Category Archives: Art Topics

Five Reasons to Buy Art Work

Hello, art lovers!  Do you  think that art is just a luxury or a hobby? Well, it can be so much more than that. Art can enrich your life in many ways, and here are some of them:

Five Reasons to Buy Art Work

  1. bluebonnet landscape oil painting with stream and rocks by William HagermanArt stimulates your creativity and imagination. When you look at a painting or a sculpture, you can see the artist’s vision and interpretation of the world. You can also imagine your own stories and meanings behind the artwork, and explore different perspectives and emotions.
  2. Art enhances your mood and well-being. Art can make you happy, calm, inspired, or even challenged. It can also help you cope with stress, anxiety, or depression. Art can be a source of joy and comfort, or a catalyst for change and growth.
  3. Art reflects your personality and values. When you buy art work, you are expressing yourself and your preferences. You are also supporting the artists. You can choose art that resonates with you, and can be a way of showing what matters to you, what you believe in, and what you stand for.
  4. Art beautifies your space and environment. Art can transform any room into a more inviting and attractive place. It can also create a certain atmosphere or mood, depending on the style, color, and theme of the artwork. Art can make your home or office more cozy, elegant, or fun.
  5. Art is an investment and a legacy. Art can increase in value over time, especially if it’s from a renowned or emerging artist. It can also be a part of your heritage and history, something that you can pass on to your family or friends. Art can be a treasure that lasts for generations and it’ll last longer than the latest smart phone. You might also be surprised that you can often buy good art for less than some of the latest electronic gadgets.

So there you have it: the top five reasons to buy art work. I hope this article has inspired you to start or expand your art collection. Remember: art is for everyone, and everyone deserves art!

Selecting Art for Your Living Space

Selecting art for your living space can be a challenge. However, it’s not as difficult as you might imagine. After all you  choose other items in your home that reflect your taste and personality. selecting art for your living space

Recently, I was asked to give my two cents for an article published on the Redfin Blog.

Here’s a little blurb below with a link to the full article. You’ll find my comments along with the other suggestions.

Art can make any house feel like a home, but sometimes it can be a challenge to find art pieces that speak to you and reflect your design style. With many different art forms, there are some pieces that could fit well with your existing decor and others that may not. If this sounds like a problem you are facing, Redfin reached out to art experts from Encinitas, CA to Windsor, ON, for suggestions on unique art pieces to consider for every room in your home. From metal sculptures to metal prints, Check out The Art of Selecting Art: Experts Share Unique Art Pieces for Every Room of the House to see what they had to say.

By the way, the image above was a free stock photo, but, I inserted my latest “Byron” signature work onto the wall since it was a perfect match for the color scheme! Hopefully these suggestions on selecting art for your living space will inspire you to beautify your home with art.

 

What makes artwork original?

Making Artwork Original

A question was recently posed on the use of photo references in artwork and to further describe what makes artwork original? The questions were…

  • If I painted from other people’s reference photos, is my work considered original?
  • If I’m working with my own reference photos, do you care if they were taken in a photo workshop?

artist at workSo what makes artwork original? My reply, although not intended to be legal advice on copyright issues, perhaps will give food for thought.

Most artists use reference material, even having files of clippings from magazines and other sources. These include, electronic images, paper as well as their own photos, sketches etc. Artists use these as tools for inspiration and designing their art. Part of the issue is the extent to which a reference is used (originality) when it comes from someone else (copyright issues) and whether you have the right to use the images.

The first issue is when painting from other peoples reference photos. A photo like art is protected by copyright. If you’ve been given the OK to use them without restriction, then of course you can use them. If you’ve copied the photo verbatim, in a painting, the originality would be questioned. After all it was still another persons vision. But, if you’ve only used it as a reference to incorporate into your own composition then you’re using your artistic talents to compose a scene and not someone else. Thus, it’s an original.

Using your own photos

If you take your own reference photos even in a workshop setting, YOU still took those photos, so you have the right to use them unless there was some restrictions as part of the workshop on their use outside of the workshop, but other than that they’re still original.

However, there can be exceptions, but not in regards to originality. If you’re painting from a human model and you paint them in such a way that they would be recognizable. There could be the question of having a model release giving you the right to use that persons image. I was in a workshop that had a cowboy model and I took my own photos. If I painted him in the future in such a way as to make him identifiable, I might wonder whether or not another model release was needed. There was an art show in connection with this workshop and the painting of him that I did sold. So there may have already been a general model release as part of the workshop.

In my opinion if you have the right to use a reference photo taken by someone else, but have copied it as is, then I would question originality even if you had the legal right to use the photo. It was another persons vision.

