Thomas Prosek Artist Statement
Forty years ago, I moved to the United States and have been living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the Sonoma Coast. This amazing coastline, where the San Andreas fault meets the Pacific Ocean under the bright blue skies, gave me the opportunity and inspiration to paint dramatic cityscapes and landscapes.
I am Czech and of Central European and Italian heritage. In Prague, I was educated as an engineer-architect and urbanist with extensive fine art studies. Architectural illustration and conceptual design have been my business in San Francisco and worldwide for several decades.
In my classical-realistic watercolor paintings, there are a few self-imposed rules I try to obey. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" is probably the first. It is that time of clarity, reflections of shades, and shadows that occurs seconds before the sunset. The tension of calm and chaos together, composed in divine geometry of the golden means and with DaDa cropping, the paintings are where they should be.
All the pigments in my very limited palette are absolutely lightfast. They are Windsor & Newton ultramarine and cerulean blue, quinacridone rose red, ochre, and lemon yellow, and Daniel Smith quinacridone burnt siena. White is usually the color of 400 LB Arches handmade watercolor paper. There is a story, water, and the sky in every one of my artworks.
I am Czech and of Central European and Italian heritage. In Prague, I was educated as an engineer-architect and urbanist with extensive fine art studies. Architectural illustration and conceptual design have been my business in San Francisco and worldwide for several decades.
In my classical-realistic watercolor paintings, there are a few self-imposed rules I try to obey. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" is probably the first. It is that time of clarity, reflections of shades, and shadows that occurs seconds before the sunset. The tension of calm and chaos together, composed in divine geometry of the golden means and with DaDa cropping, the paintings are where they should be.
All the pigments in my very limited palette are absolutely lightfast. They are Windsor & Newton ultramarine and cerulean blue, quinacridone rose red, ochre, and lemon yellow, and Daniel Smith quinacridone burnt siena. White is usually the color of 400 LB Arches handmade watercolor paper. There is a story, water, and the sky in every one of my artworks.