Katerina Mertikas highly stylized art leaves one with a smile which is much like Katerina Mertikas optimistic, happy character. Her husband and two daughters are often the motivation and influence behind many of her paintings. She paints childhood’s fleeting and precious moments, knowing that in each painting someone will recognize themselves in their younger years, or perhaps see their children enjoying their day outside. This truly naïve painter creates spontaneously and freely out of her heart’s own personal artistic desire. The originality and poetic immediacy of such work reflect a kind of unconscious honesty and genuineness of childlike imagination.
Katerina classifies her own work as naïve expressionism. She tries to convey to the world the message of love, peace, innocence and friendship. She explains: “I love vivid colors. 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.”
Mertikas is also passionate about giving back and is thrilled when her work can be used toward helping important causes. UNICEF, the Canadian Lung Association, Juvenile Diabetes Association and many other Canadian companies have used Mertikas’ art for cards, stamps, jigsaw puzzles and calendars to raise funds for their charities. In 1999 Mertikas was honoured with a “Women of Distinction” award in the arts category and elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts in 2000. In 2013 Hallmark Canada selected 3 of her works to be printed on cards and sold across North America.
