Eric Weston founded Little Blue Hippo Studio in May 2007. Eric received a B.A. degree in Fine Art, with an emphasis in painting in 1987, from California University of Pennsylvania. In addition to painting, Eric received significant training in drawing, sculpture and ceramics. He also studied theatrical scene construction and design. After graduation, Eric pursued work in Theater, working for a number of Academic and Regional Theatre Companies, including the Pittsburgh Playhouse, The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA) and the Department of Theatre Arts at Cornell University. In 1994 Eric enrolled in the MFA program at Arizona State University, receiving his MFA in Technical Design in 1997. During his grad school tenure, Eric spent a summer working for Disneyland Entertainment Art, as a properties artisan for the Art Department.

After grad school, Eric and his wife returned to Michigan, where he found work designing and building scientific apparatus for the Psychology Department at Michigan State University, as well as doing freelance theater work, and teaching stagecraft. In 2002, Eric took a position as an IT professional at Michigan State University Libraries, doing Linux systems administration and programming. In 2006 he began to paint frequently again, for the first time in years. As room became scarce in his dining room for the easel and ever growing stack of canvases, Eric rented a studio in the Old Town neighborhood in Lansing. On a whim, Eric named the studio "Little Blue Hippo Art Studio", in honor of a studio model from his undergraduate days as an art student at Cal.

Artists whom have made the greatest impression on Eric Weston are Van Gogh, Larry Rivers, Richard Diebenkorn, Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, John Singer Sargent, and Alice Neel.
Eric gives credit to his painting professor from Cal, Raymond Dunlevy, a gifted artist and inspiring teacher; a friend from his younger days, Alex Kanevsky, who provides him with some much needed inspiration; and to Robert Busby, whose example gave Eric the final push to leap into his current venture.