Tvorba kvaší

Dobrý den přátelé,

říkáte si, že by bylo super někdy začít malovat, ale prostě ten čas a prostor pro to není? Shánět se po plátnu nataženém na rámu a olejových barvách ředěných pouze terpentýnem je moc těžké? A co potom temperka, se kterou po zaschnutí už není moc co zachraňovat a s akrylem už jakbysmet?

Tož to mám pro vás dobrou zprávu. Slyšeli jste někdy o kvaši? Jedná se o vodou ředitelné barvy, které po zaschnutí můžete kdykoli vodou a štětcem oživit - a to nejen na paletě ale i samozřejmě i na obrázku samotném. Je to jedinné médium svého druhu s touto vlastností - i po 5 letech mužete barvy vodou oživit - toto je možné pak už pouze samozřejmě u digitální tvorby :-)

Já kvaš miluji. Jedná se de facto o vodové barvy, kde je pigment navázán většinou na gumu arabic. Většinou je sehnatelný v malých tubách po 15 či 20 ml. Z osvědčených výrobců doporučuji winsorandnewton nebo Daler Rowney. Zde přidávám foto mé "Burnt umber" a Ultramarine od obou výrobců - pořídil jsem jich v Anglii před rokem a vážím si jich velice. Též začínám se značkou Pebeo, ale zatím s ní tvořím krátce, tak nechci recenzi uspěchat. Nicméně dva předchozí zmínění jsou značkami kvality za rozumnou cenu.

Většinou můžete tvořit na jakýkoliv papír dostatečné tuhosti, jelikož ho budete namáčet. Já používám rád 300 gramový obyčejný aquarelový papír nebo i třeba zadní strany z bloků - takové ty "odpady", které jsou však velmi hezky tonizované. Většinou na takové tvořím skice či drobné malůvky kompozic a nápadů:

Můj Kvašový "sketchbook" vytvořen ze zadních stran starých skicáků, bloků apod. - žádný matroš nesmí přijít na zmar :-)

Také s kvaší můžete tvořit na plátně, tak jakobyste tvořili s olejovkama. Nehledě ale na to jaký použijete materiál s kvaší můžete tvořit transparetně ze začátku a postupně budovat vrsty do plné opacitnosti (kryvosti - pro nedostatek vyjadřovacích pomůcek v Češtině) Čím více bílé přidáte tím opacitnější (macatější) a texturálnější vrstva. To jak pracovat s kvaší skvěle popisuje video od Standy Prokopenka v jeho Vánočním videu! 

Na jemný papír 300 gms malého sketchbooku, který jsem v čechách zatím po svém návratu nesehnal jménem "Blockinford" se tvoří také na výsost dobře. V tomto článku z minulého roku popisuji, jak se kvaš hodí na tzv. Master studies, kde objevujete procesy, myšlení vašich hrdinů, tím, že kopírujete jejich tvorbu - postupně: After (označení "After" znamená přiznaná kopie) Cornwell, after Leyendecker, after Frazetta - jestli je neznáte (všichni už bohužel neboštíci), rozhodně zagooglite...

Kdyby Vás práce v kvaši zajímala a chtěli jste víc do hloubky rozebrání či snad i tutoriál na YT (ano mám velice tajný YT kanál s jedním mocným videem) dejte echo...

PEŤOUS

JOHN SINGER SARGENT - "greatest painters that grazed our planet" series

Hi there All you good people of the internet,

Here I did a blog post about one of the greatest painters of all the times in Czech Language. I did it mainly because there's not so much information on the man in Czech. But there was a request by one of my friends from UK, Pat, to make it in English so here it is. There's a myriad of info about Sargent but this could be considered my personal view on his work and his approach and why I think he was so invaluable. 

I mentioned in the Czech version that a lot of Czech people have a good understanding of two well known artists that came from Czech Republic which was Alphons Mucha and very prolific illustrator Zdenek Burian, but I will mention them in detail in the future. 

John Singer Sargent was born on 12th of January 1856 and died on 14th of April 1925. An american painter which had earned his formal classical art education in Paris in the famous Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He later became one of the most admired portrait painters in the high society in Europe as well as in USA. He was a pupil of Carolus Duran. John is considered to be a "Brown school painter" who painted mostly behind closed door - indoors, where there's muted colours of any given object, emphasising more value changes and so called Chiaroscuro (difference between light and shadow) 

After many years of making portraits of American, England and Parisian high society John became little bit sick of doing his craft. I think He had started to hate commissions so he decided then to travel more and to grab his stuff outside. He used oils outside as this was his primary medium but he oftentimes switched to watercolour for its rapid nature and easy to carry properties. The result was a impressionistic usage of colours - more vivid due to the sunshine outside, without loosing sense of three dimensionality of a brown school painter. His outdoor work I dare to say is maybe twice that better than any of the famous impressionistic painters as we know them (Degas, Monet etc.) - it is mainly due to the Sargent's stellar drawing skills and his sense for Value and structure that he was able to maintain in his outdoor work when applying very truthful colours the same way impressionist did. 

Here's some examples of John's work with my commentary with some explanation to make sense (or justify) about my commentary above:

This is to be considered as an oil sketch. Keep in mind that artist of these times seldom used photography. Which was actually a good thing for honing their skills which John represents strongly here. It was at most one hour sketch done rapidly due to the fact that model looks rather annoyed to stand in the wind :-) Painting is a typical example of the freshness of John's brush strokes and a strong connection of his brown school training and impressionistic colours. 

I'm intentionally picking out an unfinished work, because they can reveal the process of painting itself the best. This sketch in oil indoors is a classic example of the freshness of brushstrokes as we spoke about. He follows the form with his brushstrokes in the lit areas and simplifies shadows to pronounce the focal point (the eyes of the sitter). As you can see to emphasise the focal point even further John uses more simplified brushstrokes that borders with abstract art on the outer sides of a painting to literally nudge us to look the subject in the eyes.

This is a gorgeous lecture on composition by John. If you squint at 50 precent you can see nice abstract shapes that underline the whole painting - the black stripe made out of musicians, focal point of the garment of the dancer. Dancing shadows on the wall are just cherry on top which finishes the whole orchestra. 

Autoportrait. This is an

 example of John's style that he used throughout his carrier for portrait commissions.  Indoor painting with strong (light vs. shadow) Chiaroscuro contrast. The fresh and effortless effect is just an illusion. It actually exists a myriad of letters and notation from John himself how hard and gruesome the process sometimes was. More on that notations and even more other information could be found in a great post by Howard Lyon from muddy colours 

And finally his alligators having an afternoon nap - maestro work with watercolour. This is exactly an example (and you can find another billion of others :-) ) why I think John Singer Sargent surpassed all the impressionistic movement. Reason being that he was able to masterfully combine his brown school education (drawing, strong sense for chiaroscuro) which most of the impressionists lacked and his sense for impressionistic colours. His quality and handling of colours was up to par with the French movement. 

Simply put Sargent was just a master. One of the kind. This is not to say that he was the best. There's no absolute in art I think. But he was one of the best in what he was doing. If you would have anything in mind regarding my take on this prodigy I would be more than happy to answer possible question or to have a discussion.

Sincerely Pete.