proper information. First I drew just a circle, then I modified it into a egg shape (the egg of the creation). Suddenly it changed into a brain. Inside the brain I thought to set a big eye or a big vagina. Or a man in lotto position. 7 chakras was next natural association. Then I visited Mr. Google to check the right colors and I read "chakras" means "wheel". 

Everything goes to the same point!

Why worry too much about perfection?

An old topic. Trying to reach a level of perfection is not a good approach. Doing things fast and with a minimum of care if a disaster or, better I could say, it's random: Sometimes the result is amazing and most of the times it's not. What's the solution? There is not solution but experience helps. It will say if something works or not. To improve that superpower experiments are needed.

Perfection is not possible and not recommended. Excellence is the right way.

Here the test page, one of the last pages on every notebook I keep there to try inks and effects without any care. Now I realize it's so great and it has a touch of freedom. And it's much better than other pages.

Last tests for The Orange Manuscript: HAPPY & POSITIVE!

Good news. Last tests in a professional printing office gave amazing results. It makes me happy after so many attempts and loops looking for the best quality.

A big step in the manuscript adventure!

Teapots

Teapots are good teachers. Herman Hesse wrote a nice tale where a couch could be a teacher for eyes which are ready to learn. It shows the light, perspective and colors.

Teapots can do that too. In top of that they can talk.

Not forget to mention the power of a pencil plus empty paper. They ensure fun and a door to creativity. Accessible to everyone and everywhere. This in an important point.

Fountain pens party

My fountain pens in chronological order from left to right.

Treasure box. ALERT: Do NOT use these boxes for archival conditions

I was happy to include the last notebook together with his parents, grandparents and more. The family grows. I used to keep then inside a fireproof and waterproof box since they are treasures. I always remember the fire in Peter Beard's house and the lost of many years of notebooks. Tragedy.

However while trying to protect my notebooks I was putting them into a high risk. I know now these kind of fireproof boxes are not recommendable for humidity reasons. Indeed, I did some tests tracking the moisture inside and... surprise! The humidity increases even when it's empty and filled with room air (to discard the possibility of humidity caused by the items). It comes from the wall box, materials which contain water or something similar. Fortunately I keep a silica gel bag inside and the damage was not so bad, I hope.

It looks like keeping the notebooks safe from fire will have to wait until I discover a solution.

Eau de Donau, black version

I got this by surprise. Definitely it adds another point of view of this well known spread. Blackboard style.

Last notebook completed

Written during the last one and a half year: From Summer 2014 to end of 2015.

I see the notebook as the final artwork and I'm exploring challenges beyond its usual behavior. All pages together are part of a whole element, a mandala. They have secret connections and links which make richer the information, much more than they do separately.

10 years of Moleskine

10 years using Moleskine exactly now. Here my very first Moleskine notebook together with one of the last pages created now. Huge evolution. 

Happy birthday to me!

Reichsstraße

Homenaje a Reichsstraße.

Todos los lugares tienen un punto "magneto" que te atrapa. Normalmente es una calle o un puente mil veces recorrido. La calle magneto de Donauwörth es Reichsstraße: levemente alterable en el tiempo, acumulador de recuerdos, aviesa, que se va estrechando cuanto más se acerca al Rathaus y generador de identidad al pueblo que la alberga. Aunque se pueda pensar que todas las casas de Baviera son iguales, no es cierto. Cada pueblo se diferencia uno de otro en las sutilezas, sólo accesibles para ojos entrenados.

Podría enumerar cada una de las tiendas que la componen y me equivocaría poco. Tengo una colección de fotografías tomadas exactamente desde el mismo sitio: una alcantarilla al inicio de la calle donde, casualmente, cosa que descubrí un día por sorpresa, se coloca uno de los árboles de Navidad.

Aquí Reichsstraße luciendo algunos trajes:

Reichsstraße al anochecer. No gente.

Reichsstraße de noche.

Reichsstraße en verano.

Reichsstraße con nieve moderada.

Reichsstraße en invierno profundo. -18º en aquellos días. 

Reichsstraße en la celebración bianual de verano.

Reichsstraße en Lichternacht. ¡Con gente!

Reichsstraße con niebla. Estampa habitual.

Reichsstraße descolorida, también bastante habitual.

Reichsstraße preparándose para Navidad.

Reichsstraße en pre-Navidad.

Reichsstraße en Navidad.

Close up

Going close to the detail shows a new perspective. The beauty of ink on paper.