If you’ve taken the photos then that’s you’re vision. Just as along as you’re not infringing upon another persons rights or trademarked images.

I hope this gives some clarity.

Somerset House Publishing

Hagerman Signs with Somerset House Publishing

Busy, is a word that comes to mind when thinking about how much time has passed since the last blog post and how quickly time flies as the saying goes. But, I have a couple of things to share.

First is some exciting news. A while back I was contacted by the President of Somerset House Publishing who was looking for an artist to fill their need for Texas landscape images. Apparently my work fit the bill, so a contract with Somerset House Publishing was recently signed for the reproduction of several of my best Texas artwork images in open edition. Somerset has been the publishers of works by artists such as: Larry Dyke, G. Harvey, Martin Grelle and many other fine artists. So it’s nice to be included with such a line up.

Four images of previous work are currently available for purchase with more to come.

Please check out my page on their website.

American Plains Artists: Another Big Project

american plains artists website

The American Plains Artists or APA is a Non Profit artists organization that highlights the American Plains region as a source of artistic inspiration and has an annual national juried show. About 16 years ago, I built their first website and in comparing it to todays standards the website looked like it was built 16 years ago! So starting in late October 2017 the first phase of rebuilding the website from the ground up began. I was pleased they wished to keep the backdrop image (although cropped) on the home page which in their eyes depicted the plains nicely. It was a painting of mine titled Red Erosions and was an actual view here in West Texas.

The project certainly was challenging, but it offerend a different aspect to creativity including developing an instructional video and one that highlighted the Plains region and the activities of the APA.

Please take a look at their new website and my “other” creative endeavor including the video found on their education page.

Now it’s time to get back to my own artwork. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

Oil Painting Composition Critiquing a Critique

In this blog post I decided to talk about oil painting composition, critiquing a critique.

While researching the subject, I came across a respected artist and author who was using works by other artists as examples where composition mistakes had been made. The artist/author then suggested solutions for improvement and did so by modifying the image.

Respectfully, the author did not include the artist’s name to which he was critiquing. However, one example caught my attention.The painting being critiqued was done by an all time favorite master artist named Clark Hulings! I recognized it from a 1999 show catalog that I have.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE PAINTING? (Nothing as you will see)

This is the Hulings painting cited as an example whereby a painting composition “rule” was broken.

Clark Hulings Goat Milk Vendor

The so called “rule” was avoiding strong geometric shapes, even if naturally occurring as they can be too distracting.

A strong triangular shape produced by the apparent shadow of a building at the bottom of Hulings painting was the culprit. I agree with the rule to an extent, but everything in a composition is relative to the artist’s vision and even if some supposed rule is broken, yet it serves a legitimate purpose, so be it.

A Composition Improvement? Maybe not

Here’s the modified version suggested by the artist/author which was recreated. The suggested improvement was variegating the shadow, thus breaking up the geometric triangular form.

Is this really an improvement? Here’s my analysis.

Critiquing the Critique

Let’s take a look at the shadow without the chicken along the left side of the triangular shape and the scattered darks near the back edge.

Obviously the shadow overwhelms the painting and your eye drops to it. However, Hulings did two things. First, he added the chicken and broke the line. Secondly, by adding the scattered darks near the edge of the canvas he softened the line and kept your eye from exiting at that point. Obviously, Hulings was aware of the geometric shape.

The goat milk vendor is the obvious focal area. In the so called improvement, the eye now drops and travels in sort of a merry-go-round fashion.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. However, in Hulings original painting the eye stays at the focal area, held in place by the arrow formed by the shadow which lines up and points to the center of action.

It’s true that no artist is free from making mistakes, however, my conclusion is that Hulings was too much of a master painter and in this instance, he deliberately kept the painting as it was to fix your attention on the primary subject.

In Conclusion

The story of the painting is clearly about the goat milk vendor who takes his goat and instead of delivering the milk in bottles, the householder comes and offers a pan and the vendor milks the goat on the spot. How’s that for fresh?

Everything else in the composition is subordinate to the story and the focal area of action. Hulings didn’t make a mistake. He kept that strong shape for a legitimate reason. He used it to make you look where he wanted you to look. So to repeat: Everything in a oil painting composition is relative to the artist’s vision and even if some supposed rule is broken, yet it serves a legitimate purpose, so be it.

Are Art Auctions Helping or Hurting the Art Industry?

