Happy Birthday

Today is Alexander Calder's 113th Birthday. I sent an email to my father this morning informing him of that fact. When I got home later this afternoon I found the most delightful response. My father bought a little cake for "Steggy," Calder's monumental sculpture in Hartford, Connecticut.

I've loved Calder since I was very small and I spent many a summer day running around underneath Steggy.

Steggy wanted cake, and I can't stop smiling.


(photos courtesy of the best father ever, Daniel Castelli)

Tumult in the clouds

Biplanes always bring to mind Yeats' poem, "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death." There is something strangely elegant about them-- the open cockpit with nothing between you and the clouds but a taut and fragile frame. It must have been terrifying and beautiful.

sketchbook copyright Kate Castelli 2011

Sleepless

I am captivated by this image I found in the Library of Congress archives.

It's too hot to sleep and my mind is restless and wandering...

biplanes / looking up / negative space / London / nectarines / semiotics / September / lithography / grids / Holga / carousel horses / greyscale / Sherlock Holmes / home / the city / holding my breath / sketchbooks / the Charles River / back porches / tanned shoulders / mix tapes / red / W.S. Merwin / humming birds / palazzo / avocados / envelopes / eyes / hazelnuts / rabbits / absence / presence

Sketching

Sketching in Fort Point on a very hot afternoon.

The North End

Spent a beautiful sunny afternoon in the North End with my students yesterday. I even managed to get in a quick sketch and a cannoli.


sketchbook copyright Kate Castelli 2011