Special drawings comfort grieving families
Summerside teen draws on her talent to create meaningful pieces of art
Chloe Drummond has always loved to draw, so when she needed an outlet for her feelings after the loss of two friends in western P.E.I., she picked up her pencil and set to work.
The Grade 12 student at Three Oaks Senior High was close friends with Megan Kinch, and when Megan’s boyfriend, Ethan Rielly, died in a boating accident with another teen, Alex Hutchinson, Chloe wanted to show her support.
“It hit close to home for everybody, I think, just losing two people who were so young. It was hard for everybody, I think, to see that,” said Chloe.
“I wasn’t able to go up and help with the search like a lot of people were, so I felt like I hadn’t done anything to kind of relieve that pain from losing them. I wanted to be up there, but I couldn’t leave school. I thought that the picture would be a little bit more easier for Megan to have that picture to look back on.”
Although Chloe has been drawing and colouring since she was a little girl, she had been keeping her talent in the background until she was moved to create the memorial gift for her friend.
“It’s just a little different from other things that people do,” said her dad, Scott Drummond. “I thought it was a neat thing for her to do.”
Her dad wasn’t the only one who thought the drawings were great. Chloe soon had a message from a young woman in New Brunswick whose boyfriend had died of cancer this past summer. She wanted to commission a drawing to give as a Christmas gift to her late boyfriend’s family – a family portrait with angel wings added to the young man’s shoulders.
Chloe was happy to do the piece and offered to draw the young woman with her boyfriend, but the woman declined.
“She said his family mattered more to her than a picture with him, so she wanted one for them, instead of one for herself. She said even seeing that up in their house would make her happy,” Chloe said.
Her latest commission was from Paige Campbell, a soccer friend.
“They just lost their childhood dog,” said Chloe. “I knew it was affecting them a lot.”
Paige said her mom, in particular, was taking the loss of 9-year-old Titan hard.
“I wanted to do something special for her, and I knew that Chloe did that type of art,” said Paige.
“We rescued him from the SPCA in Sydney, Nova Scotia. When we went there, she just saw him and was like, ‘ He’s mine.’ They had a bond, he best bond.”
Chloe had never drawn an animal portrait before but was up for the challenge.
The finished product was a success, and Paige’s mom loved it.
“It made her cry,” said Paige. “That kind of art is great. It captures everything, but without showing the face, so gives it a little mystery.”
Chloe hasn’t taken any payment for her work. She doesn’t want to, she said.
“It’s just nice to see them happy,” said Chloe.
Scott is proud of his daughter.
“It’s pretty generous,” he said. “Most people want to charge really high prices for these kinds of things, and to her it’s not about that.” Chloe just likes to draw. “I don’t want to make them pay for something. Yet, I might in the future, but right now, it’s not my biggest priority,” she said.