Hello there!
Well, I thought I’d share a short oil painting video that I created. Originally it was for Instagram, (@hagermanart) so it’s less than a minute. It shows the general order in which I work, whether it’s under my Byron Signature or William Hagerman Signature works.
Hope you enjoy it. This little painting is also up for auction on eBay ending Saturday June 26, 2021. Direct Link to auction.
Although, I have written about this subject before, I wanted to now share a video clip from a recent Zoom Art Class Session on negative shape painting.
This is really a valuable skill that anyone wishing to paint or who wishes to improve their drawing skills needs to practice. To learn this skill and more, please contact me to join one of my Zoom art sessions. We meet twice each month. The Fee is $80 for the two, two hour classes.
With this final segment of my Paris France oil painting demo, work is brought to completion. In the previous stage, refinements were made to the focal area.
The next step was to work on the building in the upper right which was still unfinished. Since this building is situated at a different angle to the light, it is kept cooler. Brush work is also minimized with sharper detail towards my clients wife in the window. The sharpness of contrast leads your eye to that area.
Now that the primary buildings are mostly done, it’s time to move on to the building on the left. The goal for this section is to keep it more painterly and less detailed. This building brings balance to the heaviness of the composition on the right side, however it should not compete. Therefore, detail was minimized for the same reason as the upper section of the building on the right. Also, the building is in shadow, so all colors are kept to the cool side and kept to a darker value.
After this the next major element to be painted was the Eifel Tower. Enough detail was added to mimic the “texture” of the tower without rendering tight detail which kept it in the distance. Colors are kept subdued and within the overall color scheme. Keeping in mind, the tower although an important element is not the primary subject, but my client’s wife in the window.
After letting the painting dry, it’s time to go and finish the sky. More intensity of color is added and is applied with thicker paint and bolder brush work. More details and brush work are now added into the distance trees. The lone figure in the distance is painted in as well as the two gentlemen on the left engaged in conversation. A perspective bobble on a vertical line is corrected on the left building. I have so much valued the T-square in this painting!
The street is now repainted to represent the darker brick pavement. To make the street recede colors are kept cooler in the distance and warmer in the front. The basic mix was ultramarine blue and cadmium red medium towards the front with more cooler and lighter violet tones in the distance.
Finally the last of the main elements being the Citroen car and the male figure on the sidewalk are painted in. More detail (subtle highlights) to mimic the texture of the brick street is also added.
A final refinement is bringing a veil of color onto the lower half of the middle building and some added highlights in a few spots. The darkening veil represents a long shadow from the trees in relation to the angle of light. And the few subtle highlights sets up an implied diagonal line from the light source pointing in a downward angle towards the primary subject of my client’s wife the star of the painting!
Here are a few details. Click the image for a larger view.
I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with this Paris France Oil Painting Demo and commissioned painting. If you would like to learn more about commissioned work, please see the following page. COMMISSIONS
A happy customer!
In this segment on my oil painting demo of Paris France, “serious” work begins with refining the focal area, starting with the shadowed side of the middle building. This was done so the values of the adjacent sky and distant building in the sunlight could be judged against it. Cool reflected sky colors were added into the shadowed side which helps it recede.
Work continued downward painting in the section between the two main buildings and into the courtyard area. Once dry the wrought iron gate was painted over it keeping the detail to a minimum with just enough to express its character.
Two important compositional changes in refining the focal area were also made from the original drawing. First, the woman pedestrian in the foreground returned to her apartment. She forgot something so she had to go. Her purpose was to act as a jump point for the eye to travel through the scene. However, a simpler approach of adding more potted flowers would serve the same purpose. Additionally, more emphasis is shifted to my client’s wife in the window. Blue colored French style planters brings balance to each side of the entry way. Plus it allowed more of my clients favorite colors to be added into the scene.
A slight fractional increase in the size of my clients wife in the window was the second compositional change along with changing her outfit’s color to purple, her favorite color. Adding a spot of red in the potted Geraniums next to her also prompts the eye to move to that area.
That warm touch of red adds a bit of color contrast to an area composed of cool colors. The reason for all these tones of violet, blue and even cool greens in this side of the building is that it’s at a different angle to the light. Therefore, being in shadow, it receives more reflected light from the sky.
The next phase of work begins with painting in the light side of the middle building. Once this is dry, perspective angles will be checked and redrawn if necessary. More refinements and details will be added. Don’t misunderstand the term detail. This can also mean simplify and with so much architectural motifs on these buildings they need to be played down and that can be even more difficult than rendering them in tight detail.
