ERIKA PETERSEN

Erika (b. 1987) is an artist from a small desert town outside of Phoenix, Arizona. As soon as it was possible at 18 years old, she moved from home with a couple thousand dollars saved up to Southern California. She ended up working for a clothing company and studying Marketing, which she soon discovered was not for her. Leaving the Californian beach lifestyle that she craved all of her youth days, she travelled around Australia and New Zealand, picking up jobs where she could. She fell in love with the more down to earth tropical beach lifestyle of the Aussies, and the beautiful land and waves in New Zealand. When she was 25 she met her future husband surfing in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Soon after, he encouraged her to paint with him in his art studio. She wasn’t sure where to start, but it didn’t take long to fall deeply in love with creating. She decided to focus on art and becoming an artist. Since then, she has experimented in many different types of painting techniques, drawing, and studying the old masters to grow her oeuvre.

Her main subjects are flowers and horses, which are her representations of beauty and freedom. Much of her inspiration comes from nature and personal memorise from the places she has called home or travelled through, including the Southwest of the US, and the seaside.

In 2022, she started painting with an impasto technique. After having painted realism for a few years, she wanted to experiment with a more unique and signature style. The decision to create thicker, butter-like textured, and more colourful, imaginative paintings, was influenced by her innate nature to be expressive and spontaneous.

After living in Byron Bay, Australia for a few years, she and her husband decided to move to the country town, Yamba, NSW, where they live by the seaside. Together, they have three young children.