artists
every piece has a story, and every story begins with an artist
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND · CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE ARTIST
Rebecca Hawkins
Rebecca Hawkins is an Auckland-based artist whose atmospheric paintings sit between abstraction and landscape. Inspired by the ever-changing environments of Aotearoa, she uses fluid colour, expressive marks and subtle layers to create quiet spaces shaped by light, movement, memory and emotion.
about
Rebecca Hawkins—known as Bec—is a fine artist, illustrator and designer based in Auckland, where she lives with her two young sons.
With an 18-year career in illustration and design behind her, Rebecca brings a refined understanding of colour, composition and visual storytelling to her painting practice. Through Studio Bec, she continues to develop an artistic voice grounded in nature while exploring new ways for her work to move beyond the traditional canvas.
Rebecca is inspired by the changing landscapes of New Zealand and the intricate details revealed through close observation. Subtle variations in flora and fauna, weathered rock formations, distant mountains, open fields and shifting coastlines all become starting points for her work.
Rather than describing a particular location precisely, Rebecca creates landscapes that remain intentionally ambiguous. Familiar elements appear and disappear within layers of colour, allowing viewers to bring their own memories, experiences and interpretations to each painting.
Her works often sit between seascape, landscape and abstraction. Horizons emerge softly, landforms dissolve and light moves through the surface, creating paintings that feel recognisable without belonging entirely to one place.
Rebecca works primarily with watercolour acrylics, allowing pigments to flow, merge and settle organically across the canvas. She then introduces details with coloured pencil, pan pastels and expressive oil pastel marks.
This balance between fluidity and control is central to her process. Poured colour creates spontaneity and movement, while drawn marks suggest fragments of a horizon, vegetation or the quiet structure of the land.
A restrained, earthy palette brings calm and cohesion to the work. Subtle layers create depth and atmosphere, encouraging the viewer to slow down and notice the small shifts in colour and texture held within each surface.
Alongside her paintings, Rebecca experiments with watercolour floral imagery translated onto fabric. Extending her artwork beyond the canvas gives her a sense of creative freedom and allows painting, illustration and surface design to meet in new and immersive ways.
Rebecca maintains an active studio practice and has exhibited with Auckland galleries including Deciduus and Estuary Arts, as well as presenting her work through selected online platforms.
Her paintings offer a moment of stillness—not an escape from the landscape, but an invitation to remember how it felt to be within it.
Because sometimes a place remains with us not through its details, but through its light, atmosphere and the feeling it left behind.
in the rooms
found
Rebecca Hawkins
Rolling water and a softly illuminated sky capture the sea’s movement in a restrained coastal palette.
In Wave, blue-green water rises beneath a pale sky washed with cream and blush tones. Darker foreground layers give the sea depth, while fine marks and soft highlights suggest ripples, reflections and the curve of a gathering wave.
Inspired by the ever-changing sea, Rebecca combines acrylic, watercolour and coloured pencil to explore light, texture and movement. Her layered approach balances flowing colour with subtle detail, creating a seascape that feels both familiar and open to interpretation.
This square painting would bring a calm coastal presence to a living room, bedroom or entranceway, with enough depth and movement to reward a closer look.
Atmospheric · Fluid · Contemplative
Acrylic, watercolour and coloured pencil on stretched canvas · 76 cm wide × 76 cm high × 3.5 cm deep ready to hang.
UNFRAMED room images show possible placement and framing possibilities