Artist Erin Armstrong’s relaxed figures are ethereal and richly toned

There’s a wonderful dreaminess to Toronto-based Erin Armstrong’s paintings, as she adds an ethereal slant to the everyday with her characters existing in a haze of colour and brushstrokes. Keen to create her own reality in which her silhouettes can exist, Erin’s work is best when she abandons clean lines and bravely swooshes paint across the canvas. A lovely briskness is created in these loose figures, and the beautiful jewel-like shades blending with subdued pastels adds to the whimsical atmosphere. Calming and graceful, I love how Erin adds natural elements like plants or water to her acrylic paintings to give them some sort of grounding in the real world.