Check Out David Castle’s Story

Today, we’d like to introduce you to David Castle.

Hi David, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
For many years, I believed technology was my passion, starting when I became the excited owner of an Apple II computer in the early 1980s. I eagerly learned the basics of computer programming in high school followed by the more complex computer sciences of college. This led to my first job at a software consulting company with a large presence here in Denver.

I traveled the country, developing software for emerging cellular phone systems, and then relocated to Europe — two years in Germany and two years in Belgium — leading teams of software developers. For over ten years, I lived and worked with this passion for technology. As my career advanced, I moved into project management roles and began to realize that I was losing something — my passion for technology was no longer driving me nor keeping me fulfilled.

I wasn’t sure what I needed, but more years filled with project plans, budgets, spreadsheets, and what I felt as just the struggle to make things happen correctly no longer fed my soul. I tried shaking things up next and jumped to a new job with Janus Capital based in Cherry Creek to lead their first data warehousing project. Janus was investing heavily in technology at the time and for several more years, it was an exciting place to work. But by then I had serious concerns about my future in technology and the trappings I felt from a six-figure salary and the accompanying lifestyle.

Then came a gift: as Janus joined the outsourcing bandwagon, my own job was slated for elimination. I was fortunate to have a 4-month period to wrap things up, rather than the 1-hour notice my team of technologists received. I felt bitter as many of the very people who transported Janus successfully into the cutting-edge world of high-tech and who contributed to a period of wild success were escorted from the building; the technology solutions we had built now continued by contract workers in faraway countries.

Although I fundamentally opposed this outsourcing, I immediately knew it was my opportunity to escape the career and life that now trapped me. I took a year off to consider what to do next and explored making art. I met my soulmate. I planned my exit from technology (and that paycheck). And, I chose a new passion that tapped into the creative self that had been with me all along. So began my second career as an abstract artist and everything that went with building my own business.

In the beginning, I knew it was important to get lots of exposure for my art. I invested in exhibitions at art festivals and with regional art organizations, getting my abstracts in front of lots of eyes. I garnered positive feedback from varied sources and achieved some encouraging sales. I explored roles in the art industry that helped me progress such as joining the executive board of the Colorado Watercolor Society for several years. I worked hard in those early years to develop my own abstract painting style while managing all aspects of my new business.

Now, after 20 years, I’ve figured out how to run my art business my way. I’ve developed my artistic style and honed the techniques for making abstract art that most other artists aren’t producing — all with an eye on quality. And, I’m fulfilled and happy in this second career as my creative self.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t consider the journey of my career or my life to be particularly smooth. Starting at a young age I knew that something was different about me. Throughout my life, I’ve moved around a lot, which has certainly influenced my self-discovery as I experienced different places and people. I was uprooted from a rather comfortable childhood in the Denver suburbs to a rural farm in southern Missouri where we attempted to live off the land.

There were many hard lessons on that farm, but I definitely learned the critical skill of working hard in those Ozark hills. We then moved to north Idaho to build a log house out in the woods. I escaped to Arizona for college and then moved back to Denver for my first tech job. As a consultant, I traveled extensively across the USA and then relocated to Europe for four years. I returned to Denver and next moved to Ohio. And then on to Portland, Oregon. Finally, as the pandemic waned, I returned to my native Denver… it’s time to stay.

This meandering journey itself was a struggle as I developed who I was, what my passions were, what was important to me in this life, and where I would go next. Along the way, I lost the once-critical support of my parents as I left my more traditional career path and the financial security that came with it. Indeed, over the ensuing two decades I can count on one hand the number of acknowledgments I received from them that I even had a new career and job. That was a tough challenge to move past.

Over the 20-year span of my art career, I certainly felt the struggles of launching a small business from scratch. I found help along the way and the business side of being an artist mostly turned out to be just struggles of logistics, so I was able to apply much of my experience from my former career. As a former project manager, I found myself to be pretty adept at making much of it happen.

Being an artist — a creative professional— in a world that didn’t always foster a creative environment or support creative workers was more of a challenge. More specifically, how can I be seen (and heard) among all of the noise – whether the literal noise of our hand-held devices that contain the world to the noise of considering a client’s request to paint an abstract that matches their couch and dog?

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
“Colorado native David Castle paints geometric abstractions infused with unexpectedly rich and vivid colors. His art is inspired by the variety of mountain and urban terrain he has explored throughout his extensive travels in North America and his years of living, working, and traveling throughout Europe during his former career as a computer scientist. David draws from his exposure to the colors and shapes of these very different places as he combines paper, brush, oil and water, color, air, surface tension, and gravity to create each painting.”

