A Blog: Fellow Sisters
Posts from Circa 2008 -2010
Fellowsisters is freelance illustrator María Castelló based in Barcelona. This was her blog site for several years.
Content is from the site's first post in January of 2008 -through selected archived posts to Dec 22 of 2010.
Enjoy the nostalgic trip back to María Castello's thoughts, artwork, and observations.
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2010
To rest
And happy 2011!
POSTED BY FELLOWSISTERS AT 12:37 PM
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2010
Javelin Love Songs Vol. III and IV
Since last week, the second installment of " Jabalina Love Songs " is available , this time with Souvenir and Ama. Again, it has been a pleasure working with both groups and Tanis and Marina .
Soon we will start working on the next installment.
By the way, next Friday, December 10, a presentation party will be held in Madrid at the Pop & Dance Club . Invitations can be requested here. If you dare, see you there.
POSTED BY FELLOWSISTERS AT 3:17 PM
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Thursday November 18, 2010
Portrait of the week # 24
I had not carried out this little ritual, but this week I've felt like give my modest tribute to this lovely person, Sally Draper. Given that there was never a formal farewell to this format, I think it's a fantastic character to put the finishing touch.
Sally is the daughter of Don and Betty Draper in AMC series Mad Men and is admirably played by Kiernan Shipka . When we began to see Mad Men, Sally was only a child, but the evolution of her character, could already be glimpsed in the third season. She has left me fascinated. If I had begun to see Mad Men when she still wore it the "Portrait of the Week" with constancy, it probably would have portrayed Joan, or Peggy, maybe even Betty, depending on the empathic character the key writers touched upon . However, at this point, it is Sally who captures my expectations.
In the penultimate chapter of the fourth season Sally has a conversation with her neighbor who was embedded in my brain for a few days. I searched the video clip, but no luck, so I'm going to play it as I remembered it. To contextualize, two children are sharing their impressions about flying in dreams:
- Sally: Just felt like I was going to heaven, except I do not believe in it.
- Glen: You do not? Then What happens when you die? Nothing?
- Sally: It does not really bother me except that it is forever. When I think about " forever" I get upset. It's like the picture on the the "Land O Lakes" carton. There is an Indian girl sitting holding a box. And that image is of her on it holding a box, with a picture of her on it holding a box. Have you ever noticed that?
- Glen: I wish you would not have said that.
The image in question created deep worries for both Sally and Glenn since it encompasses such ideas as eternity and death.
I wish this little miracle of a character every success in the TV world. I hope they continue with tthe character of Sally Draper in the next season of Mad Men. Hopefully Kiernan with her success does not come back as a pa.
Sometimes I like to image what Sally and her family members would be like if it were 2010. Obviously they would all have cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices. I can see Don Draper as being really into online casino sites. He'd probably have several online casino in usa sites that were his favorites. I think he would play poker online at his computer, as well as a mobile version for his cell phone. Pete Campbell and definitely Roger Sterling would also be big online gambling players. Perhaps it would be roulette for Roger and video poker for Pete. Betty Draper would be a secret online slot fanatic, whereas Peggy Olson would be too busy to bother. I think Joan Holloway would only dabble if she were to play. But she would be good at Texas Holdem Poker or Tri-Card Poker. Sally would be disdainful of her mother and perhaps a bit more forgiving of her father, particularly if he let her watch while he played. What do you think?
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Well, I think that portrait is fitting. When I was going through the LifeBac program for AUD, I binged watched Mad Men. The LifeBac program offers two anti craving meds for people like myself, who a motivated to cut back or even stop drinking alcohol. I was hoping to cut back and make drinking a choice, not a habit or need. I had watched my father tumble down that slippery slope of chronic drinking and finally die from cirrhosis of the liver. The anti craving drug I decided to use was Baclofen, an FDA approved drug that is used off label for alcohol treatment. Who would have thought a drug that has been used extensively over decades for muscle spasticity would also be a medicine to stop drinking. Based on the Ameisen Method, LifeBac begins by prescribing a low dose of baclofen to new participants, like me. Users may drink normally. LifeBac follows up regularly checking for reductions in alcohol cravings and drinking. Gradually the med's dosage increases until an effective level is reached that makes users completely and effortlessly indifferent to alcohol. Baclofen is the go-to treatment for AUD in France and Australia with a good success rate which is why I decided to try it. However, I did experience some side effects, nausea, and insomnia initially which is how I ended up binge watching Mad Men. The show really engaged me. Eventually the side effects lessened and disappeared. I am proud to say Baclofen has been very effective and I am now a light drinker who is able to stop when I choose to. I will not end up like my Dad.
