Daily Inspiration: Meet Thomas Hardcastle

Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Hardcastle.

Hi Thomas, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started out as a hairdresser in Ventura in the eighties. After brief stints in Oxnard and parts of Ventura, I found my way back to Ojai, where I had attended high school at Villanova Prep. I worked as a hairdresser for The “Grey Gables Retirement Center. I also worked simultaneously on the weekends for the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara as a hairdresser… While I continued to work in Ojai, I left the nursing home gig and built a good following in a downtown beauty supply owned by Ojai’s one-time Queen of Retro Kitsch complete with 1955 pink Buick, Lisa Clark of Busy Babes.  After a few more years, I left the shop in Santa Barbara and started Delilah Salon, first as a one-man salon in the cottage in front of the historic Lavender Inn in downtown Ojai, and a few years later, the location where it been downtown Ojai for twenty years, Matilija Plaza. at 323 Matilija St, Ojai.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Ojai has always been an open community ever since I moved here when I was 24 years old. I have been booked out 6 weeks since my first year here as a hairdresser, and that never changed. The biggest challenge is balancing my local art participation with my workload at the salon. This year, I helped produce the Elements show this past April at the Ojai Art Center and was very well received in the community.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I work in a variety of media and subject matter but if I had to guess, what I’m known for is probably my pastel landscapes. I have been able to capture vistas of Ojai from the properties of my hairdressing clients that show the valley in a seldom-seen perspective. When I was studying plein aire with artist Jennifer Moses, we made sure to record the historic devastation of the Thomas Fire a week later in our study.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I really enjoy the vast musical options that YouTube has to offer especially the obscure dj mixtapes. There is music to fit any creative mood.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thomashardcastleartist.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomashardcastleartist/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomas.hardcastle.9