Bill Evans began painting seriously at school where he was lucky enough to have two inspiring teachers - Bruce Killeen and Richard Blomfield, both practising artists. One of his main early influences was Nicolas De Stael. He held a one-man exhibition in Oxford in 1969 and took part in the East London Artists exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1974.
Having spent most of his working life as a farmer, forester and estate manager, with painting taking a back seat, Bill started a new career as an artist and has been painting full time since 2013.
He has recently moved into a new, much bigger studio. Visitors welcome by appointment.
Recent exhibitions include
Group exhibitions
Blue Ginger gallery, Cradley
The Artists Workhouse, Studley Annual Open Exhibition
The Chapel Gallery, Bromyard
H.Art (Green Cow Kitchens)
Royal Western Academy Bristol, Annual Open 2017 and 2018
Royal Society of Birmingham Artists Annual Open 2020
Shortlisted for John Moores Painting prize, Liverpool, 2018 and 2020
Open Studio: Herefordshire Art week 2021
Solo exhibitions
Malvern School of Art Long Gallery Bill Evans 2017
The Chapel Gallery Bromyard - 'From Sapey Brook to Sicily' 2019
Open studio Worcestershire Open Studios 2021
Artist's statement
My paintings start from something seen. Very often, though not always, this is something in the landscape. I have lived and worked all my life in a beautiful, undulating corner of rural Herefordshire, and much of my painting is inspired by places that I know well.
Having seen something I want to paint I start with drawings and / or painted sketches done on site, and maybe further studies in the studio.
At some point I decide (or not) to use this raw material to have a go at a finished painting. Each painting then feels like a wrestling match in which I explore line, pattern and space, and the ambiguities that arise from making marks on a flat surface, while trying to remain true to the feelings that made me want to make the painting in the first place.