Thanks so much, Erik, for taking the time to speak with us about your artistic journey!
Thanks so much for bringing me onto the Eco Artist Team!
When did you first become interested in painting and who were your early influences?
I’ve been drawing, and sculpting, and painting since I was in diapers. Art has been a huge part of my life from the very beginning. There was never a time in my life that I wanted to be anything other than an artist. I really started painting when I was about 11 or 12 when I got my first airbrush. I painted throughout high school, illustrated a children's book when I was 16 and even started my own mural business in 11th grade.
As a kid, a big influence was MC Escher. Also Mark Kistler’s Draw Squad and all the amazing 80’s cartoons too. I really wanted to be an animator. Bill Plympton was a superhero. The thought of making my drawings move was just so exciting.
Where did you receive your art training?
For the most part, I’m self taught. My mom had always put me in little art workshops for kids growing up. Right out of high school, I attended 2 years of community college in Ventura, CA, and took some composition/design classes, and sculpture classes that really influenced the way I make art to this day. They continue to be the most mind-blowing art classes I’ve ever taken.
In 2000, I moved to Ashland, OR to finish up my BA in Painting at SOU. They had just built the huge brand new art department on campus and I got to be among the first class of artists to make huge messes in these squeaky clean classrooms, and in 25 minutes, I could be on the chairlift snowboarding. My ultimate plan during those years was to become an art teacher so I could go travel around the world looking for waves all summer, but when it was time to join the teaching program after graduating, I decided I needed to first become a successful artist on my own if I wanted to teach others how to do the same thing… that was over 20 years ago, and I’ve never looked back.
Your work seems to have a lot of water imagery and a very flowing, organic feel to it - where does this inspiration come from?
Yes, water, the ocean, and surfing has been a huge source of inspiration in my life, and in turn, my art. I grew up rolling around in the sand and playing in the waves. Surfing has taken me on adventures around the world and has been my therapy, along with my art, for my entire life so it’s fitting that it has come out in my work. For the last several years, I’ve been moving away from the water and wave imagery and exploring other areas of inspiration.
One thing that continues to be a throughline in my work is that I don’t like to paint anything man-made. It’s all based on elements of the natural world and pattern and design. My solitude is found in nature.
We see you are local to Oregon, like us! How has living in a place with such wild, natural beauty influenced your art?
Yes we’re neighbors! NEP is an 8 minute walk from my studio! When I moved up here to finish college, having access to so much raw nature was amazing. I think this is where my work took a way more nature-based turn. My work has been influenced by my location a lot over my life. Whenever I have lived on the beach, the surf scenes and waves creep back in. Living away from the beach, my art gets weirder and other influences show up. I’ve spent years traveling the world and my sketchbooks were filled with the most wonderful, inspiring things based on those experiences and locations. My environment really affects my art.
You have a new project coming out soon called ‘All The Artists’. Can you tell us more about that?
Yes! My team and I have been working on this for almost two and a half years and we are SOOO close to launching. We’re building a super advanced artist directory that fuels the fairest artist funding program on the planet. This is for all types of artists… visual, performing, musical and literary. The entire creative spectrum.
An artist listing in the directory is only $3/month. We put 40% all of revenue into a Collective Fund where we give cash to randomly selected artists each month. The goal is to grow it big enough to give over $1,000,000 back to artists every single month, creating a system where every artist/creative in the country has an equal chance at funding all year long. It’s a movement of artists supporting artists.
I want to bring the whole creative family together and change peoples lives. A random 4 or 5 figure cash infusion would be so helpful for the careers of so many artists in this country. I was sick of seeing BS art contests and certain grant programs that give nothing in return for those who don’t win. And having a judging panel telling people whether their art is good enough or not, it just wasn’t the fairness I wanted to see in the art funding world. Also, I wanted to create a place where any type of artist can easily be found… no algorithms to battle or ads to fight. The directory is for the general public who are looking for certain types of creatives, but it’s also for artists to be able to find and connect with their local art crew. Everywhere I’ve ever lived, I always wished there was an easy way to just search and find the creatives around me.
This platform is straight-up built to support artists.
Artists can learn more and become Founding Members at alltheartists.com
What art supplies do you predominantly use now in your practice?
I’m mostly an acrylic painter. I’ve dabbled in water color and did a lot of oil in college but I always come back to the ease and quick-drying feature of acrylic paint. I also use a lot of colored pencils in my paintings. I generally prefer to paint on wood panels and reclaimed-wood. Recently I’ve been exploring stamps and stickers and ink on paper. And I just got a vintage typewriter and that has really opened up my creative brain a bit. The medium of words seem so much more vulnerable than paint, and it’s been fun to go down that road and play with new forms of expression.
What called you to first try Natural Earth Paint Products and start researching safer art supplies?
It wasn’t until about 2016 or so that I really started to take inventory of the supplies and materials I was using. I had a major eco-freak out one day and just went deep down the rabbit hole of paint ingredients and how things were manufactured and it was all so overwhelming and disgusting. It’s hard enough being a part of this globalist, disposable economy and culture, but then realizing that the most important, sacred part of my life (making art!) was also just filled with toxic garbage, was a devastating realization. Actually coming to terms with the fact that I was basically painting with plastic and harmful chemicals really messed me up for a while.
I dove back into watercolors and oil paints for a quick minute but, with the way I work, I needed paint to dry fast, and the only way to get oil paint to dry fast was to use more toxic chemicals. For about a year I went down the road of also trying to develop a plant-based acrylic style paint. I was working with chemists in two different countries and we just could not figure it out. That was when I found out that Leah, the owner of NEP, had been developing, and was about to release, a natural acrylic paint. I don’t remember the last time I was that excited!
So fast forward a few years and here we are, NEP has a full line of beautiful non-toxic, plant-based Acryliks and they are absolutely magical!
I’ve been testing these paints and mediums and now I want to throw out the rest of my traditional acrylic paints and go all in on NEP Acryliks. This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for, and it feels so good to know they are safe for our bodies, our children and our water ways. There is literally a vibe shift in the studio when I use these. It just feels right.
I’m ready to shout about this from the roof tops! Every acrylic artist needs to at least try these.
How do you incorporate sustainability or eco-consciousness into your art practice? / Did a shift in materials change anything in your art making experience or final results?
I incorporate sustainability in my practice and business in a few ways; as a result of my eco-freak out I started using paper tape on studio orders I’d send out. Using plant-based plastic bags for my small prints (which are frustratingly not good enough yet and had to go back to petro-plastic.), started getting my thank you cards and other studio stationery printed on recycled paper. Little things like that at least make me feel better, even though it’s a drop in the bucket globally. However, the more people there are using their purchasing power on products that are better for the environment, the better those products become and the more companies will begin to create and offer them.
As far as my actual practice, acrylic paint down the drain was a big no no for me. I have a little hole in my yard outside my studio where I filled with sand and charcoal and pour my paint water there. I’m not quite sure how much better that is, but at least it’s going to naturally filter through a lot of earth before reaching our water ways, and not be putting micro plastics and unfilterable chemicals right back into our city water supply by pouring it down the drain. Knowing that the NEP Acrylik is safe for our septic and sewage treatment/water treatment systems is such a MASSIVE WIN for the art industry and the environment.
Over the years, I have offered my art and illustrations for many campaigns to help fundraise and promote projects for environmental and ocean related organizations around the world. I believe in using your talents whenever possible to support orgs and projects that align with the things you are passionate about and care about.
If you could share one piece of advice with aspiring artists looking to be more eco-conscious in their practice, what would it be?
I think the first step is doing your research. Learn about the materials you are using and figure out if there are alternatives that are better for your health and the health of the environment. You don’t have to get rid of everything at once. Just start replacing old supplies with more eco friendly supplies as you run out of them.
Where can our audience see more of your work and support your causes?
You can view and purchase my work on my website at abelarts.com , and see a lot more weird stuff on Instragram at @abelarts. And I encourage all artists and creatives to go become a member of All The Artists at alltheartists.com.