Again the painting is not about the architecture, but my client’s wife and the time they shared in Paris. Everything in the painting has to support this concept. Additionally per their request the painting needs to be kept more impressionistic. In the end some elements will likely be softened. Even with buildings you can’t have all hard edges!
Hope you’ll come back to see more.
In Part two of my Oil painting demo of Paris France, the use of fluid washes of transparent and semi transparent color are higlighted. Liquin thinned with Turpenoid was mixed with paint and applied over the drawing. This is called the…
These thin color marks set the the mood of the painting. The lines of the drawing were reinforced with thinned paint in the previous session and left to dry. Therefore these washes would not disturb my careful drawing!
With the wash having set up a bit, opaque color was added to certain passages. This is most noticeable in the trees, cirtroen car and people. Keep in mind, nothing is complete at this stage.
My clients favorite colors included purple, blue and green. Therefore various mixes of violet and blue dominate the underpainting. Orange, being the compliment of blue is added to the sky. Also a transparent wash of orange is brushed over the street area. Various opaque broken colors of violet and blue violet are added on top. Some of the orange underpainting shows through which gives a sparkle effect.
Here’s another zoomed in area. Remember the paint is being applied in a very transparent and loose manner. Refining details will come later.
Artist Claude Monet, founder of the French Impressionists, is a favorite of my clients wife. Therefore my alter ego is attempting to add a little hint of Monet in the brush work. If you look at the following detail of a Monet painting you’ll observe that nothing is just one color. This multitude of smaller flecks of color when viewed from a distance will come together producing a visual mixture!
My underpainting reminds me to render a similar effect in future sessions as more opaque thick colors are applied.
Thanks for visiting today! More sharing to come!
With my latest commissioned oil painting of Paris France, a unique perspective drawing challenge arose that required a judicious amount of artistic license.
My client and his wife visited the Musée d’Orsay in Paris France due to her love of impressionist art. Desiring an impressionist painting as a reminder of their trip which included staying in a lovely rented apartment near the Eiffel Tower.
The inspiration photo was taken using an iPhone in panoramic mode which created extreme distortion. As you can see, Paris looks to be in the midst of an earthquake! My client’s wife in the window doesn’t seem to notice.
Here’s what was done to stop the earthquake and turn an unbelievable perspective into an artistic arrangement.
Using a free photo program (GIMP) and its perspective tool to straighten up the buildings was the first task. Although it’s not really a perspective tool as it couldn’t correct everything.
With a supplied street address, and using Google’s Street View a better understanding of the surroundings was achieved. In reality, the buildings are parallel. However, with two unchangeable elements, (client’s wife looking out the window at her husband and the Eiffel Tower in view) the scene cannot be painted as it actually is.
To make the scene believable imagine the buildings as being pie shaped and positioned at a corner street. To strengthen the concept, a mock up of paper was used to represent the buildings and then positioned at a corner of a table which represents the edge of the street.
Equipped with this information work began on a modified photo/drawing montage. Height was added so the street could be included. Adding a vintage Citroen car and some other people, it kept Paris from looking deserted. These “extras” will act as visual aids in leading the eye through the composition. Ultimately color will also play a part in directing the eye back to my client’s wife and enliven the composition.
Here’s the completed drawing on canvas which is 15×30 in size. I’m sure more adjustments in perspective will be made as I paint. Being primarily a landscape artist this has been a fun challenge for my alter ego Byron!
Stay tuned as work on the painting continues. More sharing to come!
My first painting for the new year of 2017 is under my William Hagerman signature. It was a commissioned painting and I thought you might like to see how it was brought to fruition in another…
Delightful Reflections 27×21 oil painting by William Hagerman copyright 2017
Inspiration for this Texas Hill Country painting came from a texted photo sent by a client of a spot on their ranch. Along with the request of a vertical format, key elements for the painting included the beautiful water reflections and tree up against the sky.
Composition Sketch
Using that criteria, and a marker pen, a rough composition sketch was made.
However, a problem existed requiring adjustments caused by reflections on the right side extending to the bottom edge which created a long unbroken vertical line. The solution was adjusting the design to include more blue sky reflection.
Remember, the goal is not to copy a photo but capture the essence of a scene and make a good painting.
With the composition sketch and photo as a guide, a sketch was made on canvas using thinned ultramarine blue and a small bristle flat brush. Additionally, a photo program was used to lighten and crop the photo. Having a computer monitor next to my easel made it convenient to zoom in on areas to see further details.
Work started from the center out, with the shadowed dark area painted first. Other values adjacent to it can then be compared and painted in.
Progression of blocking in color and values continues, similar to placing pieces of a puzzle together. Ultimately the upper half of the painting will be completed before painting the water.
