Wendy Castleden Life as an artist
Art is a passion I’ve been chasing for years. I’m curious, fascinated, and inspired by life’s experiences and the strange beauty found in unexpected places.
Living in Australia I took babies to art classes in Claremont where they would sleep peacefully through the hours in the art room. When the children were old enough, I was employed by a tile company painting house numbers, a process of on-glaze painting, which was also used to paint basins, toilets, kitchen back drops, and decorative tiles used in garden schemes. For a while I taught my style of on-glaze painting. After finding a studio in Fremantle I worked in oils and pastels, stimulated by long walks and Caminos in Europe, which led to three successful solo exhibitions.
Later, when we moved to Margaret River I made a studio in the shed we had lived in whilst building a house. After another successful exhibition in the Church Gallery, the time for art became more available as the idea of having Open Studios in the area became a reality.
This will be the tenth year I have been showing work in my studio, which is now attached to the house. It is a most stimulating time with ideas from research providing constant and rich possibilities for my work. I am finding an ever-increasing need to experiment in the wonderful world of art. My choice of medium depends on the subject; with recent works employing charcoal, inks, oils, coloured pencils and natural dyes.