Elisabeth Howlett
Elisabeth Howlett makes highly sculptural and textural oil paintings featuring Australia’s magnificent wildflowers. She makes expressive portraits of flowering Australian flora with generous, deliberate brushstrokes of impasto oil paint. Elisabeth is enamoured by the unapologetic forms of native flora, their ancient shapes and crazy leaves that splay out in all directions. Her work is about the forms of these plants, their ancient personage.
Elisabeth wishes to capture the effortless grace and dignity inherent in native plants and flowers. Elisabeth enjoys foraging local wildflowers and formulating them into sculptural arrangements. Next is photographing, drawing in charcoal, often underpainting in acrylic, and finally, painting the outer final layer in oil on canvas.
Elisabeth describes her subjects with vivid, deliberate brushstrokes laden with impasto oil. She applies generous quantities of impasto oil paint to describe her chosen subject. She describes the form of her chosen subject matter expressively and at times unexpectedly, emphasising the impression made by each brushstroke. Elisabeth’s paintings are highly textured, owing to the application of thick oil paint.
Prior to being an artist, Elisabeth worked as a lawyer. She spent the majority of her 15 year legal career on matters impacting the natural environment. The protection of nature conservation in the legal sphere had a lasting impact, fostering Elisabeth’s love of native plants and flowers.
Elisabeth has recently commenced painting portraits. She has translated her style into describing faces with impasto oil paint using palate knife. She takes the opportunity to incorporate wildflowers into her portraits.
Elisabeth has worked as an artist for the last 12 years. She has held 3 solo exhibitions, and has taken part in many group exhibitions locally and interstate. She has worked as an artist in residence in councils and schools. Elisabeth enjoys teaching art. She is married to Simon and has 2 children, Alice and Sam. The Adelaide foothills where the Howlett’s reside provides the perfect daily inspiration for Elisabeth’s art practice.
