It’s taken me decades of practice to grow these vegetables - planting again and again, year after year - watching, failing and succeeding.

 Drawing them is a time to examine and find marks that express their unique form and mauri. This practice offers temporary relief from a growing sense of unease - will they continue to grow again and again year after year?

This kiwi character is the face of one of New Zealand’s successful kiwi recovery projects. I manage the art direction and graphic design for the Backyard Kiwi project.

At the book launch of Mr Kiwi has an important job Backyard Kiwi officially released a new kiwi print “Kiwi Mates” to add to the set of kiwi prints .

Kiwi prints can be ordered from my online shop , some of the proceeds from print sales go to Backyard Kiwi so when you buy a kiwi print you are supporting kiwi recovery at Whangarei Heads.

Find out more about the Backyard Kiwi project here

Daring Duck
Ignoring advice from the older ducks, a young female leaves the safety of her wetland sanctuary for a day of adventure. Beautifully illustrated, it is a classic story, full of action and scary adventures before a safe return and a big welcome home.

Order a signed copy here

Daring Duck, Picture book, 36 pages Daring Duck Publication September 2022 Paperback 978-1-927305-78-2, RRP: $19.99 255 x 210mm, 36 pages, full colour Age 4+

Job sharing is nothing new for kiwi. For millions of years dedicated kiwi parents have worked together, to successfully hatch their precious chicks.

What is Mr Kiwi’s important job ?

Male and female kiwi both play a crucial role in the survival of their young. North Island brown kiwi nest twice a year, and relative to their size female kiwi produce one of the largest eggs in the world.

After this gargantuan effort the female is exhausted and must go away to rest and rebuild her strength. This is when the male steps in, taking on the wearisome task of sitting on their eggs for eighty days until they hatch.’

Mr Kiwi has an important job
selected for:
2020 Storylines Notable Book Award.

These spaces frame my domestic experience both inside and out! I have been drawing what I see in front of me - testing my methodology and materials - it feels like an adventure looking at my familiar world through a different lens.

Image 1-2-3
"Interior and Exterior Landscape - an intimate view" 1215mmx860mm
Ink wash, graphite
Centred here, my knowledge of this place comes from internal and external views, where the domestic-scape and land-scape converge.
In this drawing the landscape pours onto the surface of the paper and seeps into the interior space. The room arcs like the horizon across this landscape, scratched out in graphite marking light from outside, and shadows within. It is a particular and personal perspective of my place.

Image 4-5-6
“Kitchen Garden View” 805mmx600mm
ink, gouache, graphite

Working in the kitchen, the late summer Zinnia’s absorbed my attention.

For this drawing I drew over ink that had been poured onto paper and the zinnia’s predominate this domestic space.

Image 7-8-9
“Inside and Out” 700mm x 555mm
coloured pencil, copic pen

When we think of our home, spaces inside and out come to mind, living and working in this house I know it like a second skin. In this drawing I wanted to see if I could refresh my understanding of it by disrupting the connection between hand and eye. Using a pen taped to the end of a 2metre stick, the house was mapped inside and out. Then with left and right hand using coloured pencils, the internal and external spaces were pushed and pulled into focus This awkward rendering of my house has given me an unexpected perspective to a place I know intimately.

Image 10-11-12
”Stick drawing after Matisse and Lockdown” 805mmx600mm
pencil, graphite

Coming out of lockdown in 2020 following in the path of Matisse pencil I attached paper to the ceiling of my office , then taping a copic pen to a two metre long stick I set out to draw this view of my courtyard. After mapping out the drawing I untaped my pencil and filled in the objects and spaces both left and right hands.

After watching hours of motion sensor camera footage of monitored kiwi I was horrified to see that - as soon as a kiwi egg is laid - the burrow becomes a magnet for an array of pests and predators, who regularly visit to see if the tender kiwi chick has hatched.

