At the moment we (myself and the team from Edicions Lynx) are finishing off the final lay-out of the fourth volume of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (Lynx Edicions), dedicated to marine mammals – basically,  pinnipeds (seals, etc.) and cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). As a result, I have had to put aside for a while the drawings for the fifth volume dedicated to the marsupials.

The task of concluding the plates requires a great deal of precision and care to ensure that there are no errors – no matter how small – in the scales, colouration and details of the drawings. The editorial support from Albert Martínez-Vilalta at Lynx is key in guaranteeing that the plates are not only attractive but also highly exact. A typical e-mail from him contains phrases such as “Are you sure that the dorsal fin of the female Inia geoffrensis shouldn’t be slightly higher and wider?”

Part of the problems I’ve had in this latest volume of this handbook is that I have had to work almost as a forensic artist. For volume 2 of this handbook, dedicated to the ungulates, I had to work with, amongst other sources, hundreds of photos of animals killed by trophy hunters (the typical first-world nouveau-riche pictured next to the beautiful animal he has just slaughtered).

With the cetaceans, I have sometimes had to resort to photographs of animals stranded on beaches, often somewhat putrid, or of animal parts photographed in a Japanese ‘fish’ market. Sometimes, the main reference material is just a skull.

Fortunately (or otherwise), many of these rare species are still unknown to most people – and may be forever. There are bound to be fewer readers of the HMW – always incredibly demanding – who will canalize the illustrations of this volume with as much zeal as the average can comment drawings of wolves, zebras or gorillas!!

We are, at last, entering the home stretch in the work for the EmpordàNA’T exhibition.

My role in this – in my opinion – grandiose project is to multi-task: original idea, content, concept, images and texts. Fortunately, I have worked in close harmony with Eric Milet, a master of graphic design, spaces, branding, naming and, above all, organization.

And timing, which is the hardest thing of all to control!

I’ve been lucky too to come across on the way other excellent people such as the incombustible Guille Góngora, who has organized the exhibition space. Likewise, I’m thankful to Abdon Jordà for helping solve problems with the models, to Mike Lockwood for his precise English translation, and to numerous collaborators including photographers and photographic ‘extras’, as well as to many friends and family. And, of course, nothing would have been possible without the positive spirit of the natural parks involved!

The posters are at the printing press – Roger, in Figueres – where they have treated this megaproject with the respect it deserves and it will soon be open to the public in the Ecomuseu-Farinera in Castelló d’Empúries.

EmpordàNA’T will be – rather, is about to become – a permanent exhibition in which visitors can get a taste of the Empordà’s protected areas and discover their rich natural and cultural heritage, the products of its soils and the leisure activities on offer. Four protected areas in one!

In all, a vast panorama of almost 70 m in length unites the landscapes of the four natural parks in L’Empordà. Over 40 days of fieldwork were needed to take the photographs, as well as I’ve-no-idea how-many-and-don’t-want-to-know days (weeks and months) of projections, concepts, design, writing of texts, meetings, retouching of photographs, illustration and painting.

The project was made possible by the energies of Anna Colomer, when she was in charge of public use in the Aiguamolls de l’Empordà Natural Park. Now, she has started her own new project, a small hotel in Castelló d’Empúries, Casa Clarà, which blends the best of the town’s past with ‘feel’ that it is expected of the tourism of the twenty-first century.