The Poet Photocopy

Encryption experts needed! In an unprecedented gesture of defiance the photocopier located in third floor decided to disobey orders and it transformed cold technical reports into an explosion of creativity that exceeds the capacity of any human for the following reasons: 1. Increased number of characters, then huge number of possibilities. 2. Random nature. A product of a mind can never achieve what is generated in a random field. Here I put the result as a poem compared with a human generated poem (La tempranica, 1900).

About typewriters

The typewriter is an amazing invention. I could stop saying here because it´s more than enough. However I will add some more letters, just to highlight its magic.

Imagine a device which you can use to write, one of the most important things for an human being, in a simple, elegant and fast way. Well, that device is not being produced anymore. Factories are using a huge amount of resources to manufacture weapons, ice cream machines or all imaginable stuff for prepare cakes and even a pool ball which predicts the future. No machines for writing. Of course there are computers and printers, but that´s another story. Also people don´t look very interested on use them nowadays. Fortunately the typewriters were produced and used in mass during the last decades. There were several in each office in the world and in most of the houses. Those machines didn´t disappear from one day to another, there are still in somewhere, maybe inside a drawer, in a penthouse, etc. Due to the lack of interest today and the high number of produced machines the price of a typewriter is almost ridiculous, I could say almost zero (or negative in some cases).

When using a typewriter the fingers touch physically the keys and you produce the letters with your own energy. This is a golden feeling. The speed of writing is directly linked to the speed of thinking, creating an unique dance where ideas are transforming into words with harmony. Sound and smell help to create that great atmosphere. Real letters appear in front of you, with real ink. Ink on paper means it´s forever (or at least one or several lifetimes, depends on you). You get nothing of these when using a computer which creates just fake illusions and temporally ones and zeros somewhere inside a digital support. For touching screens better don´t talk. No batteries, no updates, no unexpected errors, no corrupted files, no hackers and no vanish information. Of course a computer has many other advantages, but far away for the pleasure of writing.

Look the beauty of the mechanism. Simple, design based on endurance, full of quality. Times before programmed obsolescence entered into industrial design.

I used typewriters during my childhood. However I stop using them until quite recently, when I rediscover their potential. Suddenly I saw clear the power of typewriters and I went into them in a flicker. While living in Germany I found the keyword : “Schreibmaschine“. As easy as write that in eBay and hundreds of all machines are shown. Germany has been one of the best producer and there are a lot of top brands. The prices now are worthless. I realized that when I visited a flea market in Munich and a man kept a typewriter between a certain quantity of jewel-rubbish items. I just asked the price for curiosity and he replied “5€”. 5€ even before bargain! He insisted and took it with his hands offering it to me. I had the feeling he just wanted to throw it away or even pay to someone for take it. Well, I didn´t take that, but I started to buy some other models.

Smith Corona from 1936. It came with a church smell. What a design! Classic piano style with round crystal keys. Almost 80 years and it´s like new. I like to play the game to imagine its past or its former owners. I guess it´s not weird this machine were used by nazis in the WWII or maybe later someone wrote a love letter using it.

The case was not in best condition, but with a little of patience I got this amazing result. Magic!

 
 

Olympia SM-3

I bought this for 1€ in eBay (plus 5,95€ shipping). ONE EURO! One of the best deals I´ve ever done. Tank design, unbreakable. A similar model is used by Woody Allen, who says he is using the same machine during decades. He mentions some worth words here.

It was just dirty, but after a typewriter jacuzzy and some lubricant its bright came. Full and perfect working.

Being too curious about the mechanism forced me to practice full disassembly part by part. I could say I almost got it. A great learning lesson and enjoyable time.

Then I got this Erika 5, which came with additional gifts. All you see in the photo for 10€.

In that case I used a chemical product from the supermarket to avoid corrosion. Surprisingly that product caused a lot of corrosion suddenly! What a paradox... Don´t see the next photo if you are typewriter sensitive. Disaster. After many hours and days dedicated to clean I managed to reach this result. Thanks, WD-40! See before and after:

  
  
I have to say the touch of Erika 5 is superb. Fine design.

Olivetti Lettera 32. Big expectations created by opinions I read about it and a little disappointed when I had it in my hands. Its supposed design was not anything shocked to my eyes and I miss check the typo before buying it, a kindergarden mistake. Techno typography is not my favorite. At least it has Spanish keyboard. However, after start using it I was invaded by its magic. Great fine touch! So fast and a pleasure to use. Now I love it and I guess it could be perfect if the typo is a classic one.

It also had a relaxing bath and it became full cleaning and working.

I decided stop buying more German typewriters since flying with them is difficult. I already flew with four of them, with a peak flight where I carried with me two at the same time (19,5 kg of the total weight).