Contained in the Sketchbook of Tereza Horáček

Tereza Horáček is a painter and illustrator based mostly in Oxford – she visited us within the Jackson’s Studio to present us a glimpse inside her vibrant sketchbook observe. Her work takes inspiration from the Previous Masters, whose work she research throughout her frequent gallery visits. Alongside together with her attraction to classical portray, Tereza frequently makes observational sketches from on a regular basis life, rendering the world round her with eager consideration – utilising a palette of sudden color combos and gestural mark-making to evoke a powerful sense of temper, place, and time.

Since I used to be a toddler, I’ve at all times drawn in sketchbooks. I’d use my sketchbook to doc household holidays, draw from artworks in museums, and likewise illustrate story concepts from my creativeness. The best way I exploit sketchbooks now hasn’t actually modified a lot from once I was a toddler.

Once I began my BA in Nice Artwork, I used to be uncertain what it was that I wished to color. My studio was a brief stroll from the Nationwide Gallery, and I used to go and draw there each morning. I’d draw the work in entrance of me, then return to the studio to make work based mostly on these drawings and from my recollections of the work that I had seen that day. I learnt quite a bit about portray this manner, and my present observe remains to be closely influenced by Previous Grasp portray.

I nonetheless deliver a sketchbook with me once I go to a gallery. I discover drawing from a portray helps me perceive the piece higher and spot new particulars. My oil work are made intuitively and I don’t plan them in my sketchbooks. Nonetheless, components of my work are sometimes taken from different work, significantly Dutch seventeenth-century panorama work, which I’ve stood in entrance of and drawn into my sketchbook.

There are additionally sketches in my sketchbooks of work by Constable and Gainsborough, which I’ve drawn at Tate Britain and The Nationwide Gallery. Again within the studio, I make work which typically immediately reply to work I’ve seen and drawn from, or I’d use components of a portray, maybe a color or explicit tree, to create imagined landscapes.

Alongside my portray observe, I’ve been learning an MA in Kids’s Guide Illustration at Cambridge Faculty of Artwork. Since learning at Cambridge Faculty of Artwork, I’ve developed a behavior of drawing each day and from direct commentary. I get pleasure from drawing from life quite a bit. I get pleasure from drawing avenue scenes, individuals passing by and capturing the character of a spot.

I feel it’s the problem of drawing one thing that’s continually altering that I like. There may be pleasure in making an attempt to transform an image when persons are strolling previous or the sunshine retains altering.

My drawings of individuals inform the characters in my illustration work, and I often begin a undertaking by going out to attract round my neighbourhood. Learning the way in which individuals transfer, expressions and even clothes assist to make my characters really feel extra plausible.

I often work in just a few sketchbooks on the identical time. Small sketchbooks are good for sketching individuals in cafes or on public transport, and longer, bigger sketchbooks are greatest for capturing entire scenes and landscapes.

I at all times carry round a small sketchbook and a pencil case with just a few colored pencils, a black fineliner pen and a few felt suggestions so I could make fast drawings when I’m out. If I’m going someplace with the intention of drawing, I’ll in all probability take just a few extra colored pencils and my set of Caran d’Ache gouache pans or watercolours.

I exploit a variety of supplies in my sketchbooks. I like to start out with unfastened washes in gouache or watercolour paint, then draw excessive in colored pencils and pens. If I’m in a rush, a easy fineliner pen should do.

Caran d’Ache Luminance Color Pencils are a favorite as they work actually properly excessive of painted backgrounds and are additionally waterproof, which works properly if you wish to paint again into your image.

I’m additionally drawn to the immediacy of Tombow Brush Pens, and I usually draw excessive of my drawings with a pen to spotlight the individuals in a scene.

I exploit sudden and brilliant colors, and typically put together my sketchbook pages with a daring, colored wash which I then work excessive of. I benefit from the problem of combating towards a colored floor, and an underlying color can usually deliver an image collectively.

When drawing in galleries, I’ll take a smaller sketchbook. I exploit Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Sketchbooks, that are nice for filling up with fast fineliner sketches. Previously yr, I’ve been utilizing Pith sketchbooks. The paper high quality permits me to work throughout each pages and is thick sufficient to color on with out warping. They arrive in nice colors, and I like how they open out flat too.

My sketchbooks maintain a whole lot of recollections for me. They present my residence, household and mates, holidays, and the locations I’ve been.

Though drawing in a brand new place is thrilling, I significantly get pleasure from drawing the locations I do know properly. In my sketchbooks, I’ve drawn the identical view of my avenue at completely different occasions of day, climate circumstances and utilizing completely different supplies.

My sketchbooks are my diaries, and once I look by my sketchbooks, I can keep in mind the conversations I used to be having, the climate and even the tea I used to be ingesting once I made a drawing.

My oil work and illustration work can typically really feel like two separate practices, however my sketchbooks are a spot the place the 2 come collectively. They’re an perception into my life. Once I paint in oils, I’m portray impulsively, and I usually rework and layer paint while engaged on just a few oil work on the identical time.

In distinction, drawing from life is a a lot slower course of, and I benefit from the time away from the studio, observing, reflecting, and documenting what’s in entrance of me. There may be satisfaction in recording a spot and feeling, and likewise a whole lot of enjoyable in taking part in with supplies and taking dangers. Sketchbooks are a spot the place you may simply attempt issues out.

Going drawing with mates is an efficient strategy to acquire confidence in drawing from life. I’ll usually deliver a sketchbook to the pub or a restaurant and draw with mates.

Getting ready sketchbook pages with colored washes is an efficient strategy to experiment with color and may end up in new and sudden methods of working. I usually restrict my color palette and select just a few colors to work with earlier than making a drawing.

I draw and paint fairly rapidly, and I’ve to remind myself to decelerate and actually have a look at what it’s that I’m drawing. Practising blind contour drawing (whenever you draw one thing with out your paper) helps me to focus and actually observe what’s in entrance of me.

For me, drawing in a sketchbook is a reasonably joyful exercise! I really like the challenges of drawing from life, the sudden outcomes and the satisfaction in having labored one thing out.

Supplies

Caran d’Ache Studio Gouache Set of 14 Pans and 10ml White

Caran d’Ache Luminance Color Pencils

Caran d’Ache Basic Neocolour I

Tombow Twin Tip Blendable Brush Pens

Uni Pin Waterproof Sketching Pens

Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Sketchbook Panorama (A5)

Pith Sketchbooks

About Tereza Horáček

Tereza Horáček studied Nice Artwork on the Slade Faculty of Nice Artwork, College Faculty London (2016-2020). Characterised by a mixture of evocative colors, textured brushstrokes, fluorescent-orange backgrounds, and unfastened washes, Horáček reworks and layers paint to mix portray strategies harking back to the Previous Masters with gestural brushstrokes. Her pastoral scenes draw inspiration from Dutch seventeenth-century work. Broad meadows, grazing cattle, poultry, and expansive skies are recurring motifs inside her work. Latest exhibitions embody Again To My Timber, Terrace Gallery, London; Royal Academy Summer season Exhibition 2025, Royal Academy, London; The Irving Open 2025, Irving Gallery, Oxford; Ronapainting Gallery, Oxford. Horáček is learning MA Kids’s Guide Illustration at Cambridge Faculty of Artwork. She at the moment lives and works in Oxford, UK.

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