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Portrait of the week #23
Okay, there are a few reasons why I know that Peter Greenaway, sometimes confuses his audience. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and particularly, Flemish painting. For my part I have my reasons for liking him. Please follow my train of thinking. One is that, although he is not always faithful to his own conception, he is a visionary with regard to the visual. In addition, I must admit, we share a great passion for painting, particularly paintings of the Baroque period.
I have not seen all of Greenaway's film, but I can say that what he does best, is how he combines scenic composition and illumination.
Particularly in the Netherlands during the period we call Baroque, painting became independent of its normal religious function which one can obviously observes whenever in all European churches. The Baroque painter began to make observations of the bourgeois homes and institutions of the day, creating new genres of art that still influence the art world today. All this is explained wonderfully by Victor I. Stoichita in the "The Invention of the Box". During the Baroque period painters started to reached a degree of self-analysis and self-awareness that even 300 years still amazes me.
Leaving aside the visual references to Baroque art in Greenaway's films (an example is the backdrop for the wonderful group portrait by Frans Hals in "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover", what interests me especially is when this Baroque influence affects the plot. Both films, "The Draughtsman's Contract" and "Nightwatching" explore the ideas of what separates mere representation of art versus the explicit will of creation by the artist. In both cases the result had catastrophic consequences for the painter, Rembrandt.
Obviously, the key is what the artist wants to explore that is relevant to himself, which interestingly often what makes it relevant to posterity. The art of a brilliant artist becomes more than just his exploring a scene. Most historical paintings are relevant because the artist has exceeded the expected order of his time, and has done so with a specific social commitment. An example: Greenaway exploresd today's visual illiteracy in his Rembrandt's J'Accuse (Rembrandt was played by a wonderful Martin Freeman) via a conspiracy about a murder and the motives of all its characters who conspired to kill for their combined self-advantage. Thus Rembrandt's paintings are more that just paintings of his time, once you understand them in their social context.
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Jillian Tamaki SKIM
SKIM is a graphic novel resulting from the collaboration between Canadian illustrator Jillian Tamaki and her cousin Mariko . It is a tender story of teenagers with intelligent maladaptive protagonist, and all the drama that all that entails (adolescence and maladjustment), but also about the shortcuts that we seek to survive those who sometimes feel that we have not just fit into a place concrete. He is very kind to read and highly recommended, but above all I would highlight Jillian's magnificent drawings, very much in line with the Japanese graphic tradition that I like so much (they could remember Hokusai himself ), and his handling of graphic narrative.
Here are some images that I have scanned as a souvenir, before returning the book to my dear friend Laia , but on Tamaki's website there are a couple more samples .
POSTED BY FELLOWSISTERS AT 11:22 AM
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2010
Javelin Love Songs Vol. I and II
The first installment of " Jabalina Love Songs " , a 7 "vinyl collection whose covers I have had the pleasure of illustrating, with graphic design by Marina Gómez Carruthers,
is already on sale . The first two volumes, available in the store of the Jabalina website , featuring Apennine (Vol. I) and Wild Honey (Vol. II), 4 other deliveries of two volumes each are planned, of which I will of course record here.
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2010
Ling August
I participated in the August issue of Ling magazine with an illustration about Ggantija temples in Malta. You can check the full issue of the magazine in this link .
POSTED BY FELLOWSISTERS AT 10:16 AM
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FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2010
Return to the terra
A book that I illustrated a few months ago is already in circulation. It is called "Retorn a la terra", its author is Santi Baró and has been published by Estrella Polar in his L'Odissea collection.
