http://www.gallery421.ca/gallery 4 photos in 1 album en-US Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:17:41 -0500 Gallery 1.5, http://gallery.menalto.com/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 40 http://www.gallery421.ca/gallery/albums/album08/DSC_0142.thumb.jpg http://www.gallery421.ca/gallery 144 67 http://www.gallery421.ca/gallery/album08 22ffb8b6e6e010db20f7cb8dd2a3fd10 Wed, 19 May 2010 00:36:13 -0500 http://www.gallery421.ca/gallery/view_comments.php?set_albumName=album08 http://www.gallery421.ca/gallery/albums/album08/DSC_0142.thumb.jpg http://www.gallery421.ca/gallery/albums/album08/DSC_0142.jpg http://www.gallery421.ca/gallery/albums/album08/DSC_0142.thumb.jpg 67 144 Katerina Mertikas was born in Tripoli, Greece in 1957 and is now a permanent resident of Ontario, Canada. Her highly stylized art leaves one with a smile which is much like Katerina's optimistic, happy character. Her husband and two daughters are the inspiration behind many of her paintings. She paints childhood's fleeting and precious moments, hoping that in each painting someone may recognize themselves in the past or perhaps see their children enjoying their day. A truly naïve painter, Katerina creates spontaneously and freely out of the urgings of her heart. Katerina, a self-taught artist, alludes to the world around her by projecting her own ideas and visions rather than simply copying the surroundings, and in doing so gives us a marvelous view of our own world. Katerina classifies her own work as naïve expressionism – she is trying to convey to the world a message of love, peace, innocence and friendship. Katerina explains: “I love vivid colours. I love the feeling that painting creates within me – especially when depicting children in all their joys and excitement. I try to capture the special, happy moments in our daily lives on every canvas on which I paint.” The vitality and joy of Katerina Mertikas and her genius as a colourist has won her the admiration of art collectors across Canada and beyond. Her involvement with Unicef over the years has led to this Greek-Canadian artist to mingle with the likes of the late Princess Diana, Nana Mouskouri, Julio Iglesias and Roger Moore, all of whom are Unicef’s