Bill Westwell

I love looking back at the pieces I’ve made. Each one represents a previous present moment. Inside of each one I was trying something new, something that had just occurred to me, and I had to see if I could make something of it. They show me what a previous version of myself considered the best I could do with the resources available. I like the raw vulnerability of having that exposed, no longer being hidden. I can remember when each piece was my cutting edge, my taking a chance and not repeating myself, going out on a limb and not being afraid to leave a mark on a canvas. I learn from each, and can see how they lead me onwards.

Ultimately I’m planning on writing my own series of illustrated stories. But I want to do it right. No cut corners. Done to the level I felt I could address. So I set out with a blank slate asking myself what would I want to see in a story. What would keep me engaged? How could I hold my own attention with this thing I planned to engage others with?

Answers were needed.

“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself” - Albert Einstein

That seemed like an excellent benchmark, understanding it myself. And keeping it simple.

What’s the best way to speak to a six year old? Treat them like a valid individual with a smaller vocabulary.

This lead me to the question of how small of a vocabulary could I tell a story with?

Then I learned about visual literacy. It’s how illustrators communicate to people of all ages and languages with a simple image.

And there are fundamental design aspects that started to reveal themselves and then colour theory showed me what can be evoked with certain palettes and interference of them.

The depths that were being revealed on how far I could really go with all of this were coming into focus.

So I gave myself the space to study these topics, take a few art classes, to do my homework, plus my own research into how I could use each new medium, technique or school of thought towards visual communication.

I’ve gotten to geek out pretty hard with wonderful personal results.

Along the way, I’ve found that sketch books were unable to contain the mediums I wanted to explore, so I wound up on canvas. And they kept getting bigger as I found new ways to create the textures, colours and patterns that I found compelling.

As I’ve developed my own artistic style and process, I’ve found it’s less about making a piece of art that I actually intend, but more about setting up the conditions in which something remarkable may occur. I’ve embraced the idea of discovering what I can make instead of hold a notion of anything “should” be. And I found that in getting out of my own way, I can get something accomplished.

I’m immersed in this process of finding how I want to tell my story, and the simplest way I can convey the infinite detail I can see within all things. It’s a learning process in how to do this best, and I’m glad I can share it like this.