William Meire was born September 02, 1966 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  He showed a keen interest in art at a very early age filling old textbooks and notebooks from his school days from cover to cover with images that filled his mind.  After completing his education in Canada, he began his travels around the world and has now visited 49 countries studying the many art forms that each unique locale has to offer.

A perpetual student of Art, William paints directly from life whenever possible as he believes that direct life painting is the greatest way to learn.  William's Candid, direct portraiture is a style he has absorbed and combined from artistic methods used by the old masters and the 19th and 20th century Alla Prima Masters.  He constantly studies at the most substantial museums in Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Latin America in an effort to continually increase his skills. He makes these study trips to absorb the lessons of the greatest painters of all time and to push his own art further and further as a result.

William has worked in many artistic mediums over the years including, watercolour, airbrush, acrylic, conte, pastel and, the most challenging and rewarding of all mediums; oil. His current works are exclusively in Oil and he spends many hours a day painting from life or working in his studio experimenting with the various tools of the trade and their effect upon one another.

William's works are included in numerous private and corporate collections around the world.  Collectors in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Chile, Panama, Argentina, Uraguay, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, China, England, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and New Zealand own William Meire Original artwork.  William has shown throughout North America and currently shows in Harrison Galleries, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Candid Portraiture

Candid from the Latin, Candidus meaning ‘white light’ is contemporarily used synonymously with words such as direct, straightforward and un-reserved.

Regardless whether William is painting from the live model or from photo reference, his technique for the initial drawing and value layers of the painting can be best described as Candid.  Initially he sketches very quickly and spontaneously in transparent oil color until the drawing and values (lightness/darkness) are roughly placed and established.  At the end of this process the sketch takes on the general shapes and values of his sitter. From here he paints his thick Alla Prima opaque oil colors wet into wet at a very rapid pace until his reference immerges from the canvas.  Final paint layers vary depending on the finish William feels will best represent the sitters personality.   A beautiful female subject will usually get a soft finishing technique inspired by the old masters while a Character-laden man in will be finished in a more rough and painterly style inspired by the great Candid painters of the 19^th and early 20^th century.  Eyes are always William’s focal point and he takes great care to ensure the eyes of his subject look back at him by the end of the final sitting.

Influences - Old Masters who have heavily influenced William include, Titian, Da Vinci, Rembrandt,  Roger Van der Weyden, Reubens, Caravaggio, Goya, William Turner, Jose Ribera and Velasquez.  He is also deeply influenced by nineteenth century Candid Painters such as Joaquin Sorolla, John Singer Sergeant, Ilya Repkin, and Nicolai Fechin.