POSTED BY FELLOWSISTERS AT 15:03
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If you liked our tribute to Escher’s “Drawing Hands”, then perhaps you will also like this drawing
Wednesday June 17, 2009
Desander
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2009
Pedro Jiménez's parents
/images/padres-pedro.jpg
A couple of weeks ago Pedro Jiménez commissioned me to make a portrait of his parents as a wedding anniversary gift.
This is the portrait of José Antonio Jiménez and Loly Álvarez Peralías . It has been a pleasure!
POSTED BY FELLOWSISTERS AT 10:17 AM
AN ASIDE: I would frequently check in to Fellowsisters when I was first starting out on my own as an illustrator. Jump ahead a decade and I came across the site once again. This portrait of Pedro Jiménez's parent, both wearing glasses inspired me to buy a pair of aviator glasses recently from an online store where I often buy new frames or get my lenses replaced. Looking at the father's glasses instantly made me think about the classic Aviators navigator square shape lenses which for full coverage and comfort can't be beat or so says the ad copy on Eyeglasses.com. I had been tinkering around with the idea of perfectly round glasses, but when I tried on a pair that a friend was wearing they made me look dorky. Did you know who first created this now classic frame. Well, I didn't until I looked it up in Wkipedia. Aviator sunglasses, or "pilot's glasses", were originally developed in 1936 by Bausch & Lomb for pilots to protect their eyes while flying.
So thanks Fellowsisters for the inspiration. I'm looking really gooood!
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TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2008
Ferry
A few years ago I bought a photo album at the Treptow Flohmarkt with photos from the 70s of the same family. How bad was the color paper at that time and how bad it has aged! However, this generalized "incident" has generated an aesthetic that is completely identifiable today.
This image is inspired by a photograph of that album. In its pages it appeared next to another photo of an old Volkswagen van entering the dark entrails of a Ferry.
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 15:39
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2008
Fellowsisters in Smashing Magazine
The drawings will already be familiar because I had already published them in other formats on the blog. But the news is that these headers have been published today in Smashing Magazine , one of the most interesting online publications on design in the network, in the post"45 beautiful blog header designs you can use for free" . If you want to download the headers, you can do it from this last
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 6:50 PM
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TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2008
Hopscotch
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 14:52
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SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 2008
Arrivals Gate
There is a song by Ani Difranco with this same title that comes to mind whenever I'm waiting for someone at the airport. So I have had it very present to collaborate in the call Arrivals and Departures
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 10:10 PM
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SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2008
High freakuency
I have drawn the five members of High Freakuency asmu ñ ecas kokeshi for the poster of his first concert in the Hall of the Comic of Granada. I hope they do very well.
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 9:55 PM
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2008
Jaime & David
This is a little gift I had made to my friend Jaime for his last birthday. I have finally taken it to print and I can give it to you on paper this weekend.
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 12:27 AM
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2008
The daughters of Butades
This drawing is a small tribute to Escher's Drawing Hands , and in a broader sense, also a reference to the myth of the origin of the drawing . It is perhaps the birth of the Fellowsisters, emerging directly from the paper ...
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 8:13 PM
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Shorts Less is More
Short script contest Less Is More
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 20:09
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Microphysics
Poster for the short film Microfísica by Joan Carles Martorell.
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 19:56
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Red
Illustrations published in the nami argi ibili issue of theRed Magazine. September 2007
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 19:48
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Collective Graph
I made these drawings for some headers for the Collective Graph website.
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 7:43 PM
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Coffee
One more draw
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 19:09
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Life lessons
Life lesson # 1 Life lesson # 2
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 18:54
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I remember a vacation
August 2006 souvenir
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 6:45 PM
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Some drawings for the first Fellowsisters website
I made these drawings for the first Fellowsisters website, almost a year ago. I like them because they helped shape these characters and their universe. We do not know very well if they are friends or sisters, colleagues, but what we do know is that they are companions of adventures.
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 6:16 PM
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MONDAY, JANUARY 21, 2008
Hello!
Opening the Fellowsisters blog ...
POSTED BY MARIA FELLOWSISTERS AT 11:00 PM
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