Bill Boyd
William (Bill) W. Boyd was born and raised in California where he
spent his professional life as a civil engineer. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, Boyd studied
black and white photography at Palomar
College and UCSD, San Diego. During this period he learned
about light, shadows and composition, earning numerous awards for his
photography, even developing and printing his own work in a dark room he built.
In 2003, Bill retired and moved to
Swannanoa, NC with his wife, Martha, and there—his mountain-top studio—he took
up oil painting in 2004 at the age of 60, developing a style of his own that is
closely modeled after Abstract Realism. Abstract Realism is when the artist takes a
real object or scene and abstracts it, allowing the viewer of the piece to put
himself in the scene or imagery in a way that doesn’t restrict the viewer to a
single location or time in their life. It is more than just distorting the
imagery. It is the ability to change something to the unreal but not surreal.
Boyd, who likes experimenting with color, light and shape, has painted and
studied with David McCaig, John MacKah, and Tim Bell, and continues to draw
inspiration from the beach, mountains, and from the works of Wolf Kohn, and
Egon Schiel. Boyd knows that nothing is static and is looking forward to
constantly modifying and expanding his work.
Red and Green Trees, SOLD
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Blue Ridge Mountains #2
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Bill Boyd and Layla
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Early Spring
Profile from the Laurel of Asheville
Bill Boyd Finally Follows His Dream
Post Date: 04.13.2012
At a young age, individual creativity didn’t lead to the happiest of paths for Bill Boyd. He enjoyed art, but his elementary school paintings were not exactly what his teacher considered normal. “I used big, bold strokes,” Bill says. “I painted dark images—used dark colors. The teacher ended up talking to my parents and expressing some concerns. The end result was that I ended up going to military school.”
Naturally a bit shy to express himself artistically thereafter, Bill maintained a love for art but kept that passion at a distance. He became a civil engineer, spending the first half of his career in the field and the last half as a litigation consultant. From time to time, the urge to create art would preoccupy Bill. The itch wouldn’t go away and needed to be scratched.
Living in Southern California, Bill finally relented in 1986 and took a class at the University of California, San Diego. As an engineer, Bill says he already knew about lines and perspective. But this class, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,” opened his eyes to form, light, and shades of gray. He knew he wanted to dig deeper into art but was still afraid to paint. Instead, he chose to explore photography.
Bill took photography classes at Palomar College, which was well known and respected for its photography program. He found out that he had a knack for black-and-white photography and he won two honorable mention awards and a second-place finish at the Del Mar Fair International Photo Exhibition in consecutive years from 1988-1990.
Photography remained a hobby, though, and painting still was not considered a realistic possibility. Finally, Bill and his wife decided to move from Southern California. The couple took a three-day trip to Asheville in November of 2003 and ended up looking at houses. Two days after looking at a mountaintop home in Swannanoa, the couple made an offer and moved in shortly thereafter.
Besides a few visits from bears that provide wonderful stories, it is this home and its studio space that now offer a creative venue for Bill. He established a friendship with local artist David McCaig who came over to Bill’s studio and, over a bottle of wine, David encouraged Bill to put paint to canvas. He used a palette knife and some tubes of oil paint to begin a new career on that night.
Bill continued to get guidance from area artists Tim Bell and John Mac Kah but he remains a primarily self-taught artist. Long-inspired by classic impressionists such as Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Claude Monet, Bill’s works also avoided realism. He worked on still-life and landscape paintings but after a few months he says that style “just didn’t feel right.”
Before long, Bill became more influenced by abstract expressionists Wolf Kahn and Egon Schiele. He found himself getting back to those big, bold strokes and often using the dark colors that got him into trouble as a second grader. His enthusiasm skyrocketed and he finally felt he was doing what he was supposed to do. He was finally following his own passions rather than those prescribed to him by other people.
As a result, Bill offers the advice, “Whatever people want to do, they should just get out there and do it. It’s easy to have fear and have that fear to keep you from doing what you love. It’s easy to say, “If I fail, then what?’ I’d just say that if you try something and it works, keep doing it. If it doesn’t work, try something else.”
