About Robert Hagan's Impressionist Art

I paint because I have to. Genetics, circumstances and a ‘bug in my head’ caused me to take up the brush. The challenge, past artists and the ‘bug in my head’ caused me to paint the
way I do.

Basic entrepreneurship and pursuit of excellence caused me to be successful. The loose canon though, that’s caused me to do what I am doing and be who I am today, is the ‘bug in the head’. And that ‘bug’ is passion. And that passion is the passion to paint.

My style is home grown as is my way of seeing. I do though follow, by instinct and by learning, the rules and tenants that embrace the science of aesthetics. To me these rules, as applied to painting, are premised on honesty, respect and relevance. This is how I define myself as an artist and I explain in my book ‘What you Absolutely Must Know to be a Successful Artist before you Die’.

All paintings are a response to something. It may be something physical in front of you or it may be something rattling around inside your head. In most cases my paintings are a response to something in front of me and something going on in my head. My paintings are anchored in today’s reality in terms of having meaning to me and to 99.9% of those that view them. I approach a painting, first in terms of what I want the feel or mood to be, and then go onto selecting the elements I wish to be part of the event and finally the order and positioning of the elements so that there is a story being told.

I approach the process part mentally and physically relaxed but with the ‘bug’ to excel
and discover something new. That is why I am never bored. I rest because I am tired -
not de-bugged!

My technique or how I apply the marks to the canvas is the result purely of trial and error and what ‘looks right’. If I have any gift it is threefold: 1) an ability to draw accurately without really thinking too much, 2) an ability to mix paint to tone and color quickly and with little thought, and 3) an instinctive ability to place things with harmony.

Overall I am described as an impressionist artist to which I agree. My subjects are commonplace, everyday and evergreen. And I do paint mood into my subjects so they are more than a literal rendition. More as one would WISH to see something rather than BE TOLD to see it. Impressionism to me is as much about what the viewer wants to imagine and see as about what the artist wants and imagines and paints. I want to paint the illusion rather than the precise event.

Since I’m a ‘happy go lucky’ sort of guy I gravitate towards events of the same nature. Preferring to avoid the dark side of life, my paintings tend to extol the virtuous and uplifting moments of life. If I ever am driven to paint the horrors of the mind and humanity I suppose I will, but for now I’m quite content to paint what I find challenging and elevating. And accordingly I celebrate the occasion with a nice glass of merlot. In that way the bug in my head rattles a little less.