A travel notebook is usually a must-have for any painter or illustrator who use it not only as a trial&error canvas, but also as an investigation tool. A notebook which becomes your trip’s secret room with all those hopes, fears… and the empty spaces. You keep them because maybe, one day, while flipping through its pages you may trigger your brain’s memory mechanism. You try to imprison, between two hard covers, parts of your memory.
Books that remember, that explain all sorts of quests: from the intimate to the exotic, from ambitious to modest ones. Real trips which in the end are mere excuses to understand our world.
The Madrilian newish museum ABC has an exhibition about these fascinating jewels we’ve extensively posted about on our blog. Those omnipresent moleskine books (or any other brand) which somehow make it into every single illustrator’s bag. And regardless if it’s ink, watercolour or a simple ballpen, most of these sketchbooks sadly never see other hands (or eyes) than those of their owners.
This exhibition is all about artists’ travelbooks. Those artists who’ve participated in last May’s DibujaMadrid (Paint Madrid). A tiny selection of many of it’s participants: Alfredo, Antonia Santolaya, Jorge Arranz, José María Sánchez, Enrique Flores & Gusti
“Dibujamadrid” was an activity which took place each Sunday morning from May to July involving 6 traditional routes across the city. Along with a series of talks and events the artists would try to stamp those brief encounters and life postcards they would see each day.
Many more amazing photos, drawings and most importantly the people! can be found via MABC’s facebook page. But if you really want to have a look at those great notebooks physically, then you should drop by the centric Madrilian museum. It’s free!
