Our Featured Artists

"I paint who and what I know, who I am, and what I imagine to be."

So explains Erika Carter, the one-of-a-kind painter whose exquisite work we're very proud to feature. A lifelong resident of Santa Barbara, California, Erika describes her paintings as being greatly influenced by her frequent travels to Central Mexico over the past 20 years, from where her grandparents immigrated in 1915.

"The cultural traditions they passed on, combined with my own experiences in the country, shaped my ideals and are the inspiration for my work," she explains.

Erika waxes poetically about her wonder-filled visits to Mexico over the years. Her grandfather became a groundskeeper of a prominent estate, where Erika's mother and her siblings were raised. The immaculate architecture, the beautiful colors and textures of the flora and fauna inspired Erika and her imagination. The influence of Mexican Culture stayed with her and now expresses itself in her paintings rendered in acrylic wood and tin.

"As a child I was fortunate enough, with my six siblings, to often skip back and forth between the vastly different houses, with free-roaming chickens, rabbits, and goats," she says. "The warm smell of albondiga soup and homemade tortillas enveloped one end of the pathway, and a grand three-storied staircase, secret gardens, paintings, and sculptures graced the other end."

"The colors and textures of these two beautiful homes," she adds, "and the lush green and flowery walk that connects them, have become the aesthetic I naturally default to in my work."

We are pleased to feature several unique, one-of-a-kind acrylic-on-wood paintings from Erika's collection. The paintings include a series of painted women, animals, flowers, and more that come in various sizes to fit any wall or home decor space.