The illustrator Ana Jarén recommends her favorite plans to recharge the senses this summer

After the first chromatic impact, the illustrations by Ana Jarén (Seville, 1985) are, above all, an invitation to stop. His detailed and ornate style, with a strong female role, forces the viewer to leave the world for a handful of minutes to be able to order —and later internalize— the large amount of graphic information contained in each work. Only in this way, from concentration and silence, can the multiple edges that make up their optimistic stories be appreciated.

In more than a decade of career that began in the fashion communication sector, the artist has managed to consolidate a vast list of clients, which include editorial commissions (she recently published in The Washington Post), collaborations with national craft giants such as La Cartuja, for whom he designed a six-piece collection, or works for powerful food companies. A race in which the milestones are happening with little rest. In 2020, her first book, Amigas (Lunwerg), came to light, and the coming months, she says, will bring new releases. “On July 5, Los Caminos del Quijote (White Ink), written by Antonio Lucas and which I have illustrated, will go on sale. I am also closing a couple more books: one for coloring, Astrology Coloring: A Coloring Journey, which will arrive in a few months, and another illustrated volume for the United States of which I can still reveal little.

What he can talk about is the plans he has made to undertake a good sensory comeback after the pandemic tunnel. “As an illustrator, inspiration and ideas come to me through my senses, and with the limitations of the year we have been, reserves are fair. For this reason, the number one objective that I set myself for this summer is to look for plans where I can smell, listen, observe, touch and taste everything I can”.

Here are your seven winning choices:

1. SMELL lavender in Brihuega. “We don't have to go all the way to Provence to enjoy some purple-tinged fields that smell like you're hallucinating. I can't wait to go for a walk through the fields of Brihuega one afternoon in July at sunset.”
2. SEE the flower floats in Zundert (Holland). “I had the opportunity to attend the show a few years ago when I was living in Antwerp, but I will do it again as soon as I can. At the beginning of September, in Zundert, the hometown of Vincent van Gogh, they hold a parade with giant floats decorated with natural flowers of all imaginable colors. It is a spectacle worth seeing.”
3. LISTEN to José González in the Botanical Garden. “José González freaks me out, he has released a record and is coming to Madrid on July 30! He also plays at the Complutense Botanical Garden, so the setting couldn't be better. Listening to his moving voice in the seclusion of the Botanical is the perfect getaway for a hot summer night.”
4. TASTE cheeses. “I am crazy about cheese and my gastronomic tributes always have it close by. I'm sure I'll get a good cheese board from Formaje (Madrid, Plaza de Chamberí, 9) for a dinner with wine on the terrace at home. And when you pass through Seville, you must visit Casa Orzáez (Av. de Cádiz, 13) for one of the best cheese breakfasts I've ever had.”
5. VISIT the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition. “Although it's been a few months now, the maelstrom of work hasn't let me visit her yet and I don't want her to escape me. I can't wait to stop for a while and enjoy contemplating its vibrant colors and textures in the Thyssen Museum.”
6. TOUCHING the sand on Bologna beach. “I need a beach and touch the sand with my feet. Walking along the shore at sunset and playing with the waves that tangle with my steps. Bolonia (Cádiz) is a special place: crystal clear waters, its giant dune, the Roman ruins in the background…”.
7. TASTE a good book. “Slowing down and diving into a good book is one of my favorite pleasures. I can't wait to read Chimamanda Ngozi's latest book, On Mourning, about which I have heard wonderful things.”