About the Art
Welcome to EricasImages.... you'll find the mix of work is diverse in style, medium and colour, reflective of a multicultural and multigeographical life so far... click here for About Erica.
The computer screen does not do them justice, so you will notice for some of the pieces larger slideshow images show the paintings as the daylight changes. As though animated by the sun and moon, this gives some idea of intrinsic life of the pictures. As vibrant, exotic colour of day subdues to hues of the gentle night, you are invited to journey into the imaginary world before you. A painting in the morning sunlight is a different world entirely once moved into seductive, dusky twighlight.
Some of the paintings are very large and their true complexity can only be appreciated at exhibition. The dimensions are given for each piece.
Some of the paintings are privately owned and therefore not for sale (although for certain pieces prints are available), others are available for purchase of the original with or without copyright. All of the photographs and photographic artwork is for sale in limited edition print in varying sizes framed or loose (see below, About the Photography).
Each slideshow has some description and the option for a soundtrack beneath (click here for soundtrack help), but if you have any questions or problems with the website, please don't hesistate to contact erica.
About the Photography
Erica has experimented with photography since a child, using box cameras, Polaroid, classic film and digital. Her Father, also an avid photographer, encouraged her by buying her a camera at an early age. Her work has evolved from the childish but artistic images of her youth to the unusual and breathtaking photographs that she brings us today. Her extensive travels through desolate areas such as the Sonoran and Painted deserts of Arizona, 'other-worldly' geological formations of Utah, and contrasting lush, green swamps and iridescent beaches of the South Eastern USA, have afforded the fantastical landscapes within these pages. Erica's inspiration is life itself. Her passionate regard for the earth and its matriarchal wealth can be seen in some form in every picture. Patiently she waits for those rare moments, when illuminated by sun or moon, there is a moment of greatest beauty; even the barren sands of the desert are resurrected with the colour of dawn and dusk. "There is something very special about the birth and death of each day. Many people miss the celebration of colour and reflection before them, as the sun races across their path... so discrete on those ghostly, misty mornings, and so ravaging at the liquid-gold melt into night." In these magical moments, the Earth's minerals, the very elements of life, reveal their splendour. A moment in time is captured out there in some desolate, remote, unearthly-beautiful place and brought home... a reminder of the perfect, untouched visage that lies somewhere deep beneath the paint under our feet.
While her focus is on nature, the touch of man can also be seen. Erica's fascination for ancient civilisations is exposed by the Anasazi and Monasteric ruins that she has incorporated. These remnants of primitive man demonstrate a nowadays rare fusion of humanity and the Earth. Carved stone and sand grow up from the earth's floor, now entwined with roots and moss, eroded by rain and sun. She demonstrates this "desperate reminder of the once harmonious relationship between man and mother earth".
Although Erica has worked as an Emergency Room doctor for many years she has recently broadened her medical horizons to begin to fuse cutting edge medical technological advances with ancient knowledge and practice. Similarly her antique photography collection allows us to appreciate the timeless beauty of ancestral images with state of the art lithographic technology. Her "Timeless" collection features photographs with hand softened edges created using pigment inks on museum quality etching paper for unrivalled longevity. Erica also restores photographs which are worn, damaged or faded. She does not touch the original photograph, "to use chemicals, knives or brushes on such an object seems wrong, like altering a piece of history". Instead she digitally recovers the photograph lovingly pixel by pixel. This way the keeper may retain the beautiful and true original with all its stories and scars, but also enjoy and display the restored piece revealing the original glory of the image. She has been able to restore severely damaged photographs where all others have failed.
Erica has often been asked to take portraits, and shoot weddings. A compilation of these works is also available. In keeping with her affinity for the raw, untouched landscapes, she prefers to photograph people in their natural state, nude, honest, real. She likes to photograph them outside, in their home or at work, but also has a studio for modeling portfolios and classical portraiture. In the same way that her digital photographic restoration is unrivalled, so is her photo-editing skill which has been admired by magazine editors. "Personally, I like lines and wrinkles," she smiles, "they are an important legacy of the emotional history of the individual, but if someone asks me to help them look appropriate for the cover of vogue, then I will." Recently Erica received certification for commercial digital and film photography at the University of South Carolina. "Since so many people were asking me for wedding and portrait shoots, I felt I should have some kind of official training... I don't think that it has changed the way I shoot in any way to be honest, but it was inspiring sharing information and work with other photographers".
Erica often uses her photography as inspiration for painting. Her artwork both photographic and painted is being collected internationally. Those who have been fortunate enough to purchase her work can't wait for the fruits of her next expedition.
Thomas West, Photojournalist
