Eric J. Drummond

After studying Art History at the University of Guelph, in 2016, he enrolled at The Florence Academy of Art. There, he was taught to draw and paint the figure from life, and to compose portraits and still life’s, using the traditional methods and practices developed by the old masters who so inspired him as a child. Eric largely crafts his own materials and hand preps his own canvases to ensure the quality of each work he produces, and stays true to the sight size method developed by the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France in the 1800s. He works only from life. This allows him honest and true artistic translation, total creative control and interpretation of his subjects. Eric says, “This creative control by working from life is about translation. Artists are not printers, they are not copyists. The interpretation of nature has been a canon in art since before the Greeks.” Each image is Eric’s view of the specificity of what he sees balanced by his experience of what he sees. People, portraits, and figures done in oils under the academic principles are his focus, using the medium of paint or charcoal as a sensory experience to be seen as well. Using thickness and thinness of paint to translate form, compression of values to express light, and the experience of interacting with his subjects in person to express moments between human beings. Eric’s goal is to use methods developed by the old masters and bridge a new horizon in Canada for painting and draftsmanship. Eric’s work has been awarded and featured by The Art Renewal Center, The MEAM Museum of Barcelona, and The Florence Academy of Art. He is an alumnus of and has worked as a principle instructor of drawing at The Florence Academy of Art, and has exhibited internationally in Italy, Spain, The United States and Canada. Awards and Accolades: 2017 Scholarship Recipient – Florence Academy of Art 2017 Best Figure Drawing(First Year) – Florence Academy of Art 2018 Scholarship Recipient – Florence Academy of Art 2018 Best Figure Painting(Second Year) – Florence Academy of Art 2018 Art Renewal Center Scholarship Competition – Second Place Art Renewal Centre Salon 2019 Finalist 2019 Best Figure Painting(Third Year) – Florence Academy of Art 2019 Best Painting of the Year – Florence Academy of Art Graduate of the Florence Academy of Art – Class of 2019 2019 Third Place in Full From Life Category – ARC Salon Competition FIGURATIVAS 2019 – Exhibition Member Art Renewal Center Salon 2019 Exhibition Member – Barcelona(MEAM)/New York(Sothebys)