Are art auctions helping or hurting the art industry? This question arose after talking to two separate art galleries about reasons for the overall sluggish art market. Both mentioned two factors; the economy (which is a given) and how art auction houses are hurting the galleries and artists. A couple of examples below illustrate their concern and it should concern artists as well.

auctioneerIf you do an internet search for art auctions, you may be surprised at the results. There are so many of them compared to former days.  Auction houses make the news when a deceased artist’s work sells for millions of dollars. Or some new artist has caught the fancy of investors hoping to buy and flip the art for profit.

A few short years ago a particular new comer to the arts made the news with his abstract works selling for $100,000.00 and above at auction.  Then the buying frenzy cooled and the same work sold two years later for around $20,000, with the buyer taking a significant loss. The trend is growing.

To illustrate the point further, one well known Texas artist whom I admire had a large 40×60 painting in a recent auction. Normally, the retail value would be in the neighborhood of $50,000. This artist is no newcomer to the art scene and as far back as the mid 1970’s his work was consistently selling for $10,000.00 a clip.  Many artists could only hope to reach that degree of recognition. Appallingly, this lovely 40×60 painting sold for $4600.00 at auction.

ART AUCTIONS THROWING PRICES OUT OF BALANCE

Prices for an artist’s work can be thrown out of balance in either direction of outlandishly high or low. I’m not saying that art auctions don’t have a place. I put some of my small works up for auction on eBay, but those works were developed primarily just for that purpose. It’s structured so it has no bearing on the value of my main body of works.

When it comes to art auctions offering works by living artists, it appears these venues are not helping with stabilizing an already soft art market but throwing it even more out of whack.  It becomes increasingly difficult for artists to keep an established value on their work without unrealistically elevating it or having it crash as if it was nothing more than a commodity on the stock market with the smack of the auctioneers gavel.

RESPECT FOR THE ARTIST PROFESSION

Artists provide a service and through their work bring beauty into the lives of people. In other professions from child day care providers, hair stylists, plumbers, electricians or doctors, people seldom venture to haggle about price.  When handed a bill most pay it for the service and skill of the provider and if they’re especially skilled it’s appreciated.  Artists also possess skills and some especially so, yet are not shown the same courtesy compared to workers in other professions. Almost immediately when an artist offers a fair price for their work to a customer, even on a brand new painting they are expected to lower the price!  After all, they reason that a well known artist with greater credentials sold for a lot less at an art auction!

I treasure one collector who has never once asked for a discount or tried to haggle over a price. Over the years they have bought many paintings and today have one of the largest and best collections of my work anywhere and when they commission a painting I give them my best in return.

So if you really want to help living artists, do this. Buy directly from them, (dead ones don’t need the money) and through their established selling venues such as their own website if offered or through galleries and art shows that they support. In return those artists will more than likely reward you.

So, are art auctions helping or hurting the art industry? What do you think?

 

Why is Art Important?

Curiosity made my recently type the question of why is art important into a search engine. Well, there’s no lack of other blog articles about it, all with varying viewpoints. As an artist, art is important to me, because that’s how I make my living. However, I’m not that philosophical in forming an answer except for posing another question. Can you imagine a world without art?

Why is Art Important thinker

Why Is Art Important?

That’s right. No art museums, no old master works, nothing to give a glimpse into the past, no galleries, no art fairs on a sunny weekend,  nothing on your walls to bring beauty into your life, no beautified parks with garden sculptures…. can you think of more?

How did that contemplation make you feel? Now ask yourself, why is art important, to you?

Please comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Feeling like you need some art in your life or maybe add a little spot of color somewhere in your home? I have you covered!

Here’s some artwork currently on my eBay auction if you need a little spot of color in your life. Click on the paintings title to go straight to the auction. Happy bidding! Note: Paintings come unframed. Frame for illustration only. Click the image for a larger view. The auction ends for the first two paintings on Sunday March 25th at 8 PM Central Time and the last two on Tuesday March 28th at 8 PM Central Time.

landscape oil painting with road old barn by Byron

After the Rain 9×12 oil by Byron

Texas hill country autumn oil painting by Byron

Color by the Creek 9×12 oil by Byron

Texas hill counntry autumn spanish oaks landscape oil painting

Dos Spanish Oaks 9×12 oil by Byron

Texas hill country autumn spanish oaks landscape oil painting by Byron

Tree of Color 9×12 oil by Byron

Thanks for visiting my blog today. All my best.

Benefits of Painting a Still Life

You’re the Conductor!

