Mr. Bill Hamiliton To All Instructors

Bill is a long time artist that has served the homeshcool community for years in teaching his skills, we are blessed to have him serve with us.

A little about Bill:

1. How would describe yourself as an artist?
I am a realist, you won’t have to guess what my painting is supposed to be. I’m
always trying to get away from detail and simplify letting the basic shapes tell the
story (maybe someday I'll get it!). Working as a technical illustrator has imprinted
“detail” on my brain. My initial goal as an artist has not changed in the 55 years that
I have been painting. That goal is to be able to paint any subject in any light and not
to get stuck in a box painting only a few subjects.
So, I paint portraits (limited mostly to family and close friends) florals, still life,
birds, fishing harbors and boats, barns, mountains … anything that grabs my
interest. I paint where I go and what I see. I grew up on State forestry headquarters
as a result of my Dad's work. Outdoor activities always keep a constant flow of
scenes before me to paint. I have files of sketches and photos ready to be painted
and new ideas keep coming. I’ll never get to all of them. Many times I will paint in
series—say three or four mountain scenes and then move on to another subject.
2. How did you come to be an artist? An anecdote of when you knew you were
on your path, or an A-Ha moment is great.
I believe that God planted the passion to draw and paint in me from the very
beginning of my life. The one recollection I have as a very young boy was a friend
whose dad was a cartoonist. My friend took me to his home, I met his dad, saw what
he was drawing and that was it—that’s what I want to do. So I drew cartoons out of
the newspaper and comic books and anything else that was around the house or I
copied pictures from magazines. My dad made a scrapbook for my drawings and I
still have them. He took some of my drawings to the forestry headquarters in Salem
to show the in house artist who did Smokey the Bear drawings. Dad was concerned
that all I did was copy stuff. The artist told dad to just let me keep copying for that
was how I was learning.
There were a few times in grade school when the teacher would have us draw and
paint. Those were few but precious times for me. High school was all college prep
and no art classes. I did do posters for school elections, decorate for dances, and
added drawings to papers that I handed in. I remember one teacher telling me that I
should continue with art as I seemed to have a natural ability.
3. What is your artistic process?
I typically do a painting in three stages:
Stage 1: I do some thumbnail sketches for composition. Mostly these are from
photos I have taken (a very large file) or ideas I have jotted down on a note pad that
is always with me. I always work out the basic shapes and arrangement of space in a
small 4x6 format. I’ll either freehand that compositional sketch onto the canvas or if
it’s a real large canvas and complicated subject I’ll project the sketch in order to get
the basic shapes positioned right.. Getting that beginning composition right has

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become critical to how I paint these days. Typically, after the sketch is on the canvas
I will go over it with Indian red to maintain the drawing.
Stage 2: I begin to block in the entire painting concentrating more on the dark and
light values than on the color. Once the shapes and values are blocked in, without
any detail, I look at it from a distance—20 to 30’. If it doesn’t “right”, I go back to
modifying those shapes, sizes, values and colors before I will proceed to do any
finishing.
Stage 3: Now I begin finishing the painting by modifying the values and colors
within the original basic shapes, some edges are softened some hardened, warm and
cool colors are modified to create the distance and light emphasis that I want. Color
and values around the center of interest are modified. Then the painting is set
against the wall for a fresh look the next day.
4. How do you find the sunriver community supports you as an artist? 5. What
is unique to the sunriver artist community. Something you have felt or experienced?
The Sunriver Artists Gallery is a great place to show my work. Each artist maintains
his or her own space. We have buyers from all over the United States. Some are
looking for small gift items or art that will fill a particular space. Other buyers want
a very large piece of art for their home or they commission a special piece. Local
residents and regular visitors from around the states come in often to see “what’s
new”. We have artists that blow and sculpt glass, combine glass, metal and wood for
beautiful and unique creations. We have artists that fuse glass both to wear as
jewelry or for table and wall décor. Our jewelry artists are exceptional and
versatile. Our stained glass artist works with a variety of subjects, colors and sizes.
We have artists who paint using pastel, watercolor, acrylic and oil. We have very
creative potters, gourd artists, woodworkers and photographers. Our fabric artists
create items to wear and for wall hangings. So often we hear the comment “this is a
really fun place to buy art because the variety, quality and prices are great—it’s just
a fun place”. And the different artists work at the gallery and are available for
casual conversation or in depth cross examination.
6. Any anecdotes as an artists, or growing up that relates to who you are now.
I have a passion for art—that’s the real gift from God—the passion. Few artists
become successful overnight. Art is a life long learning process and none of us will
ever stop learning and perfecting our art. We change as people and our art
changes—and that is a very cool blessing!
7. What is the difference between Bill Hamilton the person, and Bill Hamilton,
the artist?
There is no difference. I love God, I love life, and I love my family. I’m the same at
home as I am at the gallery. I’m the same whether I’m in a Bible study, hiking, river
rafting, or having a casual conversation. You won’t have to guess what is important
to me. For a more in depth answer to that question you could ask Evie, my wife of 56
years. She might have a little different perspective.
8. Any other reflections you would like to add in.
I believe we all have a gift, something special to develop and offer to others. I am
grateful that one of my gifts is a passion for art…not only my art but the art of others
as well. A great reward for me is to be able to teach art to children.

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