The Art of James Castle, Created With Spit, Scraps, and Soot

I find this fascinating. James Castle was born September 25, 1899, in the small mountain town of Garden Valley, Idaho to Francis J. Castle and Mary Nora Scanlon. Profoundly deaf from birth and did not attend school until he was ten years old, when he was enrolled at the Gooding School for the Deaf and Blind in southeastern Idaho.

At a very early age Castle began drawing and making things with found materials. Throughout Castle’s lifetime, nearly everything that crossed his path inspired or influenced him. His daily ritual included checking all the trash containers in the home and throughout the immediate neighborhood. 

Depending entirely on his ingenuity, Castle fashioned materials such as sticks, apricot pits and broken fountain-pen nibs into tools he could use to create. He discovered he could scrape soot from the wood-burning stove and spit into the powdery substance to mix a black ink suited for his diverse imagery. He often derived color by squeezing pigment from saturated crepe paper. Family members gave him store-bought art materials such as oil sticks and watercolors, and he incorporated these new materials into his own self-made concoctions to produce the many subtle textures and colors found in his work.

On paper scraps, he captured even the details of doorknobs, windowsills, washbasins and framed portraits of ancestors. Over the years, he tucked batches of his drawings into crannies around the house and the outbuildings.

In the 1950s, Castle’s nephew, Bob Beach, came home on a break from the Museum Art School in Portland, Oregon. Beach suggested to family members that Castle’s drawings, handmade books and constructions could be called “art.” Beach was allowed to take some of his uncle’s drawings back to the Portland art school to show his professors. This introduction launched the beginning of Castle’s recognition as an artist in regional museums and art galleries. 

Throughout history, how many other James Castles have come and gone without ever having been "discovered"?

To read more and find links to his archives click here.  

My First Dinosaur

I recently unearthed what may be my earliest surviving drawing…at least that I’m willing to show. Ironically, it’s a dinosaur. Apparently I drew this at age 3 and a half, while watching my older brother draw dinosaurs for a school project. 

With my next book being about a girl who sees herself as a dinosaur, I thought it was fitting that I share it. 

When speaking to groups, I often point out that young children- when drawing, singing, dancing, or doing whatever floats their boat-don't care whether what they’re doing is worthy of publication or slot on America’s Got Talent. 

At that age we all draw, sing, dance, etc. simply because it’s fun…it feels good. Somewhere along the way, we begin to pay attention to criticism from others and start to become critical of ourselves. 

There is nothing wrong with this, as it tests our love of a particular activity, and helps to spur growth in a talent. 
At the same time, it signals the end of doing something (bad or good) purely out of the joy of doing it. 

As an exercise, try tapping into to that mindset, when you were 3 and a half-completely free from any critical thinking-and create something simply because it’s fun…because it feels good.

A BIT OF THE PROCESS

As with all books-oodles of concept sketches and experiments with color preceded the final cover art for ALLY-SAURUS & THE VERY BOSSY MONSTER. 

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Thomas Oppong's Medium Post: "Genius Takes Time And Extraordinary Effort"

Once again, Thomas Oppong has written a fantastic piece for Medium, entitled: Genius Takes Time And Extraordinary Effort.  Those in a creative field who are unfamiliar with Oppong's writing, I can't recommend him strongly enough.  

This is one of the best articles I have read in a long time on creativity and the pursuit of excellence. Anyone in business for themselves or in a creative endeavor will find this useful. 

A reoccurring theme-in this and many other articles like it- is the importance of maintaining a robust curiosity in the world around us. 

My favorite paragraph was Picasso's response when asked whether his ideas come to him by chance or by design. It made my day to find out that I share his thought process! That's right..I think the same way Picasso did! He didn't have a clue...and neither do I-

"...Hungarian photographer Brassaï once asked Picasso whether his ideas come to him “by chance or by design,” and Picasso responded: “I don’t have a clue. Ideas are simply starting points. I can rarely set them down as they come to my mind. As soon as I start to work, others well up in my pen. To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing… When I find myself facing a blank page, that’s always going through my head. What I capture in spite of myself interests me more than my own ideas.”...."

 

Read the article by clicking here.