Welcome to the art of

Jason Fastier

The Castle in the Sky explores unexpected moments of beauty found through the lens of a restless creative mind bound to the routine of courier work.

Emerging from the artist’s daily routes, the project captures how golden-hour light transformed mundane street scenes into moments of inspiration. What began as a growing archive of reference photos taken on the job evolved into a reflection on the tension between creative ambition and the demands of part-time work.

This debut solo exhibition showcases a new series of oil paintings created from a curated selection of 350+ reference photographs, taken by the artist over five years on delivery routes. The work comprises a large series of painting ‘studies’ created under unique challenges, crescendoing into the Pièce de résistance - An epic surrealist mashup of all the artist’s dreams, inspirations and ideas that led to the exhibition’s creation.

Te Auaha official listing

Purchase Paintings / Prints

Timer (20mins): Sketching, mixing and painting all within the timeframe.
Painting Without Drawing: No pencil or underdrawing allowed, go straight in with paint.
Dot or Dab Only: No full brushstrokes, just dabs or points of paint.
Diagonal Only: Force the composition to use only diagonals.
Oversized: Use only one paintbrush that is too big for the canvas.
Written Description: Write down a description of the scene and use it as the only reference.
Destruction/Rebuild: At the halfway point, wipe down your work, then rework over the remnants.
Low Light Painting: Paint under dim lighting.
Duotone (a): Choose only two colours from the palette. (Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber)
Blind Timer: Set a timer to stop randomly anywhere between 20 minutes - 2 hours. (25 minutes)
Blind Drawing: Draw the scene without looking at the canvas and paint the result.
Limited Brushstrokes (20): A brushstroke ends when you lift off the canvas.
Timer (1h): Sketching, mixing and painting all within the timeframe.
Knife: Paint with a palette knife only.
Limited Brushstrokes (50): A brushstroke ends when you lift off the canvas.
Limited Brushstrokes (10): A brushstroke ends when you lift off the canvas.
Thumbnail Expansion: Do a 2x2cm thumbnail sketch and use it as the only reference.
Zoom out: Imagine what is outside the reference image borders
Zoom in: Choose a small detail from the reference.
Vignette: Leave edges of canvas raw, paint only the centre image with soft or no borders.
Duotone (b): Choose only two colours from the palette. (Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre)
No Blending: Flat colour only.
No mixing: Paint straight from the tube only.
Printer: Paint in rows from top to bottom.
Left Hand: Paint with your non-dominant hand.
80:40: Spend 80 minutes mixing and sketching, remaining 40 minutes painting.
Flip: Paint the entire piece upside down.
Pre-mix: No more mixing once the first brushstroke has been laid.
Free square: Paint however you li ke within the time limit.
Arms Length: Stand as far from the canvas as possible while painting.