Stay tuned for the next session as more work is done in finishing the block in stage.
Continuing with the block in stage, work is focused in the middle section having worked from the middle out. Now the left side is blocked in.
Additional details are also added to other vegetation that has previously been blocked in, further refining the shapes. After this the right hand side is given some focus adding more details to the trees.
Now the sky is blocked in painting around the larger limbs of the tree up against the sky. Some might ask why not paint all the sky first and then paint the tree? It’s a rule called painting fat over lean. Colors that have more oil content or that are slower drying should not be over painted with faster drying colors as cracking could result. The under layer should be “lean” in that there is less oil or medium added while upper layers are “fat” having more oil or medium which makes the top layer more flexible.
The distant hill is also refined. By the way I do not paint while the frame is on the painting. However, I like to see how the painting looks in it’s frame even at an early stage.
After the sky color is dry, I next add some faint clouds. Since white is more oily, plus I had medium in it, this top layer is more flexible than what’s under neath so I’m following the fat over lean rule.
Now comes the task of painting in the limbs and scattering of leaves on the silhouetted tree against the sky. A photograph would show this tree as black, however it’s not void of light so do not paint it as a black silhouette. Your eye would be able to see into this darker area. A camera can’t do that.
After the previous stage was dry I go back and add additional clouds and do some modifications in the silhouetted tree. The tree wasn’t happy or at least I wasn’t happy with it. Details are now painted in the grassy area on the banks of the stream and essentially the upper half is brought to a completion. Next will come the reflections.
Before showing you the final stages I thought you would like to see a few up close views to get a better look at the details.
With the upper section complete a basic full color oil sketch is made of the reflections, being careful to take notice of their positioning. I also consult my reference photo. In painting reflections the brush strokes are vertical and edges kept soft.
After this layer dried, details are added in the water with most of the paint strokes being vertical. Horizontal strokes represent ripples in the water.
Final details are added again after the above session has dried. Such as indicating cloud reflections but these are kept to a minimum so as not to call attention thus keeping them subordinate. To facilitate working back into a dried area, I coat that section with a thin layer of medium. Doing so allows for better color matching and it makes blending easier.
After this I sign the painting using thinned paint and a small liner brush with a good point.
Delightful Reflections 27×21 copyright 2017 by William Hagerman
Hope you enjoyed this Landscape Oil Painting Demo: Water Reflections!
How to paint bluebonnets is the the focus here in part 4 of my oil painting demo series of posts on painting a Texas bluebonnet landscape.
First, I want to show the completed painting. This will give you an idea of where the painting is going. Click on the image for a larger view.
I set the stage for the bluebonnets by putting in the grasses working from back to front. I darken the values as I come forward.
Next I work to cover the rest of the canvas. I’m not focusing heavily on details at this point, just getting my under-painting done. For some of the textures of the grasses I like to use an old jagged edged bristle fan brush.
After the paint dries I then move on to massing in the bluebonnets with a dark value of blue based off of Ultramarine. I departed somewhat in my traditional mixture by adding Indanthrene Blue by Winsor & Newton into the mix. Since bluebonnets lean towards blue violet I also add in some Dioxine Purple or add Permanent Rose or Alizarin for variety.
I continue with my dark mix for the bluebonnets, working out a pattern that leads the eye back into the painting.
After this layer dries I start adding lighter values for the bluebonnets working from the back to front.
Here’s a detail of the bluebonnets.
Another up close view of the painted bluebonnets.
Once I finished all the bluebonnets I proceeded to other areas of the painting that needed the finish work such as the big tree, rocks, and cactus and a little bit of cutting back into the bluebonnets here and there with the grass color. I wanted to make sure they didn’t look as though they were floating and make the pattern more pleasing and believable.
The following are up close sections so you can see more of the finished detail. As you can see I’ve kept tight detail to a minimum. However, due to the size of the painting it looks more detailed than it really is. I first finish the pattern of the foliage with light dark and middle values. Then I add tree limbs. When dry I negative shape paint the sky holes, chiseling out the forms of limbs and further modifying the shape of the tree.
Another patch of completed bluebonnets and surrounding vegetation and rocks.
Detail of the middle ground cactus.
