Why I Carry a Notebook Everywhere with Me – Words & Art Eva Sirantoine

Why I Carry a Notebook Everywhere with Me:

EVEN IF IT’S HEAVY AND I HAVE NO ROOM FOR IT!

Eva Sirantoine

I love taking notes when I travel, keeping track of the things I see and do. Short descriptions, in the moments feelings, detailed day by day accounts, sketches of plants, landscapes, maps, and more. It takes the shape of my mind. I record the name and location of places I visit, what I saw there, with who, and when. My emotions also appear within the lines, clearly described, or depicted by the vocabulary I use. Since I love to go hiking and camping in wild places, the pages are mostly covered with names and drawings of plants, descriptions of animals and their behaviour, facts I learn about the environment.

As the good naturalist that I’m trying to be, I record my journeys in the same notebook, with the same pen, as much as possible. You can imagine my despair when I accidentally lost my favourite ink pen - What a tragedy! Then the search for a new pen starts. It needs to be black and thin, but not too thin, I don’t want to engrave my writings in the page. I usually choose a light resistant ink, even if I don’t expose the pages often in the sun. Ideally, it’s from a widely distributed brand so I can replace it easily, should I like it very much and sadly loose it again! The struggle around the choice of the pen however is nothing compared to that of the notebook itself! I have lots of them, but each has a very specific purpose. One records my travels, another one keeps track of my daily thoughts and projects, and others hold the memory of my romantic life.

I love notebooks, pens and the action of sitting somewhere and taking the time to observe, think, and finally imprint a version of reality on paper. That is why, no matter what, I always have a notebook on me.