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| Tuesday Adults |
Around the Christmas holidays, my Czech student introduced me to the wonderful Czech artist, illustrator and children's book author Josef Lada (1887 Hrusice - 1957 Prague). Lada is a veritable superstar in the Czech Republic, and all Czech children are familiar with his atmospheric illustrations, poems and stories. He painted countless winter scenes depicting everyday life in his hometown of Hrusice, which he sold as holiday cards. These were in the inspiration for my adult class 'Lada Winter Landscape' in gouache and colored pencil.
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| Thursday adults |
I chose gouache for this project for several reasons. I love the soft, creamy texture and consistency it creates when mixed with white. Creating soft tints was essential for this wintery project. Gouache is also the favored medium of illustrators. Why? Its versatile characteristics allow for layering light over dark, and dark over light. It can be used opaquely or transparently. Since gouache is water-soluble, colors are easy to blend, rework and reactivate. Gouache is ideal for combining with other dry media, such as colored pencil, marker or graphite, allowing for precise detailing.
Lada's work is incredibly detailed. I knew gouache, with the addition of colored pencil for refined detailing, would be the perfect medium to recreate Lada's work.
Lada's work is incredibly detailed. I knew gouache, with the addition of colored pencil for refined detailing, would be the perfect medium to recreate Lada's work.
Process:
1. We began by analyzing Lada's work. We noted his use of a limited palette, and his use of tints. We noted his soft, ethereal colors, and the quiet winter mood his palette creates.
Palette:
Ultramarine blue
Cobalt blue,
Burnt sienna
Yellow
Red
Plenty of white
With this limited palette, students mixed their own pinks, oranges, greens, grays (ultramarine blue plus burnt sienna), tints and pastels.
2. Each student chose a Lada landscape they would reinterpret.
3. Student taped down the border of their watercolor paper. Some students chose to work on pink paper, which gave their work a subtle warm under-glow... which is a detail we noted also in some of Lada's work.
4. We sketched out our main composition in light pencil focusing on the main subjects (houses, large trees, people, hills) and avoiding all details (window, small trees).
5. We then began blocking in color in the large background, middle ground and foreground areas, working from the top down: sky, middle ground hills, foreground hill. We were careful to ensure that each snowy hill could be distinguished from other snowy hills, so we changed the tint ever so slightly each time.
6. We then began blocking in the main color of our main features (house, castle, large trees, people) from top down. We attempted to match colors as closely as possible to Lada's work.
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| Day 1 Progress. Without details |
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| Day 1 Progress. Without details |
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| Day 1 Progress. Without details |
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| Day 1 Progress. Without details |
7. As our main colors were blocked in, we began adding detail. We used a #1 detail brush for fine detailing.
8. Colored pencils were used to add details, bits of shading, and contouring. A good rule of thumb for this process is to use a similar but darker color in the area you are contouring or detailing. Colored pencil was used to add texture to tree bark or wooden, around window frames, for the faces and details of the people, to contour the snowmen or animals, for tiny trees and shrubs, etc. Basically anywhere where even the smallest brush might be too big.
9. Lastly, we sprinkled our landscape with slightly watered down white gouache (consistency of cream) for a snowy sky. We used a toothbrush for this step for an extra fine, delicate mist.
These Lada landscapes by my adult classes are soft, atmospheric, and gentle. My adults worked tirelessly over two sessions (6 hours in total) to render each detail and match each color perfectly.
It was super challenging, requiring a serious dose of concentration and commitment to the task at hand, but it was so worth it. Everyone went home so proud of their work. The intense experience was truly exhilarating.
