Austin Howlett

Please introduce yourself. What originally sparked your interest in becoming an artist? How have you turned your passion for art into a career?

My name is Austin Howlett and I am a surreal figurative oil painter living in Los Alamos, New Mexico. I have always been interested in art, specifically painting and drawing since I was a child. There was always something so satisfying to me about creating a beautiful paper drawing and then seeing the joy on peoples faces when they would see it. That moment of connection was what I was always chasing when I continued to work on my art through middle school, high school and finally college in the form of an Art Degree. And once I had this degree I attempted to push myself into a more practical form of art via graphic design. I did this because I wanted the safety and security of a more traditional 9-5 job, while also hopefully fulfilling my creative spirit. Unfortunately, my heart just was not in the graphic design world and with the support of my partner and family, I decided to pursue my passion for oil painting while working another part time job for some added stability. Over the years I’ve been able to turn this passion of mine into a career by embracing my uniqueness, playing to my strengths and most of all celebrating growth. In addition to this, I have found that no artist can find their success completely on their own, so I have also chosen to embrace the help and support of others, even when it’s a little uncomfortable.

What compels you to paint the human figure? What is your favourite feature to paint? Which facial feature do you find most challenging to capture?

I have been fascinated by art of the human form ever since I was introduced to renaissance paintings in middle school. There seems to be such a unique dichotomy of universality and individuality within the human form that peaks my interest and keeps me coming back to it. But when I started oil painting in late high school and throughout college, I shied away from painting the human figure out of fear of the technical challenge. So in my post college years I started to paint more abstract figures that were exaggerated, elongated and sometimes subtly incorporated into backgrounds. This was a way for me to explore the spirit of the human form without the fear of creating imperfect proportions. And from this phase, I slowly started to enjoy painting humans with more realism, embracing all of the intricate challenges in order to create more dreamlike paintings that envelope their viewers.
By far my favorite feature to paint are hands and they also happen to be the most challenging for me. I find hands to be incredibly emblematic of what we are feeling internally. A sort of window into our internal state expressed through subtlety and gesture.

Tell me about your ’Terra Human’ series. How do you explore our connection with nature in your work? Why are some of the figures in this series ‘out of proportion’?

I stumbled onto my Terra Human series around 2017 when I was still painting abstract figures. I was working on one particular piece with a mother and child laying down in and blended into an abstract background. The background started to look like the side of a mountain to me so I started to play around with that idea, adding trees and developing the shape of the mountain more and more. There was just something I loved about seeing the human form scaled up and fully immersed into their surroundings. Painting us as if we are part of the landscape and showing that our seemingly unique curves and angles mimic hills and mountain peaks in almost perfect harmony. I really wanted to keep the unique scale of the humans in my paintings as a way to show that even though we are a gigantic unavoidable presence on this planet our scale still cannot compare to the vast natural world that has been here longer than we can ever comprehend.

What ignites your imagination? What are the characteristics of an interesting subject to paint?

I can start to feel my imagination take off when I can create an image reference for a painting that feels like it has a story behind it. When I find a combination of human and landscape that works so harmoniously that I have to paint it in order to communicate something that is important to me. Many people who see my work love to comment on my lighting and I greatly appreciate that because it’s one of the most important and interesting aspects of a painting for me. I always want the lighting of my paintings to be realistic and dynamic as a way to lure viewers into a piece. I want the subject to look surreal and dreamlike in order to spark one's imagination but also have realistic lighting and shadows to ground it in a sense of reality.

Although I strive to paint a variety of subjects who can visually represent different thoughts and emotions, I want all of the people I paint to have a sense of thoughtfulness to them. An intense vulnerability that only comes from self-reflection and self-work.

Describe your creative process from start to finish of your most recent painting. What initially inspired the composition?

I created my most recent Terra Human painting for a show with Abend Gallery in Denver. For this piece titled “Among the Stars” I first started by creating a reference image in photoshop. For this particular piece I was merging an image of my friend sleeping that I took several years ago with a stunning astro photo from a photographer who I found on instagram. Once I had permission to use this nighttime landscape photo, I went to work figuring out how I wanted to arrange these two images and at what scale. After many changes in composition and colour editing, I settled on a reference that I could then work from for my final painting. I then used a grid method to draw that image onto my gessoed panel. Once I have my detailed sketch I can then get to painting, working section by section typically painting wet into wet so that I can blend my colours smoothly. For my paintings involving any sort of landscape I usually paint what is furthest back in the distance and then move my way forward towards the viewer. I always want to give myself a detailed and accurate reference image to work from so that once I'm painting I don’t have to think about composition or any big changes, I’m just trying to render my painting as closely to the reference image as possible.

What is the relationship between art and psychology?

For me, my art allows me to explore my own mind. The process of painting is a way for me to examine and understand my emotions, thoughts and relationships. So many thoughts and ideas come to the surface while I work in a painting for hours upon hours and it can almost become therapeutic in a way. But my favorite step is when I finish a painting and can reflect on it by writing a description and title. For me this step pushes me to think bigger around the image that I just created and find out what I want it to communicate. I think that when we experience art that resonates with us, it leaves an imprint that can slowly shift our perspectives and emotions if we let it.

Out of all your paintings, which has been your favourite to work on, and why?

My favorite piece to create so har has been “Choosing Light”. Painting hands is such a rewarding challenge for me and this piece in particular was significant because it was a painting of my own hands. So over time I started to view this piece as a sort of self portrait. Not only was it enjoyable because of that personal theme but also because the process went so smoothly. I’ve created so many paintings of hands by this point that I have a system that I know I enjoy and know will give me the results that I want. So I was able to relax while making it and enjoy the process as well as finding new and interesting details to include. The details like fingerprints, hand wrinkles and melting wax were the most fun to create in this piece and I feel like they are a testament to my observational skills and my patience.

If you could spend a day with an artist; dead or alive, who would it be, and why?

I would spend the day with Michelangelo listening to him speak about his many passions and how they all influenced each other artistically. Our current society greatly values people who are highly specialised in one specific field of interest and growing up I always wanted to be a sort of renaissance man like Michelangelo, who could have a variety of interests that all seem to build on one another.

What has been your greatest achievement so far as an artist? What are your future aspirations?

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with several galleries in several cities of the US. In addition to many group shows, I was also able to have my very own online solo show in 2022 with a gallery in Denver. Other than my gallery work, I’m also very proud of the commissions that I’ve created for my clients over the years. I’m fairly selective of the custom work that I do these days and all of my recent commissions have been incredibly meaningful for the client and have served as excellent ways to connect with them on a deeper level. It has been incredibly fulfilling to see a client’s genuine reaction to a painting that we both had a hand in creating over the course of several months.

Why do you think art is important in society?

I think that art can not only reflect us as people but our values as well. All art has inherent value even when it has no meaning behind it. Art is a way for us as humans to connect through self expression and vulnerability, and that connection will always have value.

Austin Howlett

ARTIST INTERVIEW: AUSTIN HOWLETT