Isabelle Castro

In my sustained investigation I asked the question “What ritualistic tasks or daily moments bring us joy?” As a way of giving attention to the often unacknowledged parts of our day. I wanted to be able to capture serene, private moments that usually only that person sees. I didn't want these works to feel stiff, these are often mundane, simple tasks, and when you look at my reference photos they can look quite boring. In the paintings I wanted to give them more color and life, so that the viewers can better understand how it makes me feel to engage in these small joys.

With my series I wanted to be able to create a color palette that portrayed how these moments made me feel, letting the viewer look through my eyes. With previous works I found myself getting stuck in gloomy headspaces, with these I wanted to stray away from those dark color palettes, and use brighter happier ones. My primary medium is watercolor, my first layers of paint often looking a bit messy, but coming together with more detailed linework.