"When you're sitting there in your silk upholstered chair..."

Sometimes you need to take a break and just draw. And today I did just that.

With a cup of strong coffee, I listened to the American Beauty soundtrack and studied the subtle palettes of flora long dead and dried.

The last track on the American Beauty soundtrack, Any Other Name by Thomas Newman is particularly heartbreaking. It reminds me of a very rainy evening last May when my world was just as uncertain, but perhaps a little happier.

Today it was just as poignant in the late afternoon sun of a chilly day in October.

Melograno e Cardo
ink and colored pencil on vintage Italian postcard
(3.5 x 5.25 ")

copyright Kate Castelli 2008

The Shape of Things

Sometimes life feels so absurd that it resembles a work of fiction. A story about someone else that you would read tucked away in a comfortable chair at a cafe-- poetic, dramatic, ironic, poignant.

And then you realize it's not fiction.
And it's not someone else.
And the universe just threw you a curve ball.
And all you can do is get up in the morning and try.
And laugh.

Talisman

I had forgotten—

Until my fingers
found the ginko leaf
idly plucked
on the street that for so long
led to home.

On uneven bricks,
I could finally breathe.

::::::

I took a very long walk today. These last few days I have found myself longing to drink in the autumn air as if were a cocktail. These type of days make me acutely aware that I am alive.

I found myself walking in my favorite part of Harvard Square, where the sidewalks are lined with Ginko trees. They are beginning to turn a startling golden yellow. I always pluck a leaf as I walk and I have been finding them everywhere lately- in my coat pocket, pressed between the pages of a Proust novel I have been trying to read with no avail for months, tucked away in vellum envelopes that I had forgotten about. They are a small talisman of sorts, a reminder of the place where I feel at ease, at home.

Hedgehog

"Because Art is life, playing to other rhythms."
-Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is perhaps one of the most profound books I have read in years. Each chapter seems to breathe a small, subtle truth that lingers far past the turning of the page. Muriel Barbery gives voice to many things I have thought and felt, but lacked the adequate words for. It is a novel that wears a double plumed hat of philosophy and sophistication that still tells its story with a quiet tenderness.

The Camera Eye

I am the daughter of a photographer.

My father has been taking black and white photographs for almost four decades. It is a rare moment when he does not have a camera. In many ways the camera has not only become an extension of his eye, but his being. It is a fundamental part of who he is.

I grew up around film and the darkroom. My father built a darkroom in the basement. When I was a little kid I used to sit on a stool and watch the timer for the developing trays. It seemed like magic to watch the print emerge in the murky depths of the darkroom, lit only by the amber glow of safety lights.

My father would emerge after hours in the darkroom with a dripping wet print in his hands to show my mother and I. We were both critic and audience (and his most avid fans).

My father still works with film and enlargers and chemicals and paper. He is a traditional photographer and a purist. His camera of choice is a Leica, a quiet and beautifully designed German rangefinder. He is also a left-eyed photographer. A rarity. I like the way he sees the world, one shutter click at a time.

Camera Studies
(Leica M6, Nikon F2, Kodak Brownie, Bessa-R, and Twin Lens Reflex)
sketchbook
pen and ink, various sizes

copyright Kate Castelli 2008

New roots

I am happy and grateful to be back where I belong, in the city I love.

Currently Listening to:

Take Back the City- Snow Patrol
Shut Your Eyes- Snow Patrol
Til Kingdom Come- Coldplay
Talk (the Thin White Duke remix)- Coldplay
In the Sun (live at the Austin City Limits)- Michael Stipe
Hong Kong Garden- Siouxsie and the Banshees
Perfectly Good Guitar- John Hiatt
Something Happened- Billy Bragg
Powerman- The Kinks
Time to Pretend- MGMT (I am obsessed with this song right now...)
Remember When (California)- Tim Myers

(detail from)
A Field Guide to the Birds
Carte Postale Series No. 10
block printing on vintage paper with postal ephemera and hand-stitching
4.25 x 6.75 "

copyright Kate Castelli 2008