Visit Artist: www.erichotz-portfolio.com

Bio

I was born Burnaby. I attended a two-year Fine Art program in Vancouver and a three-year Illustration & Design program at Capilano University. Over the past decades, my work has focused on local natural history and working on many commissions from various USA-based publishing/software houses. I work full-time as an artist from my home-based studio in Maple Ridge, BC, just minutes from mountains, streams, and lakes. Nature has never been far from where I live.

Artist Statement

I go out into nature to find my subjects to paint. I am always observing, looking for elements and subjects that will form a good study. I am lucky to live in a region with diverse ecosystems, from the high alpine to rain forests, lakes, and rugged as well as tranquil streams, to fog-shrouded ocean shores. These are all within a 2-hour car drive from where I live. My favourite subjects to paint are those with unique qualities of design, textures, and detail. I have always loved incorporating detail into my work like river stones, tree branches and trunk bark, the various species of wild grasses, and reflective pools of cool water. These are the elements I see in local nature. All my paintings, at their core, are memories of my childhood, of being in physical contact with nature on a day-to-day basis. In my works, I try to capture all of these memories, textures, emotions, detail, and even the feel of the air. Eric Hotz