Sylvie Drainville was born in Sainte-Thérèse in 1964. After studying visual arts at Lionel Groulx College in Sainte Thérèse, she moved to Montreal in 1982 and completed her studies in graphic arts and then visual arts at the University of Sherbrooke. Her area of specialization is photo mechanics (darkroom) and the creation of digital advertising images. She will go on to create digital images for advertising agencies in Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and New York.
During the same time, she paints relentlessly and takes advantage of advertising campaign launch events to present her creations. In 2006, she set up her studio in the Eastern Townships and started to paint full-time.
''Color is one of my strengths and it is the inspiration of each painting. Even if there is many tubes of colors ready to use, I need to create complex mixtures and play on their limits (saturation, tint, brightness). I am constantly looking for colors with the right texture, the right finish to represent the climatic effects on nature. Visual and physical contact with nature is essential to my painting. Lots of images rush into my head when I'm in front of the blank canvas. I close my eyes and the scene reveals itself. The viewer will find their own story if they let themselves be touched.
In the quiet, in the forest, quick gestures that don’t seem controlled, but yet very physical. Sculpting the paint, to take the time, intensely, intuitively. There is rarely a specific plan but there is the need to be fully present to produce a strong, touching, very peaceful and aesthetically beautiful picture. I prefer to work on large format and ideally, when I start it, I finish the painting in one sitting.’’