Artist Kate Hursthouse finds her groove post pandemic

22 Sep 2022

Kate Hursthouse is a woman of many hats, an architect, designer, illustrator and mum. She found herself out of work when the 2020 pandemic hit, so turned to painting to find respite. “It was entirely circumstantial – I had always wanted to pursue art as a career,” Kate told Woman magazine. “But the pandemic gave me a real push. Painting was the one thing that kept me calm during the lockdowns.”

Now, two years later, she is a highly successful full-time artist and recently worked with Woman magazine to donate an artwork as a fundraiser for Keep New Zealand Beautiful. She also teaches courses in art and creative business mentoring and is the host of the podcast The Creative Mother. Kate does all of this out of her home studio in Te Atatu Peninsula, Auckland.

Resene Cornflower, Resene Poet, Resene Moody Blue, Resene Pukeko, Resene Sputnik metallic, Resene Surfs Up, Resene Tangaroa, Resene Guru, Resene Unwind, Resene Tranquil and Resene Alabaster make up her painting.

Kate says her main creative inspiration is colour. “I find painting very calming – almost meditative,” she says. “At the moment I’m mainly creating abstract landscapes.” When Kate was asked by Woman to be their featured Resene artist, she chose to create a landscape of a place she holds dear to her heart – Lake Taupō.

“The painting is of the view across the lake looking at Tongariro,” she says. “Taupō is a special place for my family and I – we have our big family gatherings there. It is a place of calm for me, and the sunsets there are particularly beautiful.

“I love the huge range of colours Resene makes. My favourite at the moment is Resene Cornflower – a peachy pinky orange. I used Resene FX Paint Effects medium to create the watercolour effect on the lake. I created this painting mostly from very strong, treasured memories of Lake Taupo. It was a really fun painting to do!”  

Kate’s painting raised money for Paint New Zealand Beautiful, supported by Resene, to help beautify our community with painting projects. Keep an eye out for future auctions with Resene and Woman magazine.

Paint New Zealand Beautiful is a branch of organisation Keep New Zealand Beautiful, a not-for-profit organisation who have been inspiring tidy Kiwis to ‘do the right thing’ and Keep NZ Beautiful since 1967. Paint New Zealand Beautiful programmes are supported by Resene and are a great way for communities to get out and about and keep neighbourhoods clean, safe and beautiful.

Find out more about Keep New Zealand Beautiful, www.knzb.org.nz

See more of Kate’s work, www.katehursthouse.com

Published: 22 Sep 2022