Here’s the cactus in the foreground. Here you can see some individual bluebonnets scattered around although not haphazardly. I’m keeping my design in mind. These bluebonnets are a supportive role to the larger masses. Again on the topic of how to paint bluebonnets, notice how the bluebonnets have a dark value, followed by a lighter value and finally a white cap on top. It gives the flowers depth. Also some of the cactus stickers are hinted at. However, in the above image I have not added them except for a few catching the light. Why? They’re further away and your eye would not pick up that kind of detail. Plus the amount of detail has to be in proportion to the rest of the details in the painting. In other words, if your painting is more impressionistic would it make sense to add a bunch of tight detail on an object and leave the rest loosely painted. This might work on a close up view and keeping a background simple, but remember to keep your overall painting in mind and don’t get caught up in rendering details and loose focus on the whole. Every section has to relate to the other.
Below is a detail section of rocks. Remember a rock is a shape. It has sides and how the rock is positioned in relation to the light you will have different values. If only two sides are visible you will have a a light and shadow area. The same is true if you can see three sides, but you will have three values at a minimum. Light, mid value and shadow. Don’t put your sunlight colors in areas that are to be in shadow or put shadow colors in areas that are in the light. Colors in the light are warmer, those in shadow are cooler, but sometimes they can appear somewhat warmer due to a warm reflected light bouncing off other warm colored rocks in sunshine. You learn to paint rocks by studying them. No good substitute for observing them and paying attention to how the light describes their form.
Here’s the detail area of the tree on the left and a view of the distant hills and lower sky. In painting the tree the sequence is establish the foliage first, them indicate limb structure and finally paint in the negative shapes on the sides of the limbs and other sky holes keeping in mind what’s in behind the tree. Often you will have to paint those values a little darker since they can appear to be stuck on top of the tree instead of being behind it. You can also modify the sky hole a little by overlapping it with some tree foliage.
And finally here’s another close up view of the clouds in the right hand corner area. Again like any other shape a cloud has form to it and as such is subject to having light and shadow sides. Best way to learn to paint clouds is by actually studying them.
I hope that these series of posts will benefit you in your own painting. Have fun learning!
Here in part 3 of my oil painting demo of a Texas landscape I move on to painting clouds and the sky.
To begin the sky I start at the horizon. I do this to judge my values against the distant hill and values on the shadowed side of the tree up against the sky area. Click image to see a larger view.
Just as in the landscape portion of the painting the goal is to achieve a sense of distance. It is not some blue flat backdrop for the rest of the painting. There is aerial perspective in the sky and a diminishing size on the clouds as they move into the distance. The amount of dust particles or other adulterants floating in the air has an effect on the colors as the recede just as in the landscape portion. Typically white clouds are somewhat “whiter” for lack of a better word closer to you with often a discernible shift in the color of the white portion of the clouds towards orange to a pinkish hue near the horizon.
In the photo below of some white clouds you can see what I’m talking about somewhat at least. Notice how the whites have shifted to a pinkish gray towards the horizon.
color recession in clouds
Also the contrast becomes more subtle between the light and shadow areas of the clouds as they recede and colors become grayer. I’m not talking white and black gray here. Just duller in intensity. I chose a variety of violet grays for this painting. Also be sure to overlap some clouds. This will make your painting more authentic and create a greater sense of depth.
After I establish a few of the clouds I then paint in the rest of the blue portion of the sky.
Think of the sky of having 3 bands. A top section, middle and bottom and each section is further away. The top has more blue with a touch of red, so I use some ultramarine blue to the middle color which has more phthalo blue in it. The reason is that there is often a yellow element shifting the sky towards green as it recedes. I even use a little phthalo green. But once it gets to the horizon it shifts to a gray.
Here’s the sky in context to the rest of the painting at this stage.
In the next session I will move onto the rest of the landscape.
Here in my second post of my oil painting demo of a Texas Landscape I pick up where I left off in step two.
Since the distant hills are an important secondary area of interest in this painting, I return to add more detail and interest to this area including a distant oak tree and placing of bluebonnets in the distant field. Due to atmospheric perspective all the colors in this area are kept cooler and grayer (less intense) compared to what will be used in the middle and foreground areas to come.
Feeling I had not yet achieved enough interest I then add another oak tree in the distance. I then move to the far left middle and added the next larger oak with cedar growing underneath and the beginnings of a mesquite tree in front. I like to use an old fan bristle brush that has jagged edges or a cheapo fan brush whereby the hairs break off quickly to mimic the look of the foliage on the mesquite. In spring time the mesquite trees can be an intense yellow green.
Next in the 5th step I paint in the rock outcropping on the left. When painting rocks remember to think in artistic terms. Don’t think rock, think shapes that will have a top and side planes and they have different values. Light and shadow!
In my next post I move on to the sky area. Actually I’ve already covered the whole canvas and have started blocking in the middle and foreground bluebonnets. I’ll get caught up on sharing all the steps, but I have a deadline to meet. Busy, busy! Thanks for following along.