Mighty Bill Painting

I was born in Ryhope, UK in 1935. My father was a harness-maker who worked for the local coalmine making harnesses for the pit ponies. My relatives were coal-miners and harness-makers and though they were fine craftsmen in their own right, there was nothing in my upbringing that would have suggested a career as an artist. The passion for creating art was there from the very beginning. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to draw and paint. I have always made sense of the landscape around me by capturing the world in paintings and drawings. Against all odds, I studied art - first in Sunderland and then at the Royal College of Art in London. I exhibited at the Royal Academy in the era of op art, pop art, abstraction, post-impressionism. The early sixties were an exciting time to be in London - the world was changing. Art was changing. It was an amazing time to be a student, to come of age as an artist. My contemporaries were people like Hockney, Frank Bowling, Derek Boshier, Ron Kitaji and Cephas Howard. Mike Pennie and Brian Hagger, Robyn Denny, Peter Phillips, Alayna Hughes, Alwyn Hughes, Ian Potts, Allan Jones.... Those were my peers. It's hard knowing a number of them have already passed away. My first forays into print-making took place in London and it's only recently, some sixty years later that I'm returning to linocuts and silkscreen. I'm thoroughly enjoying experimenting with new techniques and technologies as well as exploring and embracing the changes of thinking that have taken place over the past number of decades.