artists
every piece has a story, and every story begins with an artist
KARORI, WELLINGTON · CONTEMPORARY MIXED-MEDIA PAINTER
Elizabeth Harcourt
Elizabeth Harcourt is a Wellington-based artist whose tactile, layered paintings explore memory, place and the meaning found within everyday experience. Working primarily with oil and cold wax, acrylic and mixed media, she builds, obscures and reworks each surface until unexpected relationships begin to emerge.
about
Based in Karori, Wellington, Elizabeth Harcourt has a background in textiles and around twenty years of painting practice.
Her early training in stitched textiles and embroidery continues to influence the physical quality of her work. Collage, drawing, texture, mark-making and occasional areas of stitch come together in surfaces that retain the evidence of their making.
Elizabeth’s paintings often begin with ordinary experiences and observations—landscape, walking, relationships, memory and the environments we inhabit.
Rather than working towards a predetermined image, she allows each piece to develop intuitively. Layers are built up, disrupted, obscured and revealed as Elizabeth responds to the materials and shifting composition before her.
This process leaves traces of earlier decisions visible within the finished work. Erased marks, fragmented imagery and unexpected relationships between forms become part of the painting’s history, suggesting that what has been altered or concealed may still leave a presence behind.
Recurring ideas of containment and release, vulnerability, connection and renewal emerge through abstracted forms and layered surfaces. Her work considers how experiences accumulate over time and how meaning can be discovered within what might otherwise be overlooked.
Elizabeth holds a Level 3 Diploma in Design and Craft, specialising in stitched textiles and embroidery, as well as a Diploma of Art Appreciation from The Art Institute.
Her solo and featured exhibitions include Come Walk With Me at Zealandia, The Present Is What Your Life Is at Thistle Hall and Reflections on Cuba Street.
Elizabeth has also exhibited throughout New Zealand, including presentations at Mitchell Gallery, Harcourts Artex, the Craig’s Aspiring Art Awards, the Tasman National Art Awards and the Alpine Energy Art Exhibition, where she received second prize in 2024.
At the heart of Elizabeth’s practice is the act of paying attention—to place, material and the quiet details of daily life.
Because even after a surface has changed, something of what came before always remains.


Elizabeth Harcourt
Circular webs of stitching weave across earthy colour, creating a richly textured abstract composition.
In Untitled 1, Elizabeth Harcourt combines acrylic on paper with stitch. Olive green, ochre, slate blue and deep plum form a layered background beneath pale golden threads that radiate around overlapping circles.
The intricate stitching brings a tactile rhythm to the painted surface, connecting Elizabeth’s textile background with her painting practice. Open centres reveal glimpses of colour, while the repeated thread patterns draw the eye across the work.
This small artwork would add warmth and detail to a reading nook, study or gallery wall, pairing beautifully with natural timber and earthy interiors.
Earthy · Tactile · Intricate
Acrylic on paper and stitch
UNFRAMED room images show framing possibilities only.