Kiwi are constantly at risk from mammalian predation, a harsh reality which triggered the idea for this picture book.

 Working together with Kennedy Warne to tell the story of a modern day kiwi dad was an exciting and rewarding process.

 Illustrations and spreads in this work are developed from a process of reduction where I have started with a blob of colour and erased the shape of the plant of animal out of that blob adding multiple 'erased' layers over that initial colour to build up form and tone. 

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The Time Piece series is a response to materials and process. As I worked on these drawings I thought about the immense age of the swamp kauri, the delicate nature of our tenure here on this planet and our capacity to work together across hemisphere and cultures.
titles:
“2000 years standing”
“1000 years in the swamp”
“3000 years old”

This work is for sale as prints and available in two sizes
• 740mm x 800mm
• 500mm x 540mm

The Giant’s Orchestra invited me to make some drawings relating to pieces I have been designing in collaboration with Jon Lister - designer and fine furniture maker.
Based in Germany the Giant’s Orchestra is a platform featuring collectable contemporary design, fine art, furniture and sculptural pieces.

To purchase a print in Aotearoa/New Zealand - contact:
Heather Hunt
elsewhere in the world
Giant’s Orchestra

Paradise shelduck

Pūtangitangi, Tadorna variegata Endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand

The work in this gallery is a collection of sketches and working drawings I have made as part of my research into these birds.

For many years I have observed a flock of paradise ducks who live at the end of my road. They are noisy, social birds, their endless chatter and debate makes me laugh. I love to draw them.

Daring Duck grew from my observations and countless drawings of these ducks – I’ve seen how they behave at different times of the year and learnt what excites them and what they are afraid of. After years of watching and sketching I still marvel at these handsome talkative birds

I became intrigued by the complicated relationship between the cuckoo and the warbler. I have worked with writer Kennedy Warne and publishers Potton and Burton to produce a picture book about the ‘The Cuckoo and the Warbler'.

Illustrations are set in the flourishing forests of Whangarei Heads, where I first saw pīpīwharauroa and where the delightful call of the riroriro rings out year round.

As with KIWI the real story this work is 'hand drawn digital' In this work I played more with the process of layering colour much in the same way I do when I paint with oils and I love the transluscent feel of these illustrations.

The Cuckoo and the Warbler has a Storylines Notable Book Award and was a finalist in the 2017 NZ Book Awards for Children and Young Adults

Poised to dive in, a reluctant and gun-shy Olympia is lined up to race. She is terrified, but once submerged, she takes to the pool like a duck to water.

Olympia grew from a conversation in a kitchen shop with writer Rachel Spratt - we’d both seen a video of elephants swimming in a glass sided pool and between the aisles of crockery and stainless steel cooking pots the idea of a swimming elephant was hatched. I went home to draw and Olympia emerged from the depths of an Olympic sized swimming pool.

Olympia's relate-ability has inspired a devoted following and her capacity to stimulate pictures and stories is of elephantine proportions.

The basis of the swim illustrations is watercolour from which I add lines and overlay other processes to the original art work montaging the original art work into the page composistions.

This is a story about real kiwi, in a real place; the story of a dogged survivor, a bird which deserves our respect for its sheer resolve to survive and live its own life in the face of overwhelming odds.

Heather collaborated with co-author Annemarie Florian to create
KIWI the real story which has received a Storylines Notable Book Awardit won the Childrens' Choice Award in the 2013 NZ Post Book Awards and was a Russell Clark illustration award finalist.

I describe my method for this work and 'hand drawn digital' each spread is made up of 1000's of vector points. Learning how to draw with vector points using my pen and tablet was wild, and fun experience. The working spreads look like the most complicated piece of knitting you could ever imagine. Being able to play with colour line in such a diverse way has - for me - produced an exciting and colourful result.

Buy a signed copy of "KIWI the real story"

A silent conversation, with a subtext!

Detailed line drawings with ink and wash.