Friday Inspiration: Annular Solar Eclipse

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon is at a greater distance from Earth, therefore giving the appearance that the moon is smaller and cannot completely engulf the sun as passes between. The shadow of the moon leaves the Sun's visible outer edges to form an annulus (Latin for "ring"). 

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

Friday Inspiration: Ireland, July 2018

Ireland, you were good for my soul...

Sister Corita Kent (1918-1986)

The Heavens are Yours | 1962 | serigraph

word picture: Gift of Tongues | 1955 | serigraph

welcome o life | 1973 | serigraph

tree you are | 1962 | serigraph

SOLW | 1967 | serigraph

In Touch (commission) | 1969 | serigraph

Seasons (4 of 4) | 1978 | serigraph

And Valleys (2 of 4) | 1978 | serigraph

Sister Corita Kent was a Catholic nun, prolific printmaker, arts educator and social activist. She is an artistic hero of mine and I'm currently feeling very inspired by the graphic vibrancy of her work. In particular I'm loving the color palette of red, blue, magenta, and purple.

London Underground Map

{verso} London Underground Map from 1927, prior to the iconic redesign that untangled all the lines

{recto} Main Line map that encompasses most of the contemporary area known as Zone 1

Note the spelling!

Moon Landing (as seen on TV)

Friday Inspiration: Vintage Penguins

Friday Inspiration: Posters from the London Underground

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

London Calling: June 1-19, 2017

Friday Inspiration: Chairs...

(Found in my wanderings) An engraving of a chair in perspective, published in 1792

Friday Inspiration: Long Live Keith

20 February 2016: the Rolling Stones in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   (photo by J. Bouquet)

"About myself I have no great illusions. I know what I am. I know what I'm good at. I know what I ain't. I'm always hoping to surprise myself. But I do have a love of music and I do love to communicate it, and that's the best I can do, really."

{Keith Richards}

Friday Inspiration: Le Corbusier...

{above and below} Le Corbusier: Architect of Books by Catherine de Smet, Lars Muller Publishers (2005)

Over his 5 decade career, Le Corbusier pioneered modern architecture and urban planning in the 20th century. But le Corbusier also worked as a book designer and author who meticulously designed and published over 40 books in his lifetime. He utilized print and publications to outline how he envisioned modern architecture in theory and reality.

Friday Inspiration: Currently...

{one} Alexander Calder gouaches

{two}  Corita Kent screenprints

{three} The First Six Books Of The Elements Of Euclid by Oliver Byrne (Chiswick Press, 1847)

Somewhere along the line...

Foggy horizons seen from an evening Amtrak train...

Razzle Dazzle

A wandering accordion book inspired by "dazzle" camouflage used by the Royal Navy during World War I. The dizzying paintjob on warships was developed by Norman Wilkinson and British artist, Edward Wadsworth.

Two prints by Edward Wadsworth depicting the Liverpool Shipyards where the ships were painted (1918)

It is also sometimes called "razzle dazzle," it consisted of complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colors, interrupting and intersecting each other. It was not meant to conceal the vessel, but rather make it much more difficult to estimate a target's range, speed and heading.


Razzle Dazzle
30 page wandering accordion structure with hardcovers
woodblocks on handmade paper, unique edition
3x3" page size

copyright Kate Castelli 2014 

Glovebox Artist of the Month: Inspiration

Check out 12 things inspire me over at the Glovebox blog!

Friday Inspiration: Practice

Friday Inspiration: Postmarks

Postmarks from my collection of postcards and letters. I've been looking at a lot of postal ephemera lately and thinking about correspondence, travel, and distance.

At the beginning of the summer I read The Englishman Who Posted Himself and other Curious Objects by John Tingey (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010). It was a fascinating look at the object and the life of the turn of the twentieth-century eccentric and philatelist W. Reginald Bray.

Friday Inspiration: Lunch, Brunch, Supper

Tibor Kalman | Lunch, Brunch, Supper