Hi, Billy the Artist Here, Hi, Billy the Artist Here,
As a teenager I wanted to work in comic books as an illustrator and then went to art college..... Here I was told to 'express myself'. What this meant was to do anything but 'express myself in the art that I enjoyed producing'. So within a week I was in the office being asked "Billy what don't you like about Modern Art" (the head of my art department may have used my full name David Bill) and I used my local Museum's Galleries current exhibition as a base to my reply and explained "that it was finger painting for adults!" The head of the art department laughed as it was my drawing tutors work! EEK! Billy the Artist drops a complete clanger......
Thus started a lot of problems. I paint representational work. That is how I 'express myself'. "Does Billy the Artist hate all contemporary art?" I hear you cry. No. But pickling a Shark and saying it is 'Art' is a sham along with a lot of other smoke and mirrors that is offered as art. Kids are squished through the art system today and told to express themselves and are left abandoned to try and earn a living in a heartless industry filled with lies and hype. At the end of the day food costs, bills need paying and people need taking care of and 'expressing yourself' doesn't do anything to pay the bills and leads a lot of people to depression. I don't go with George Bernard Shaw either that 'He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches' as we all need good teachers.
After this I left college, ended up on a factory and worked for a year. I did meet at college the lady, Sharon who has become my wonderful wife who also introduced me to Jesus and his salvation, and then ended up back at college, studied for my degree in multi disciplinary design at Staffordshire University. Since then my family has grown with three children (Peter, Hannah and John who are the children in the Stepping Stones paintings) and I have had a roller coaster ride in the art world with two London Shows, work in private and corporate collections including Aston Martin, Britannia Building Society and the BBC among others. I have been down salt mines and thrown out of a plane for a painting (with a parachute). This all sounds 'Great and Grand' but is like most people a life of struggle and pain. Of great highs and incredible lows. It has not been an easy ride and I wouldn't want to misguide you. I have packed and made boxes, done a stint as a bus driver and written off thousands of pounds after not being being paid for work completed.
