Erin O'Toole

Winter landscapes

The landscape changes quickly when you are riding in a car, riding a ferry or taking a train. But just like drawing a moving animal, trying to capture the movement of the changing scenery helps me quit worrying about getting it “right”.

I make quick sketches before the things changes entirely. I look for color and shapes like swirls of water or the triangles of mountains. Evidence of human occupation or a few animals help show the size of the fields or mountains.

Clouds in the sky can give the landscape painting movement. As they move across the sky the light changes and as the move away into the distance the get smaller and they get flatter on the bottom. On “cloud” days I like to sketch pages in pencil with no final drawing in mind, just cloud watching.

In the winter trees and mountains lose their detail as they move away and get lost in the mist. Colors change from clear and vibrant to soft and muted. I use opaque gouache for distant mountains and transparent watercolors for the trees, grasses and details that are close.

I look forward to the warmth of spring but I like to linger awhile in winter to paint a few more rice fields, dry grasses and barren trees.

For a list of the paints I'm currently using see the "Watercolors and Gouache" page.

Some favorite journal drawings

At the end of one year I like look through my sketches and journals. These are a few of my favorites.

Two things

I like to draw two things on a page or draw two views of the same thing. Differences scale, color or movement are subtle. A person with an animal or a bug on a plant is far more interesting than one of anything.