Dozzina

Spread 12 (Thonet Chairs)

I finished Sketchbook No. 12 (or technically No. 15, but that is neither here nor there)

I seem to finish a sketchbook every 7 months or so. I had been neglecting this one for a while to focus on other projects, but suddenly there were only about a dozen pages left and I had the urge to just finish it. I go through phases of being very into my sketchbook as an object unto itself and times when it goes untouched for weeks. I always get a little bit sad when a sketchbook is finished and a little bit anxious when I begin a new one.

You can see the entire sketchbook here.

Spread 19 (Egyptian Wing)

copyright Kate Castelli 2010-11

Sketchbook Project 2011

{The full interior} Chairs, lines, and graph paper...

{Pages 4-5} A double spread of small chair studies from Paris.

{pages 14-15} A sketch from Paris and the resulting linoprint.

I participated for the third time in The Sketchbook Project. I absolutely loved the sketchbook I did last year, and was really excited to be able to pick my own "theme" this time. I chose "Lines and Grids," it seemed to most fitting for my work.

After much procrastination and an extremely chaotic autumn, I found myself in the exact same situation as last year. I had a month before the due date and an empty book. So I cut the binding at the spine and removed all the pages. Then I made a my own simple signature structure of 16 pages and sewed it back into the cover.

I decided to create a book that combined the sketches I did of chairs in Paris with the linoprints that developed later in the summer from the sketches. The intense vertical lines are something I've always done in my sketchbooks as a sort of meditative exercise.

I had all these elements, and it was excruciating to put this book together. Nothing was working, I was really sick of chairs and I was past the point of the ability to start over. I just had to slog through it. It all eventually came together, although I am a bit ambivalent about the end result.

Lines and Grids (And Chairs)

16 pages, single signature with soft cover

linoprint, photocopy and ink wash on graph paper with ephemera
8.125 x 10" opened
copyright Kate Castelli 2010

Snow Day

Snowy chairs in Bryant Park, NYC, taken with my new 35mm Holga

I woke up today to a blanket of muffled white. Almost 18" of snow was a perfect excuse to stay inside, drink Earl Grey tea, and get a head start on work for the new semester.

Two Thousand Eleven

Renaissance faces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in my tiny traveling sketchbook (page size is 2x4").

Went down to New York City for a couple of days. Wandered around in the snow, went to museums, drank a lot of hot beverages and ate cupcakes. I still prefer Boston, but it is nice to visit the Big Apple every once in a while.

I found a GIANT Stikman on Madison Avenue in front of the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was about 12 inches, as opposed to the usual 6 inches.