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Born in Amsterdam in 1931, the budding artist experienced many other facets of life before he could actually paint the pictures he saw in his mind. During his childhood years, World War II was raging around him, which left little time for sketching his ideas. As a young adult, providing for his own growing family became the top priority. After graduating Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit with a Master’s degree in economics, Eric’s launched his career at Amsterdam’s Municipality, developing Marketing Research for the Department of Public Works. He later moved on to the Federation of Mechanical and Electrical Industries, Holland’s largest Dutch industrial trade association, as an economist. After some years in that position, Eric joined Stork, N.V., a Dutch international engineering group, where he held several executive marketing and general management positions. When his company sent him US in the late 1970’s to manage one of their subsidiaries in New Jersey, the relocation was intended to be temporary, but 17 years later, when he retired, he was still in the US, managing another Stork subsidiary in Gainesville, Georgia Throughout those years, wherever he was, Eric continued to be enthralled by art. After retiring from Stork in 1996, he finally took the opportunity to pursue his dream of painting in oils. After taking lessons from Carol Carpenter at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD, Eric moved to the historic Eastern Shore of Virginia town of Cape Charles in 1998 where he took time off from painting to restore of his turn-of-the-century Victorian house. From the moment he completed the restoration, Eric resumed painting in earnest, taking lessons from fellow artist Lynn Wyatt and becoming active in the Eastern Shore arts community. In 2003/2004 until his move in July 2004 to Corrales, New Mexico, he was honored to study with Adamo, a master of the techniques of the Old Masters. Eric has exhibited in several juried and non-juried art shows in Virginia and New Mexico. In his new home in the great Southwest, Eric is continuing to perfect the techniques he learned from Adamo, as well as those he has developed himself over the past nine years. Widely known for his delightful and captivating paintings of Cape Charles scenes, Eric draws inspiration from everyday objects and people he encounters, whether at home or traveling. His paintings of Holland, Spain, Portugal and other faraway lands reflect his curiosity and fascination with the subjects of his works, whether with architecture, people, flora or fauna. He feels right at home in New Mexico, a land filled with spectacular richness of color, light and shadow, the focus of his latest work. | |||
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