So I learned to simplify, and that’s
where my foundation in commercial
art has an influence on what I do now,”
he says. Latala was also influenced by
a painting that hung in the Academy’s
office. “I was really moved by this
landscape of a creek with rocks on
an overcast day. There wasn’t a lot of
value change in that beautifully subtle
painting by master artist Richard
Schmid. I had never had a reaction to
a painting like that before. Luckily, I
had no preconceived notions about art
at the time, and it kind of branded me
in a good way, personally. I still very
much love the subtleties created by
cool light on an overcast day. It’s some-
thing we often get here in Chicago
and a lighting situation that I also
re-create in my studio.”
After Latala left his advertising
career to pursue his love of paint-
ing, he studied with various master
artists, including Schmid. Before
long, he developed methods andmanners of painting, particularly in
pastel, that suit his personality and
goals. “I sketched in pencil a great
deal for my storyboards,” he explains,
“so working with lines and strokes in
pastel was an easy jump for me.”Lyrical Inspirations
Music has always been inspirational
to Latala, who appreciates a wide
range of genres and styles. The phrase
“a strong, sure light,” from a song by
singer/songwriter Fernando Ortega,
was the springboard for the artist’s
painting of the same name (page 23).
He’d gone to paint on the grounds
of a church and sought the pastor’s
permission, whom he soon befriended.
“I was compelled to do A Strong, Sure
Light by both hearing that song and
meeting this man who was so full of
goodness. I just had to ask if he would
pose for me,” he says. Sketching and
photographing his model on location,the artist carefully designed relation-
ships between positive and negative
shapes and chose to downplay the
subject’s hands so that the viewer’s
eye would only see the essentials—
the light emitted from the stained
glass windows and the pastor’s undi-
vided attention to his readings. It’s
a portrait designed to illuminate his
model’s reassuring, peaceful nature
and inner spiritual qualities.
Equally remarkable is Latala’s
attentiveness to his mark-making.
He ensures that his marks are
responsive, expressive and spon-
taneous. “I draw from my shoulder
and back, not from my forearm and
wrist,” he says. “I’m very conscious of
stepping back, making sure I stand
so that my arm is fully extended, and
I draw with a very light touch, loosely
holding my pastels. The success of
my paintings is directly proportion-
ate to the distance I stand from the
paper. The closer I stand, the more IABOVE
Cool Light (14x11)
RIGHT
Cathy (20x16)24 Pastel Journal OCTOBER 2019