Curiosity about world cultures turned Tasia Erickson into “a virtual traveler” and the Ventura painter turns her online explorations into art. “Exotic Places and Faces,” an exhibition of her recent pastel paintings, will run April 23-May 18 at the Buenaventura Gallery in downtown Ventura.

“I have always been fascinated by other cultures and especially the people,” Erickson said. “I want my solo show to take everyone away to these amazing places.”

Scenes and people of India, Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Vietnam and Morocco are on the itinerary this time, she said. “I had planned several other countries but ran out of wall space in the gallery.”

Erickson will be on hand to guide tours during an opening reception 4-7 p.m. April 27 and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 28, unusual Sunday hours for the gallery. Her show opening coincides with Paint Ventura, an art celebration that weekend centered on Main Street, and “I wanted to be sure that the general public could find us at BAA. I felt it important to be open at that time.”

She has been making art “since I could hold a pencil,” majored in it in college and spent her work life creating it, first as a cel painter and special effects artist with the Hanna-Barbera Productions animation studio and later as a watercolor portrait painter, clothing designer and jewelry maker.

But not until retiring and moving in 2009 to Ventura did she discover pastels, through a friend’s gift of classes.

“I am fascinated by pastel and the freedom it gives me. The pigment is pure and therefore the color is vibrant. I adore color,” Erickson said. “My work celebrates people and their cultures through this luminous medium. I want to celebrate the diversity of the human spirit.”

Her Internet wanderings for inspirational images take months, she said, and “That search is daunting.” She explores royalty-free sites, looking at thousands of pictures to find “the perfect photos” to incorporate in her paintings. “And then I researched the history of the place or person to be sure I have an appropriate description of the painting. This way the viewer can learn what I have learned.”

Erickson also paints closer to home, from her own photos of Ventura County locales and those of friends and relatives. One photo from a sister became “Graceful Presence,” a dramatic pastel portrait of a belly dancer that earned a third-place judge’s award and second-place people’s choice ribbon in Santa Paula Society for the Arts’ current 76th annual Art and Photography Show.

But the “Exotic Places and Faces” that caught her eye and spurred her curiosity will come to colorful life in the Ventura show in 30 pieces ranging in size from 10 inches square to 24 by 30 inches. The paintings are done in soft pastel on sandpaper, with acrylic underpainting on some pieces.

The Buenaventura Gallery, at 700 E. Santa Clara St., is open noon-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, visit the Buenaventura Art Association website at www.buenaventuragallery.org. The gallery phone number is 648-1235.