The Rooky Wood Art Studio is a creative space based in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, offering an animal portrait service and a curated collection of original paintings, prints, illustrations, craft books, and handmade small wares by established artist Kate White.
Founded on a quiet reverence for nature and God’s creation, my work celebrates the beauty in overlooked places and creatures - from roadside scrub and hedgerows, to wild animals and plants brought to New Zealand. Whether you live in a castle or a house-truck, my art is designed to bring warmth, wonder, and reflection into your home.
I am the sole artist and maker behind the studio and have worked as a fine artist, portraitist, illustrator, and craftswoman since 1986. My career began with commissioned animal drawings and evolved through international experience in the UK and Ireland, where I worked as a freelance illustrator for four years. Over the decades I have participated in more than 40 group exhibitions and held 11 solo shows. My work has featured in prominent national collections, including the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, the Parkin Drawing Awards, the Hawke’s Bay Review, and the Big Apple Project.
Part of my artistic practice includes pastel portraits of racehorses commissioned by Auckland Thoroughbred Racing over the past 12 years. However, my interests span a broad spectrum—ranging from detailed oil portraits and graphite illustrations to small-scale acrylic brooches, watercolours of toadstools, and whimsical depictions of rooks, magpies, hedgehogs, hares, sparrows and mice. I work in various media including oil, acrylic, pastel, graphite, watercolour, and ink, often using recycled materials such as pallet wood and retro frames found in opportunity shops.
The heart of my work lies in telling the stories of the humble and the often-ignored—the flora and fauna quietly existing at the periphery of human attention. My recent focus has been on capturing moments of contemplation through small paintings that invite viewers to pause and reflect on everyday beauty.
I have begun an email Newsletter to talk about recent and upcoming goings-on in the Art Studio, to show readers what inspired me, how I make things and there's usually a bit of whimsy because I think the world needs more of that!
And I love hearing from people with their commission ideas- no job is too big or too small.
Contact me
I hope you have enjoyed browsing through my work! Please do get in touch with your enquiries ...it would be lovely to hear from you.
Orders on portraits are specifically to be collected by the buyer, I work in chalk pastel and the drawings are fragile until framed and behind glass, but even then the work is safer transported in the owner's care and safer still once the portrait is on the wall!
All other orders are able to be posted.
Whether you'd like to order a portrait, or buy a fine art piece, or something from the Shop, commission something special, or give feedback, I respect your privacy—no personal information is retained or shared unless you request it.
If you feel inclined to sign up for The Rooky Wood Newsletter- it lands in your inbox from time to time with stories, poems, recommendations, art tips, galleries where my art is selling, up-coming exhibitions, book launches and observations in nature. To join up just click on "The Newsletter" leaf, or
You can email me directly: therookywood@outlook.com
...or use the contact form here:
