Meet Austin Howlett

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Austin Howlett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Austin below.

Austin , thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

As I write this I am sitting in a treatment chair of an infusion suite receiving my 12th and final chemotherapy treatment, finally arriving at the end of a 6 month long journey fighting Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would get cancer at at the age of 31, no one ever imagines something like this will happen until it does. I’m beginning this interview this way because despite how
life altering this experience has been I have still found time to enjoy and refine my craft. In fact facing my mortality in this way has only affirmed my chosen life path for me. Because even when I was anxious, afraid, nauseous, weak and tired I still wanted to create and use paint to communicate with anyone who would listen. If there were ever a question about me pursuing the right path, I think the fact that I continued to paint all through my fight with cancer answers it pretty definitively.
I am resilient because I am in love with what I do plain and simple. And if things had gone differently and the door were to close on my life like it threatened to do 6 months ago I would not have one regret about pursuing my passion. And please understand I am not resilient alone, my resiliency is reinforced by the people in my life who love and support me, encouraging me to live authentically.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am an oil painter specializing in surreal figurative imagery. I create paintings that strive to transport the viewer into a world that is familiar yet dreamlike. A place were they can be vulnerable, thoughtful and reflective. And I write detailed descriptions along with all of my paintings that seek to guide the viewer in their vulnerable experience and give insights into my personal thoughts on the piece.
Soon I will be revealing my finished painting that I’ve worked on all throughout my experience with cancer. A painting that I worked on for approximately 9 months, slowly chipping away at it in-between treatments. And I am greatly looking forward to reentering the local art community after secluding myself for so long.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

A mindset that really had a big impact on my journey has been the idea of playing to ones strengths. As a small example when I was an art major in college, the painting professor had a definite bias towards more expressive painting as opposed to detailed and realistic painting techniques. So everyone learned very quickly that if you catered to his preference then you would get better grades. And I ended up carrying this unknown bias into my artwork after college until I began painting the human form. And once I started painting people I realized that better accuracy in my technique would make them look more convincing. I started to realized that I had a great eye for subtle details and for years this natural inclination of mine was pushed aside because of the preferences of a college professor. My art really started to blossom when I embraced this side of me, the side that thrived on noticing and recreating extremely subtle details in order to turn a painting into a portal to another world. I find so much more satisfaction in the way that I paint now and I think that my passion comes across in the final product.

Another ability that has made an impact is the ability to talk about and write about ones art. It’s one thing to make a piece of artwork but it is another thing entirely to speak about of effectively. When you talk about your creations in a way that people connect with you imbue it with even more meaning beyond the visual and this can show potential collectors the immense value of your work. Every painting I create is accompanied by a thoughtful description that I spend hours refining in order to properly communicate the concepts behind that piece. And when I am at a show I always make sure to mentally prepare certain talking points about whatever paintings I’m exhibiting so that people can better understand me and the work that I create.

The final and most important quality is the practice of having a growth mindset. I almost always mention this in any interview because it has been unmistakably key to my personal success. I hope to always view myself as a student of the craft, always seeking to learn and grow in whatever passion I pursue. With every painting I every made I’ve always tried to make the next one just a little bit better in my eyes. Making sure to acknowledge the accomplishment that was made but always finding excitement in the potential for something new.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

My wife Katy has been the cornerstone to any amount of success I have found in this career. She was the first person to encouraged me to take the leap and pursue my art, valuing my personal fulfillment over the perceived stability of a 9 to 5 job. She has been at my side every microscopic step of the way, helping me move into my first art studio, building my first website, assisting me with my first gallery and helping me rediscover my creative spark after my cancer diagnosis. I am constantly honored that she chooses to invest her valuable time and energy into my passion, genuinely believing in me and believing that my art can make this world a better place. I don’t know what I did in a past life to deserve her but I know for sure that I will never take her for granted.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Austinhowlett.com
• Instagram: @austin.howlett_art
• Facebook: Austin Howlett Art
• Youtube: Austin Howlett Art
• Other: TikTok: @austin.howlett_art