Who is Johanna?

I work under the name Johanna Howell. This name was created by my different birth names and the origin of my last name. Completely me, just like my everyday name. But Johanna offers me the safety to show my work behind this name and share my experience. I hope I can inspire you. With drawing or with your velvet four-legged friend.

Cats
A life without cats does not exist for me. At the moment I have six cats, one htk (House-Garden&Kitchen Cat), two Devon Rexes, two Don Sphynxes and one Canadian Sphynx. I also help a foundation that takes care of kittens in need. I am trained as a skilled zookeeper with a specialization in the care of cats. I have studied everything about felines. I have worked in animal shelters, veterinary practices and at the zoo with the feline predators. Also done courses for cat behavior therapy and TTouch techniques and I am now taking a course on cat nutrition and a course on a harmonious multi-cat household. So you can call me a cat expert. On this website I blog about the adventures of my own cats and write articles about caring for cats. Take a look around and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Illustration
My second love is illustration. I have had a fascination with picture books from an early age and even now I have a nice collection that I browse or read every now and then to cheer myself up or inspire myself. I love bright colors. I like to work with different types of watercolor (postcard, watercolor and ecoline) and in combination with pencil and ink. But I like to make forays into other mediums. You can find my illustrations in the blog. I will describe here how I arrive at an illustration from start to finish. But I also enjoy filming short assignments myself. Maybe you want to join?

My brain
My brain works very differently from the brain they've labeled as neurotypical. Neurotypical, or neuronormal people, are people who are seen as the 'normal' in today's society. The nice thing is that there is actually no normal at all. You can see it rather as average. I am happy, but also unfortunately, not average. I have some problems in my head that manifest themselves in the autism spectrum. I also have some physical disorders because the substances in my brain are not produced or passed on properly. I love my autistic brain because I often think differently and can therefore come up with different solutions or often have very different ideas. But on the other hand, I would also like to participate in today's society. That's why I thought it would be a good idea to step into 'the world' and share my experiences about illustration and cats. In addition, my creations are also for sale in my web shop.

Splashes in my head Splashes are fun creatures. They live in my head. As you can see they consist of many colors and always have a great idea. Do you also have Spetters in your head?