Robert Hagan

I've just spent an enjoyable hour watching a filmed demo of an oil painting by the Australian artist Robert Hagan. Now, I should be lying in my few remaining teeth if I pretended I liked Robert's work - it's highly commercial, he's a very good salesman, and he's found his niche market and caters to it. That may not be the way you want to paint, and it's not the way I want to paint either. But ..... his technique is very interesting; as with many professional artists, I notice that his colours are among the cheapest available consistent with quality; he uses Winton oil colour; he also uses just about two brushes, and those are the cheapest - a long point sable mix, by the look of it, and a pastry brush: I don't know where you'd find the latter in the UK, but probably a Hake brush would achieve the same results (I did wonder on POL a while ago whether any oil painters use the Hake: I haven't yet, but I might .... ). He uses three "mother colours", Cobalt Blue Hue, Light Red, and Yellow Ochre - he calls his blue Cobalt, but from the look of it, it really isn't: it's the Winton range Cobalt Blue, which has no genuine Cobalt pigment in it at all .... it's a modified Pthalo, I think. But it behaves very similarly, so .... not for the first time, I wonder if the expensive colours I tend to use are really worth the money. I hasten to answer myself - yes, they are. There is no beating high quality colour, but it won't make you a great artist: it'll just help you, if you have the capacity in the first place, to become one. Even so - and even given I find Robert's paintings problematic: choice of subject, which I find a bit romanticized, treatment, choice of colour to some extent; but it's all a matter of opinion, and he makes a good living I believe, so who am I to criticize? It doesn't really matter what I think of his pictures, but he's a master at what he does, his techniques are sound and interesting, and he's worth a look if you can find him. Even if you hate the work, there's often something to be learned - I certainly don't suggest anyone models themselves on Robert Hagan (although we could all learn from his marketing skills) but he's endearingly eccentric, and I think any learner painter could pick up a lot from him. Certainly, he's re-awakened my interest in using the Hake brush for oil painting; I just have to acquire a fresh set, because I would never use brushes I use for watercolour on oils or vice-versa - keep your brushes for different media separate. The point he makes about echoing colours throughout a painting, and working on a level with your line of vision, are well worth absorbing though. And watching him mix his paints, if it does nothing else, will make you want to go and mix your own and get a brush stuck into them. So - look him up, you may well find it of interest.

Carol - well, I don't know, of course; but I suspect he uses cheap paint for both; I didn't want to criticize his painting particularly, but shall we say that the quality of his paint and materials produce a particular look, his subject matter - horses, water, stockmen and their dogs - is highly narrative; I imagine the critics hate him; and I suspect he reciprocates, and doesn't worry himself too much about the quality of his materials. Having said which, Winton oil paint isn't rubbish - perhaps better not to go much farther there: a lot of people use it, or the Georgian range, and as we both know there are cheaper ranges than those, some of which I wouldn't touch with a barge-pole.... What I found interesting about him wasn't so much his bargain-basement approach, which I suspect shifts quite a lot of work to collectors of the less stratospherically priced artworks, as his undoubted ability with the brush and his compositional skills. What I don't like about him (apart from the fact that he sells more than I do!) isn't important - I wouldn't want one of his pictures, but it's interesting to watch him painting them. Actually, he said, sticking his neck out, it's quite interesting to watch Thomas Kinkade paint (on YouTube, he's been dead for some years): his paintings were ghastly, but his technique was sound.... I think one can learn a lot, by picking and choosing, from some fairly unlikely people....