What are the benefits of painting a still life? This question came back to mind while preparing paintings for my exhibit at the Winnsboro Art & Wine Festival. The show wouldn’t be complete without having a painting or two featuring the fruit of the vine (grapes) which I show here done by my alter ego Byron. A nice departure from my landscapes. There are several benefits of painting a still life and right off the bat you get to be the conductor of your painting!

still life oil painting with grapes vase candle by Byron

My Little Vase 12×9 oil by Byron copyright 2016

Unlike landscapes you get to have total control over the lighting, color harmony and the subject matter. For landscapes you’re at the mercy of the weather. Many times I’ve wished for sunlight but instead overcast skies with no sign of them leaving anytime soon. Or hoping for brilliant fall foliage only to get dull shades of burnt orange or worse, no leaves on the trees! That brings us to another benefit: Timing!

No Timing Constraints; More Benefits of Painting a Still Life

Another advantage of painting a still life is that there are no time constraints. Unless of course you’re on a deadline to complete a painting or if you’re painting flowers and they’ve started to wilt or the fruit is starting to rot then that’s yucky. In which case you might be painting a little too slow. But, aside from those an artist can orchestrate a simple or complex composition as he or she wishes and study the scene at leisure with all it’s intricacies of color, light and shadow as it describes the various forms.

Since the scene is set and unmovable an artist will have ample time to work on drawing from life, which is an invaluable skill as opposed to seeing a flat image (photo) and drawing from it.

Still life paintings are also beneficial in that the objects form is more readily discernible. These forms are often oval, rectangular, cylindrical, cone shaped or combinations. These same geometric forms underlie objects in the landscape. If you learn to properly shade these forms in a still life with a single source of light, you will better understand how to shade other objects whose structure incorporates these various forms in the landscape.

still life oil painting with raku vase grapes orange by Byron

Raku Vase 9×12 oil by Byron copyright 2016

Communicating a Theme

Another benefit of painting a still life, is being able to communicate a story. But, does that mean that all the objects have to relate to one another? If you wish for a rustic theme, does it mean you have to leave out something elegant or vice versa? No! As long as the theme visually harmonizes and creates interest.  As an example here is a frame style combination that is both rustic and elegant. So they can work together, just as in a still life!

frame corner style of rustic and elegance

Rustic and Elegant frame style

The benefits of painting a still life are valuable both to the newbie artist and a good reminder to someone like me who hasn’t tried their hand at a still life in sometime. I have to say it was a lot of fun! Plus, I was able to render each of these still life paintings in one alla prima painting session. (All at once) Perhaps one day I will do a William Hagerman signature still life painting!

Would love to hear your thoughts about my still life work? As the Winnsboro show approaches I’ll be posting more of the art to be in the exhibit. Thanks for reading!

One last reminder before I go, is my latest eBay auction work going on now until 6PM Pacific Time on Tuesday October 18th. Fall is in the air in this mountain setting. Inspired by a trip near Trinidad, Colorado.

The Call of Autumn 9x12 oil by Byron for eBay auction

The Call of Autumn 9×12 oil by Byron for eBay auction

You can access the auction from my eBay profile page.

 

 

 

What Determines the Value of Art?

Market Driven

Recently an individual asked me bout the value of an artists work in print. At one  time demand was high. It was commented that someone offered to purchase one of this artist’s prints she owned for over $2000.00 many years ago.  In today’s market, it would be difficult to give it away at $200.00.  So what determines the value of art? It’s market driven and it can be fickle.

If you’ve watched the Antiques Roadshow  you see how items of value fluctuate up and down. Factors include the popularity of the item, (trends)  its availability or rarity, and the quality and condition of the item. Also you can’t negate the economy, if times are lean and spending  becomes more conservative.

Consumer Savvy Buyers

With the internet, potential buyers are becoming more consumer savvy. Smart phones are used to compare prices of artist’s works in other galleries as well as with other artists of the same caliber and experience even while in a gallery looking at art.

Therefore, it’s unwise for a new artist to arbitrarily set an unrealistically high price and expect individuals to accept its value without question just because the price tag says so.  Another poor tactic is creating a false sense of demand by saying “ you better buy it now, cause the prices are going up next month, next year or whatever.” It can later backfire if there isn’t a true demand or credentials to back up a claim as to the items worth.

Most artists start out with modest pricing and as works sell, a track record begins with price increases happening over time along with other credentials being added. There are exceptions. But remember, they are just that; exceptions and not the norm.

Value Comparisons

In the illustration below are several paintings grouped together. With the exception of  the painting in the middle (which is mine) the artist’s signatures has been blotted out. I want the works to stand on their own merit. However, one artist I know personally, have exhibited in a show with another, others are known by reputation and one I know nothing about. Sizes of the paintings range from 9″ x 12″ – 16”x20.” The price range is $1300.00 – $9750.00 with the next highest priced work in the group being $3800.00. You can click the image to see the prices on each.

