Stramberk Painting

I grew up in Ostrava, Czech Republic. I do not have any formal education in art, you can label me "self taught", if you want. In reality my education was long, very complex and sometimes painful. My father, in Czech quite well known landscape painter, is an academic artist who taught me and passed to me all his secrets and formulas. Since I was 5 years old, I loved to watch him painting and was mimicking his moves and technique. After many years and hundreds of failed attempts, I started to change my approach to painting and way of using gouache to suit my style better. You will definitely find some similarities to my fathers works, I was influenced by his work my whole life, but in the end I have found my own style and a bit different technique in using gouache. This results in very similar look to oil paintings. Most of my works are painted on hardboard, which I find much more suitable for gouache. It is not so pleasant to paint on as canvas, but gives gouache better and more stable base, which will last forever.