Bill Hengen

I’m basically a self-taught artist mainly creating artwork in my spare time. I can produce artwork in any medium, but tend towards acrylics and graphite. I like acrylics for their versatility and fast drying quality and graphite for the tonality challenges of creating works in shades of grey. There's nothing more gratifying then creating realistic artwork with only a couple of pencils. I find artistic inspirations from almost anything, whether it's and advertisement in a magazine, a photograph or from life itself. For example the piece that's titled "Lighted candle", that inspiration came from a photograph of my late sister before she unexpectedly died. She was eating cake at a birthday party. The way she was holding her fork, looked like she was holding a candle. I merged the two together and created the misty background for effect. There is nothing more gratifying than the emotional reaction of my family after seeing the artwork. That is why I create artwork, is to see what response I get from the piece after it's created.