Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill Anton.
Hi Bill, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been painting professionally for 45 years. My main focus is the American cowboy, but as that entails equine and landscape painting too, I feel my work majors on all three of those subjects and disciplines. Having been raised with a love of the West and a love of art, I was blessed to be able to unite these interests into a career that has seen me begin as an unknown painter and develop into one of the leaders of my genre. I have been mentored by past masters and often advise and critique the work of relative newcomers stressing the importance of passionate dedication to traditional representational painting, which includes among other things, a willingness to subject oneself to the rigors of painting from life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would say it has been a joyful journey if not always a smooth one. But I have to say the ”ups” have been far more frequent than the ”downs”. I have lived a privileged life! The hardest parts have been the times when I didn’t feel my growth as a painter was fast enough. Patience is not one of my virtues and I was very hard on myself…….still am.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I visit working ranches all over the West, riding along with cowboys still doing their jobs horseback as they have for over 150 years. I take photos, sketch in pencil and oil while out on the range and get new ideas for paintings. I use all of those when back home in my studio to create compositions that result, hopefully, in paintings that are both authentic, artistically sound and uniquely my own.
I live on small acreage outside of Prescott, AZ. that directly borders a rugged wilderness area where I can paint studies directly from nature and ride as I think up new ideas, observe the effects of light or just revel in the beauty of the West from the back of a horse….as nature intended! I am most proud of having been able to raise a family doing what I love and having provided them with a wonderful way to grow up: visiting beautiful places, going to prestigious art shows, meeting many many talented artists and the collectors who buy their work. Beyond that, I am most proud of the network of tremendous contemporary artists that I am blessed to call colleagues and friends.
I think what sets me apart from a lot of the ”kids” coming up today is the fact that I am not nearly as reliant on technology as they are. The people who encouraged me to learn the fundamentals through painting outside have given me a freedom that someone bound to the computer just doesn’t have. Something gets into your work outside if you’ve done enough of it that no program or app can give you: a fearlessness to alter reference on the fly and not be married to photographs.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I am happiest when surrounded by my family. I also get deep satisfaction from the beauty of the natural world. Beyond that, when I think I’ve hit the mark I intended with a painting; when it represents the best I can do given my abilities,
then I am most content and grateful that the Lord has given me an opportunity to reflect His glory through painting the incomparable beauty of His creation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://billantonstudio.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/billantonstudio/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/bill.anton.thewestinart
