Washington-based artist Erica Eriksdotter: "It is all about celebrating life with color"

Posted by Susanna at 10:12 AM, Nov 29, 2010 (Comments)

Category: Design & Art

Swedish-born Washington-based artist Erica Eriksdotter is working predominantly in acrylics. Here in front of her work "Large Lion Sun No. 2."

"I HOPE TO inspire, make people happy with my art and strive to make the viewer aware of and believe in the vibrancy of life. It is all about celebrating life with color and bringing joy to the room and the viewer," says Swedish-born Washington-based artist Erica Eriksdotter.

WHEN SHE is not at her day-job as a corporate communications manager at a Fortune 500-company in nearby Reston, Va., she is focusing on her art. Painting has been an interest as long as she can remember, and she has painted since she was a small girl. Erica got her first easel when she was seven, and when she was ten years old, she sold her first artwork.

RECENTLY, at the Knock Out Abuse Against Women Gala (www.knockoutabuse.org) in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 11, one of her paintings - "Closed Tulip III" -- was offered in the fund raising auction. She is also friends with one of the two founders of the organization, fellow Swede Jill Sorenson, and some of her art will be sold via Ms. Sorensen's soon to be launched interior design website, LiveLikeYou.com.

MS. ERIKSDOTTER grew up in the mid-size town of Eskilstuna in Sweden, where she finished high school and studied psychology at Mälardalen University. A year later, she came to the U.S. to study communications and public relations at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., outside Washington, D.C. Fresh out of college, she joined the prestigious PR firm Hill & Knowlton.

"WHEN I WAS young, I wanted to do three things - be a successful businesswoman, become a singer and a painter," says Erica. "Take the chance," my mother urged me, when I got the possibility to go the United States in 2000. She likes the American dynamic and positive approach to life, where "everything is possible."

ERICA BEGAN painting water-color landscapes, but since she evolved as an artist, she started working predominantly in acrylics. The artistic talent runs deep in the family. Her grandfather was a painter.

"I LOVE USING bold and bright colors and highlighting a certain part of the flower or paint it from unexpected angles. There are many layers to each painting. Clean and bold lines and the color combinations characterize my art, and I want to make people happy and feel good. I want the art to be fun, happy, loving and inspirational."

"A HOME SHOULD rise up and meet you. I like white walls with splashes of color," says Erica, who focuses on close-ups of flowers. "I am in a flower phase now. Nature is a big inspiration in my paintings, such as English or cottage style gardens, birds singing and being one with nature is a must." But there are other motives, like the interesting skylines she shows. She is also inspired by the successful Swedish artist Carolina Gynning.

MS. ERIKSDOTTER has participated in several art shows, among them Arts in the Park in Richmond, Va. May 1-2; 13th Annual Shadyside in Pittsburgh, Pa. Aug. 28-29; and more recently at Art Affair 2010 in Richmond, Va. Oct. 16-17. Her next exhibition will be at House of Sweden's Christmas Bazaar in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Dec. 4, and in January-February 2011 her artwork will be on display in the Virginia State Senate's General Assembly Building.

HER PAINTINGS can be found in private collections in both the U.S. and Europe. She also does commission work; detailed watercolors for LiveLikeYou.com, an interior design website; produces stationery based on her art; and in the future she hopes her paintings will decorate the walls in companies, hotels and apartment complexes as well as having a company for reprints.

For more information about Erica Eriksdotter and her art: www.studioeriksdotter.com.

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