Friday Inspiration: Giants Causeway, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland

Postcards from London

Inspiration + Color Palette from the London Underground and Tower Bridge

Process + Printing using wood type from the late 19th and early 20th century (at the fabulous London Centre for Book Arts)

Posting:  I sent the finished postcards back to myself in the United States, they came in one by one a week later...

Postcards (series 1): Three color letterpress monoprints on 2mm book board | 5.875 x 4.125" each

Postcards (series 2): Three color letterpress monoprints on cream | 6 x 4.25" each

Corita Kent

Found in my recent wanderings: a vintage postcard from a 1974 series by Corita Kent (5x7")

Friday Inspiration: Chairs + Postcards

Vintage postcards of chairs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It's September and the city is bursting at the seams with students and the academic year has begun anew. I am looking forward to autumn and the crisp weather and changing colors.

I started the graduate program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts today. I'll be earning my MFA over the next 2 years.

And so it begins...

Greetings From...

And happy first day of summer.

Friday Inspiration: Post Cards

Some favorites from my collection...(click to enlarge)

I love postcards.  There is something wonderful about them-- a small glimpse into a far off place. The act of sending the postcard itself is interesting. It is a visual correspondence unlike any other. A desire to share what you have seen.

I always seem to find postcard vendors when I go abroad-- most recently the Mercato Delle Stampe in the Piazza Borghese in Rome. Or the Marche aux Timbres et Cartes-Postales near the Champs Elysee in Paris. The vendors rarely speak English but are content to let me browse. The hunt is part of the fun.

Postcard

Part of a new series I'm working on for the upcoming show at Twelve Chairs. The pieces are actually dimensional.

Postcard
Cut paper and ephemera
3.5 x 5.5"

Copyright Kate Castelli 2010

Merveilleux

There are crocuses blooming outside my front door.

There is a particular joy in the first warm days of early Spring, they make me suddenly aware that I am alive and grateful for the air in my lungs and the sun on my face.

And now I'm going to Paris for a week to wander, draw, and eat.

Adieu.

Five

Once upon a time people licked stamps and put them on hand-tinted postcards and sent them around the world. It took time. And elegance. And 12 Francs.

Postes (Day 5)
pen and ink
3 x 3.75"
copyright Kate Castelli 2009

Density

I'm thinking of going back to Paris.

Empires lost

May has a long memory.
It does not let me forget, or sleep.

The lily of the valley are blooming.

*I found this postcard in my recent wanderings. It is both haunting and compelling. And I love the hand-written caption.