4/1 (martes)

Things did not go my way so badly the day I arrived in Barcelona that it was one of those days you rarely experience even in a year. It felt that way because It was a day where one thing after another went wrong.

One of the things that really hurt is that one of my pieces of luggage didn’t make it here. Clothes I can buy, but the suitcase that held my washi paper, inks and brushes — the one that would cause me the most problems if lost — was apparently left in Paris. It was supposed to get here that evening, but it didn’t. I hope it shows up tomorrow…

There was a Champions League game at Camp Nou that night. Atletico de Madrid scored first. Barcelona scored the equalizer later, and appeared like they would take the lead with their attacks, but it ended in a tie.

It looks like rain tomorrow.

4/2 (miercoles)

I leave my apartment at 5:30 in the morning to head to Alhambra.

It’s because there are only 2 daily flights from Barcelona to Granada. One in the early morning and one at night. Around here sunrise comes late, around 7:50 during this season. It’s pitch black.

I arrive at Alhambra after a 30-minute, 40 euro taxi ride. It’s a downpour.

I have a ticket for a drenched 11:30 and enter the Nasrid Palaces. It looks like entry is divided into 30 minute time slots.

Incredible.

I can’t speak to the architecture, but the details are overwhelming. I don’t know how to express it. If I had to compare it to manga, it would be like 500 large sized, extra thick volumes from a superlative master artist with an extraordinary amount of detail.

I don’t know why so much volume and persitent details doesn’t invoke any annoyance when you look at it.

In truth, I felt I had had enough of the overwhelming abundance of decoration in the Palau Guell, one of Gaudi’s first works.

For someone like me, who likes to avoid things that are too much trouble, this is the extreme of truly overwhelming detail. Because I understand that when you try to perfectly capture and draw every detail of nature, it becomes like monastic training.

But looking at nature does not provoke annoyance.

4/3 (jueves)

It rained off and on all day.

I’m staying at the Parador Hotel inside Alhambra. Since I can go look any time I want, I can’t work up the motivation to venture out in the cold and wet so I spend time puttering around inside.

The Parador was a on old palace and religious institution in Spain that was converted into a hotel.

There are many flies by the window so I made sketches of them.

They were mostly dormant because of the cold, and seemed to be calling out to be drawn. Humans have an image of flies as the lowest class in the insect world, but when you try to sketch them, they have a fascinating figure.

There’s a lull in the rain so I venture out for a walk inside the complex.

The rainwater is flowing. For some reason I have a strong image of water here. Back then, as well as now, water is directly connected to life.

It sounds like the luggage that was left in Paris made it safely to my apparent. I’m relieved.

The forecast says it will be clear and warmer tomorrow.

Takehiko Inoue