Meet Eric Merrell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Merrell.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I grew up on both coasts and started painting pretty early on, watercolor classes in junior high and oil painting by high school. I knew I wanted to pursue painting, so my parents encouraged me to go to art school. I studied illustration in Philadelphia and Pasadena, but never continued with illustration work after graduation because I always wanted to paint outdoors and be doing my own thing. It’s a longer road but ultimately more fulfilling to be doing work that I want to do and am personally very invested in.

Please tell us about your art.
My work stems from being outdoors – exciting things that can’t be planned for and strike you in the moment. As an artist you have to follow your interests, pay attention to them. I love the experience of being outdoors. A significant part of my work involves the desert – I relate to survival amidst a vast quiet space. Nocturnes also form a sizeable portion of my work, primarily in wilder landscapes lit solely by moonlight, away from urban areas. I find painting at night endlessly fascinating for design opportunities, as landscape features lose their definition and shapes abstract themselves naturally. There is a surprise and mystery to landscape if you know how to look.

Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
It’s possible to live and work as an artist, but it’s much harder than it’s portrayed to be. Everything in your life needs to be arranged so that art is at the pinnacle, everything you do has to work towards supporting your artistic endeavors.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I participate in group shows throughout the year in places like Denver and Oklahoma City; I’ll be exhibiting at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles as a part of the California Art Club’s 107th Gold Medal Exhibition coming up there in June. I also work with four galleries that currently represent me:

Altamira Fine Art
altamiraart.com
Scottsdale, AZ | Jackson, WY

Egeli Gallery
egeligallery.com
Provincetown, MA

Maxwell Alexander Gallery
maxwellalexandergallery.com
Los Angeles, CA

Oh-Be-Joyful Gallery
ohbejoyfulgallery.com
Crested Butte, CO | Telluride, CO

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ericmerrell.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericmerrell/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ericmerrellart
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericmerrellart

Image Credit:
Personal photo: Image still from ‘Nocturnes: The Paintings of Eric Merrell’ by Alec Ernest

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