Erin O'Toole

Black and White

Charcoal and white conte on Canson paper.

Drawing in black and white is a rest. Concentrating on the light I can let the paper carry the mid-tones.

These squirrels knew I was in a black and white mood. I had just decided to do some ink drawing and looked up to see them posing in the tree that broke in this year's wind. This is the same tree that the baby owls lived in last spring.

I started with Pigma pen, then added some darks with my brush pen and smeared things with a bit of water.

Flowers in Gouache

One thing I like about painting from life is all the things that happen while you are sitting and drawing.
While I painted these lilacs several pipevine swallowtails visited hovering about checking each flower. Then out of nowhere a tiny, reddish brown hummingbird showed up.
I use gouache when I need a good purple color. An underpainting of white with yellow helps some of the green leaves stand out on gray paper. The paper I used is from a tablet Strathmore Charcoal paper in various color.

Three Tips

• Watercolor washes in journals or any thin paper tend to buckle. I work around this problem by placing the journal under a stack of books for several hours. Keep an eye on the painted parts of the page, when the sheen is gone it is time to press.

• When you are finishing sketches in your journals, work from the most recent pages back to earlier ones.

• Sharpen your pencils with a knife and sandpaper. Take the wood back about three quarters of an inch with the knife, then sharpen the lead with sandpaper. Sharpen several at once. Keep the beveled edge sharp by not turning the pencil too much as you draw.