I’m now starting my third decade as an abstract artist. I don’t have a formal art education, so to start out I focused on learning from other artists and leaned on the appreciation for art that I gained from exposure to art — lots of art — during my years living in Europe. I remember my first art class as an adult was with an artist who lived in my apartment building in Brussels. She held Saturday art classes in her tiny studio and spoke very little English.

And, I only spoke a little French, but we introduced me to painting with watercolors. I learned a valuable lesson there in her studio that still keeps me going today — experimentation without the constraints of more traditional art-making boundaries was key for me to become a successful artist in my second career. This has also set me apart as I still break rules and continue on my own path of painting abstracts that I don’t see others making. I’m known for my geometric abstracts full of rich color and metallics. Over the years, these have evolved from mostly square shapes with impossibly crisp edges in watercolor to vertical lines and circles in my own unique mix of oil and metallic watermedia.

My favorite oil paint is actually a solid pigment stick rather like a large crayon. I have spent years perfecting my combination of these solid oil paints and my own mix of pure metallic pigments with a water media binder to achieve my layered abstracts. I’ve not seen any other artists paint with this unique combination and I’m quite happy with the results.

As I’ve developed my abstract style and honed my painting techniques, I’ve focused on several sources of inspiration from our natural world. I’m drawn to water and trees, especially the cool color palettes they bring to our landscapes and a feeling of calming peace. Many of my abstracts depict a coastal landscape complete with an ever-present horizon line. I’ve also painted abstract trees in my various styles – most recently, trees composed of circles. When I’m painting, I often think about my exposure to all of the places that I’ve visited on this planet (I call them “elsewheres”) — from a favorite glade in the forests of Luxembourg to my most favorite hike on a historic railroad bed above Leadville.

I apply all of this as my abstracts take shape and think my abstracts evoke a sense of longing to be in these places, even if for just a moment. And when others see and feel this too, that certainly fulfills me as an artist. More technically, I’ve studied principles of design, such as elements of dynamic symmetry, that all work into my abstracts. I consider some of my favorite artists along with my elsewheres; if I were to choose an artist from history who has inspired me, it’d be Mark Rothko, both for his journey to his color field abstracts and for his own personal story ending in suicide.

There are many moments from my journey as an artist that would never have happened had I stayed in the corporate world. Starting my own business and working for myself has been satisfying. I consider changing my job from a technology-focused corporate one to literally painting abstracts in my studio quite a success. I’m proud that I’ve spent more time in my elsewheres — rather than meeting rooms — as an artist. One, in particular, is a recent highlight: I was chosen for a 2-week arts residency aboard the barkentine Antigua, where twenty international artists and I sailed the Arctic circle around Svalbard, Norway, each of us working on varied art projects.

I cherish that time painting my abstracts in a frozen world which was a new take on my love of water as a source of inspiration. For now, I continue to evolve my abstracts, having more ideas than I could possibly paint, but am also considering what creative endeavor might be next for me beyond painting abstracts. Perhaps nonfiction writings to capture some of my life’s stories?

What matters most to you?
Living my life as my authentic self matters most to me. I’ve learned this is critical to my success in both life and my career. The most important aspects of my life suffered or never developed to their fullest potential when I denied being my most authentic self. I spent decades coming out to myself, my family, and the world as an artist who just happens to be gay.

And along my path I paid a price — I lost much of my immediate family when I finally emerged as myself. I further lost my parent’s approval by leaving a secure, high-paying career that had ultimately ceased to fulfill my creative self. Now it is clear that being myself has enabled a fulfilling career as an artist and sharing that bit of longing with others when they see my paintings. As I developed my second career, I strive to remain authentic as an artist and business person.

It is important to me to remain real and grounded as I make art, conduct my business with integrity, and share it all with others. I describe my art and myself without glossing things up. I eschew purple prose descriptions of my art and how I make it that appear fake or inexplicable to viewers of my art… and to me. This matters to me as authenticity fosters the connections between me, my art, and people. Finally, being true to my own values matters. These values have guided the careers I’ve chosen and the family that has gathered around me — many chosen along the way.

My husband and soulmate of over 20 years matters. And giving back to this planet, especially some of my most loved elsewheres, along with some of the people who live here, matters. Whether adding a native plant to my yard, planting canopy trees across this city, or helping settle refugees, it is part of the reason we are all here.

Pricing:

• Original abstracts from 4×4 inches to 4×4 feet (and larger): $65-$4,600

Contact Info:

• Website: www.davidcastleart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidcastleart/