Erika Donaghy is a painter and potter living and creating in the Colorado Rockies. While always a creative person, Erika didn’t start painting regularly until 2017 when she took a watercolor class with a few friends. She was hooked immediately and suddenly found herself taking her sketchbook everywhere. While her love for watercolor continues, Erika found a second creative pursuit in pottery. There is something so special about seeing her designs take shape on a functional piece of art.
Now, Erika has her own pottery studio in her backyard and recently took the leap to become a full-time artist. Making art brings her joy and she hopes that you can feel a little bit of that joy through her work.
Statement
This collection of vertical landscapes started out in her sketchbook while Erika was on a backcountry hike with her husband. As she was trying to capture the full height of the landscape before here, she decided to try turning her sketchbook and painting a vertical slice of the scene. These three watercolors were created to try to capture that feeling of height that can be difficult to articulate. The height of everything, but especially the trees, is exaggerated in this work to make you feel as if you are standing in an aspen grove, or stand of lodgepole pines, looking up at the impossibly skinny trees as they sway gently in the wind.