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Kia Ora and Greetings from New Zealand
Law is my training, and art is my life's blood... For about 20 years I practised law in Government in our capital city Wellington, a far cry from where I now live on a rural 10 acre property in the far North of NZ, looking after my elderly mom.
I am pretty much confined to home, so the Internet and my art have become my lifeline. I freelance in graphics and webdesign and have a small hosting business with my programming partner Scotty in Costa Mesa, California.
The outdoors became very important to me when I was working in the city. One of my colleagues introduced me to walking the high country and I spent most of my weekends and holidays in the hills of central New Zealand, from the North Island plateau with its great volcanoes, which I love, through the "Lord of The Rings" forests in the Tararuas near Wellington, to the mountainous country of the South Island West Coast. One day I will return to these places, but meantime they form the subject of much of my art.
My parents bought this property as a bare block over 30 years ago. It is really special, being adjacent to a reserve that was once a Maori burial ground, and it has a huge outcropping rock, pristine bush and a great presence about it. It has been a wonderful inspiration to me too. Now that I live here, it supports a horse, three dogs, five cats, three ducks, some kunekune pigs and some Boer goats - all of which take looking after, but I guess it's worth it. I could not bear to live cooped up in a city now.
I have done painting and sculpture since I was a small child and I wanted a career in art, but my parents insisted I get a "proper job". There's nothing like doing 2 things at once. In spite of having a pretty taxing career in law, the thread of art through my life was strong, and I produced, exhibited and sold art "on the sidelines" while working fulltime for years.
Finally I went teaching law part-time at Polytechnic and held my first solo exhibition. But my father died of leukaemia not long after, and then I was faced with the decision of staying put with a job, or moving to the country without one. It hasn't been easy, but I am very happy now that I am at last finding the means to make art my central focus.
I have always tried to convey the presence and sanctity I feel in the land, and the enduring qualities of the animals that inhabit it.
My final piece of news is certainly the most far-reaching for me. On 8 October 2006 I went with friends to a service at their interdenominational Fellowship church about 30 minutes' drive north of here on the coast. The awesome music of the Worship Team and the spirituality of the service drew me to be baptized in the sea at Doubtless Bay that same afternoon.
Many wonderful things have happened since then, but suffice to say that I have found the meaning that has all along underpinned my art, and I fully expect my work to take off in the service of our mighty Creator - it is in His hands.
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Patricia Howitt
Artist, Webmistress
Ebay: the-junglequeen
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