About The Artist

I am a self-taught artist inspired mainly by the outdoors, wilderness and wildlife. My love of art began as a young child. Although I was forbidden to consider art as a career, it became the underlying driving force in my life, and it has sustained me through some difficult times. I work in acrylic, oils, pencil and vector. Throughout a 14 year career as a government lawyer, I created, exhibited and sold art - inspired by weekend forays into the high country around our capital Wellington. These activities kept me sane. The artworks were a way to reach out and 'possess' the wild country I would love to have lived and worked in. At present I live in the Far North of New Zealand. More recently, while caring for my mom who had developed Alzheimers, I freelanced on the net in webdesign and graphics - working principally for an Australian company in vector design (2004-2009). Unfortunately, that job folded. In 2010 I was approached to illustrate a book - 'Taketakerau The Millennium Tree', on the strength of work displayed on the Internet. The book, published in 2012, won 5 awards, including Finalist in the 2013 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards - Non-Fiction Category. See http://taketakerau.com . I am now putting my time back into art and have just started exhibiting again. For my CV which includes awards and exhibitions, see http://www.patriciahowitt.com/cv.html For press cuttings, see http://wild-newzealand.com/presscuttings.html My other interests are gardening and classical archaeology. Visit my site at http://damascusroad.news