A Love Of Drawing

Creating art from a variety of mediums,Gail takes her inspiration from the world around her.

- Gail Castles

My earliest memory of art coming into my life was when I was six or seven years old, my Dad came home with a box of sketches and I remember being fascinated at how good they were. There were sketches of castles, boats, and babies. I started drawing by copying the pictures at that young age. I’d spend hours after school, and over the weekends with my sister and mother, copying the different sketches. I remember enjoying those times so much.

I was born in Sydney then we moved to Mudgee, NSW when I was 10 years old. I attended a weekend workshop in Hargreaves with Keith Norris, he was such a wonderful person and artist who told me I had great perspective and should try my hand at painting. So I began to paint for many years off and on with oil paints but always my love of drawing was in the back of my mind. Spending most of my childhood in Mudgee and just loving the outdoors, I wanted to capture what I felt and put it on canvas, but I was never quite happy with the results. I realize as I’ve grown older, I’m always learning and now I see improvements in my drawings every time I do a new one.

My goal is to keep improving and to concentrate on painting portraits as I absolutely love the paintings of Akiane Kramarik; I also admire the works of Peter Smeeth, Nafisa and Marjie Zimmermann. You are an inspiration, Marjie!