Erika Eckerson was a broke TV news anchor with a bare living room wall in her Myrtle Beach apartment when she decided to buy a canvas, acrylic paint, and some brushes.
![From Bright Lights To Bold Strokes](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/4712/198726/588f5c43dbfd1/From-Bright-Lights-to-Bold-Strokes.jpg)
“I wanted a piece of art to hang over my sofa, and I couldn’t afford anything,” she recalls. This was 2010, when she was fresh out of the University of South Carolina and working at a CBS affiliate, first as reporter for the morning newscast, then as its co-anchor. “And then I (painted) it, and it was awful, and I became determined to teach myself.”
As Eckerson—who used her maiden name, Hayes, on air—moved up at the Myrtle Beach station, she saw a less glamorous side to TV news.
“I felt really lonely,” Eckerson says. “I was plugged in enough to do my job, but I didn’t really want to put down roots, because I knew I would just have to leave. So I spent a lot of time by myself.”
Eckerson would sit in her apartment and brush bold, abstract streaks of acrylic across canvas. Painting, she says, became a form of therapy. And it followed her to Charlotte in 2015.
We’re sitting on a comfortable, cream sofa in Eckerson’s family room on a warm October afternoon. Eckerson is wearing ripped jeans and a white oxford shirt, but her natural beauty gives me the sense she could be camera-ready with a Clark Kent-style zip in and out of a phone booth.
Denne historien er fra Winter 2016-utgaven av Charlotte Home & Garden.
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Denne historien er fra Winter 2016-utgaven av Charlotte Home & Garden.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
![An Antique Garden](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/240380/59cb7bebc8931/crp_An-Antique-Garden.jpg)
An Antique Garden
Building a historic garden for a historic home
![Make Water Conservation A Habit](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/240380/59cb80d032374/crp_Make-Water-Conservation-a-Habit.jpg)
Make Water Conservation A Habit
Make Water Conservation A Habit
![Back-To-School Saviors](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/240380/59cb869f250bd/crp_Back-to-School-Saviors.jpg)
Back-To-School Saviors
Back-to-school excitement can also breed some serious chaos in your home, with extra paperwork, bookbags, uniforms, and more taking over most spaces. Organizing it all in a way that actually makes sense—and is easy to find again—can be dizzying. Here, five local designers share their tips on how to get back-to-school organized.
![From Bright Lights To Bold Strokes](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/198726/588f5c43dbfd1/crp_From-Bright-Lights-to-Bold-Strokes.jpg)
From Bright Lights To Bold Strokes
Erika Eckerson was a broke TV news anchor with a bare living room wall in her Myrtle Beach apartment when she decided to buy a canvas, acrylic paint, and some brushes.
![A Merry Manor](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/198726/588f5f8a4afe9/crp_A-Merry-Manor.jpg)
A Merry Manor
Brittany and Steve Clyne want their guests to feel cozy
![Sitting Pretty](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/227207/5951e8f53aa31/crp_Sitting-Pretty.jpg)
Sitting Pretty
Olivia Smith started as an intern at Traditions the summer before her senior year at Olivet Nazarene University, the Illinois school where she studied interior design.
![A Glamorous Era](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/227207/5951ef079a3b2/crp_A-Glamorous-Era.jpg)
A Glamorous Era
As a member of a religious and ethnic minority in a Southern town, Robert Goldberg, a Jewish man, knew discrimination.
![In the Family](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/185986/5811983fa7910/crp_In-the-Family.jpg)
In the Family
Lane Brown designs a home for her parents.
![Playing Architect](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/185986/58119ec9d2e48/crp_Playing-Architect.jpg)
Playing Architect
A homeowner has a modern vision for a traditional home.
![City Chicks](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4712/213402/58c7ad541eaa0/crp_City-Chicks.jpg)
City Chicks
When I brought three chicks home last spring, I expected fresh eggs to be the biggest reward. But Mildred, Barbara, and Mamie Lee—a Barred Rock, Columbian Wyandotte, and Easter Egger— have also become beloved family pets, following me around, perching on the porch swing, peering in the window and eating mealworms out of my hands.