Artist Feature - Erna Kristin Oct 26 2017

"Everyone loves a good story," Erna thought, and so her lifelong journey as a visual storyteller and illustrator began! Icelandic American artist, Erna Kristin has just joined Advocate and we are so excited to share her work with you.  Her style can be described as being geometric with a folk-like quality that depicts animals and natural elements.  Growing up in a family of scientists, Erna was greatly inspired by biology and geology from an early age - which is quite evident in her beautiful designs!  Erna's unique style is perfect for wall decor, greeting cards, advertising campaigns, educational books and more.  To see more gorgeous work by Erna Kristin, be sure to check out her online Advocate artist portfolio!

"Erna is intrigued by the emotional aspect of human experience. It comes forward in visual storytelling on a paper or a canvas.

Always into drawing and coloring as a kid,  Erna was the only “little artist” in the family. As a girl growing up in Iceland she was much exposed to nature in all its glory. Her grandfather was a biologist and ran a small museum of science and biology in their little hometown. Her dad is a geologist and her mom is a teacher with love for all kinds of plants and the more microscopic world that is found on a day to day basis.

Years later, Erna was a designer living in California, a mom of three girls with time on her hands, ideas in her head, canvas and some paint that she had bought on sale. One day, as her daughters played in the park, she noticed a weed stretching into the air. She drew the weed in her sketchbook, and then transferred the image to a canvas. Then she had an idea: “Everyone loves a good story, and I can make beautiful art. Why not create art that tells stories?” And that’s how Erna’s love for art, illustration and nature showed up again and has never left her since. 

Erna works with gouache on paper and acrylic on canvas or wood. She also illustrates digitally and she’s illustrated for large corporate and public spaces, for various digital applications, for books and various print. And when she paints or illustrates, Erna hopes to capture the simplistic nature of her subjects. Sometimes the lovely nature of California (where she has lived for the past 14 years) shines through in her work or the dramatic colors and shapes of Icelandic nature."