Group Comparisons

Did you guess the $9750.00 painting?  It’s the bottom one in the middle vertical column.  From the artist’s website there were only a handful of paintings listed, all 9×12 in size with that price tag. Others shown were comparable in skill and execution.  No indication of work previously sold, gallery representation, shows or experience on the part of the artist was found. The site did say that each painting listed was an original investment quality piece of art.

A Final Comparison of what determines the value of art

Are you familiar with the artist Clark Hulings?  He happens to be a favorite of mine. Well, this artist had a long history and a list of accolades and accomplishments that most artists never realize in their lifetime. His painting skill was all but unmatched. As proof of that, here’s an example from a 1999 show catalog of his work.

Clark Hulings

The painting size was 24×36 and had a price tag of $135,000.  The same catalog showed a small work of a 10”x12” painting of a single white rose priced at $9000.00.

Clark Hulings Single White Rose

The show was a sell out with over a million dollars in sales. Sadly Hulings passed away in 2011, but current estimates of  similar sized paintings in the 9×12 range at auction is still holding strong at $9000.00-$12,000.00.

I don’t think I need to further elaborate other than to reiterate that what determines the value of art is principally the market along with some reasonably expected credentials that support the price. Otherwise the price tag may appear to be meaningless without true merit regardless of what’s stated on it.

As an update from first writing this blog post regarding the $9750.00 priced painting, I rechecked the artist’s website to see if this could have been listed in error and if the price had changed. Well, it had. The price was changed to $2700.00 for the 9×12 paintings. Still the question remains. Will the market see the work as worth that stated price in comparison to other work in the same genre?

A month has passed since writing this post and another update regarding the above mentioned $9750 priced painting is in order.  Rechecking the artist’s website a new list price of $590 was shown for the 9×12 painting unframed. For artists wishing to enter the market, it would be wise to do research on pricing before presenting it to the world. But, we all learn. However, you don’t have to learn by mistakes. There’s plenty of online advice on how to price art work. Take advantage of that resource to educate yourself on the subject.

Galleries can also help in assessing your prices. Here’s something I did. I went into an upscale gallery containing works comparable to my style. The gallery wasn’t busy, so I asked if I could show them some photos of my art. This was before smart phones. I told them I wasn’t seeking gallery representation, but would like their advice. This took the pressure off of them and probably seemed a little odd for an artist not seeking representation.  The director was pleasantly surprised when she saw my photos. Afterwards I was told that if my work was in their gallery my prices would be higher. Wonderful feedback!

 

 

Critiquing Artwork

Critiquing Artwork

In this post I will share some points on critiquing your artwork.  A discussion with an art student brought this subject to mind.

At the time, we were talking about observable colors in some clouds. The student elicited the comment of “I wish I could see through your eyes.”  Much of the work involved in painting whether it’s mixing color or arranging the composition involves a process of analysis and observations. Asking a series of questions designed to identify and solve problems is called….

The Artist’s Self Critique

Follow along as some self critique’s are applied in bringing the painting “Lunch Companions” to a completion.

The Reference Photo

old building and cactus
Inspiration for “Lunch Companions” appeared while driving down a local street where an old building surrounded with cactus caught my attention. It will become the stage for the main characters which will include a donkey and two feathered lunch companions. However, color was lacking in the scene and the impact of the building’s hard geometric shape needed to be softened. To that end, a wisteria vine was added which will overlap the left of the building and extend onto the fence.

Composition Sketch
Thinned paint (ultramarine blue) and a brush is used for the sketch.

sketch for oil painting

Blocking in the Initial Colors

partical completion of an oil painting by William Hagerman
After the initial blocking in of color, the cactus in the foreground demanded way too much attention. It had to go.

Bye, Bye Cactus

painting demo partial completion of oil painting by William Hagerman

Since the paint wasn’t completely dry, odorless thinner was added to paper toweling and the cactus were wiped away. What remained was simply over painted. I liked the cactus in the original photo, so maybe just a few small ones on the left could remain.

The Final  Analysis

oil painting by William Hagerman before revision. Last stage before completion.
However, in the final self critique, they too had to go. When looking at the painting compared with the final one, notice that your eye simply drops down to the cactus no matter where else you look. The foreground cactus offers no supportive role and become the uninvited guests and party crashers of the scene.

old building, donkey and chickens. Oil painting by William Hagerman

Once gone, peace returns to the composition. The focal area of the donkey, wisteria vine and chickens remains the focal area. Now the stars of the painting can finish their lunch time grazing in peace. If interested in purchasing this piece please contact me.