Bill says that he creates his art first for himself. “It’s all about the emotion,” he says. “I paint what I’m feeling. I realize my stuff isn’t for everyone. But at the same time, I would like my work to be seen by more people.”
He has works at a gallery in Georgia but would like to show at galleries in Western North Carolina, too. And he says he wants to continue to push the envelope with his work. “I want to do it bigger,” he says. “I want to use bigger canvases and bigger brushes.”
Bill has always had dreams of being a painter. Now he’s realizing those dreams—and they keep getting bigger.
Bill Boyd Finally Follows His Dream
Post Date: 04.13.2012
At a young age, individual creativity didn’t lead to the happiest of paths for Bill Boyd. He enjoyed art, but his elementary school paintings were not exactly what his teacher considered normal. “I used big, bold strokes,” Bill says. “I painted dark images—used dark colors. The teacher ended up talking to my parents and expressing some concerns. The end result was that I ended up going to military school.”
Naturally a bit shy to express himself artistically thereafter, Bill maintained a love for art but kept that passion at a distance. He became a civil engineer, spending the first half of his career in the field and the last half as a litigation consultant. From time to time, the urge to create art would preoccupy Bill. The itch wouldn’t go away and needed to be scratched.
Living in Southern California, Bill finally relented in 1986 and took a class at the University of California, San Diego. As an engineer, Bill says he already knew about lines and perspective. But this class, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,” opened his eyes to form, light, and shades of gray. He knew he wanted to dig deeper into art but was still afraid to paint. Instead, he chose to explore photography.
Bill took photography classes at Palomar College, which was well known and respected for its photography program. He found out that he had a knack for black-and-white photography and he won two honorable mention awards and a second-place finish at the Del Mar Fair International Photo Exhibition in consecutive years from 1988-1990.
Photography remained a hobby, though, and painting still was not considered a realistic possibility. Finally, Bill and his wife decided to move from Southern California. The couple took a three-day trip to Asheville in November of 2003 and ended up looking at houses. Two days after looking at a mountaintop home in Swannanoa, the couple made an offer and moved in shortly thereafter.
Besides a few visits from bears that provide wonderful stories, it is this home and its studio space that now offer a creative venue for Bill. He established a friendship with local artist David McCaig who came over to Bill’s studio and, over a bottle of wine, David encouraged Bill to put paint to canvas. He used a palette knife and some tubes of oil paint to begin a new career on that night.
Bill continued to get guidance from area artists Tim Bell and John Mac Kah but he remains a primarily self-taught artist. Long-inspired by classic impressionists such as Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Claude Monet, Bill’s works also avoided realism. He worked on still-life and landscape paintings but after a few months he says that style “just didn’t feel right.”
Before long, Bill became more influenced by abstract expressionists Wolf Kahn and Egon Schiele. He found himself getting back to those big, bold strokes and often using the dark colors that got him into trouble as a second grader. His enthusiasm skyrocketed and he finally felt he was doing what he was supposed to do. He was finally following his own passions rather than those prescribed to him by other people.
As a result, Bill offers the advice, “Whatever people want to do, they should just get out there and do it. It’s easy to have fear and have that fear to keep you from doing what you love. It’s easy to say, “If I fail, then what?’ I’d just say that if you try something and it works, keep doing it. If it doesn’t work, try something else.”
Bill says that he creates his art first for himself. “It’s all about the emotion,” he says. “I paint what I’m feeling. I realize my stuff isn’t for everyone. But at the same time, I would like my work to be seen by more people.”
He has works at a gallery in Georgia but would like to show at galleries in Western North Carolina, too. And he says he wants to continue to push the envelope with his work. “I want to do it bigger,” he says. “I want to use bigger canvases and bigger brushes.”
Bill has always had dreams of being a painter. Now he’s realizing those dreams—and they keep getting bigger.
