WILLIAM “BILL” ALEXANDER

 

 

 

 I was impressed by William Alexander’s artwork. Through his artwork, the author is trying to express good emotions, happiness, calm, peace, etc. The mood that

his artwork inspires me is calming, in a way it makes the viewer leave out any negative feelings and picture him/ her in the actual painting. His artwork is mostly about nature, but his technique extends to buildings, floral, people, still life as well as wild life and many more.

  William “Bill” Alexander, paints in oil and he usually uses big brushes, giving the fact that his paintings are done on big canvases. The technique that he uses is “wet-on-wet”, which is mainly in oil paints, where the layers of wet paint are applied onto the previous layer of wet paint. The consistency of the paint is oily, giving the painting that “gloomy” look. I saw depth in the paintings that he did. The detail isn’t at an extended level, but looking at the painting, it doesn’t really need anything else. The colours that he uses resemble to the actual colours of the nature, which I find interesting. Depending on the mood, the colours are chosen carefully. Usually the colours are “lively”, expressing a good mood.

  The tonal range of the artwork doesn’t suddenly change. Most of the times is light, for the landscape paintings, and dark, for the flowers paintings. The texture of his paintings is smooth. The paintings are made to be viewed at regular eye level.

  William Bill Alexander (02.04.1915 – 24.01.1997) was a German painter, art instructor and a television host, born in Prussia, German Empire. His family escaped Prussia during World War 1 to Berlin, where he apprenticed as a carriage maker; Alexander was drafted into the Wehrmacht, during the World War 2. He was later captured by Allied troops, but he made himself notable by painting the portraits of Allied officers’ wife and soon he made his way into the United States. Some of Bob Ross’ techniques were learned from William Alexander.

  I first started researching about this artist’s work, because I found his technique easy to do and the results quite interesting. I would like to learn from this artist the “Wet-on-wet” technique. The reason for which I chose to research about this artist is because “landscapes” are a common subject.

  “After studying with Bill Alexander, Bob Ross discovered that he was soon able to earn more from selling his artwork that from his Air Force position. Ross then left the Air Force and became famous worldwide, hosting television program, “The Joy of painting””.

  “I took one class and I went crazy, I knew this was what I wanted to do” – Bob Ross about William Bill Alexander’s classes.

  Some of Bill Alexander’s famous paintings: “Fall River”, “North to Alaska”, “Autumn colours”, “Canadian Canyon”, and many others.