“Often my subject matter is simply light which is most dramatically seen surrounded by darkness,” says artist William Jameson in his newly-released book Blue Ridge Textures. “I’m intrigued by the light filtering through the trees and striking the rocks and the water rushing over the rocks. The shadowed areas of the paintings become places for silhouetted shapes, half- lights and half darks ...”

Bill says his interest in art began early. “My father taught me to draw farm animals and barns while I sat on his knee. I was probably five at the time.” He says he’s always enjoyed drawing. “It was part of the world around me. I drew everything and everybody.”

There were family influences as well. “I have several talented cousins who are painters, including Jane Young who lives in Greenville, South Carolina. And by marriage a great uncle,” he adds, “John Dawson and his father Arthur Dawson who was one of the founding painters of the Old Lyme School in Old Lyme, Connecticut. John lived in Rhode Island and critiqued my drawings by mail and related great stories of his studying at the Julian Academy in Paris following his service in World War I.

After finishing at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida (“It’s one of the best arts schools in the South,” says Bill), one of his professors recommended he continue his studies at Instituto Allende in Mexico. After serving the next two-and-a-half years in the US Army (including a year in Vietnam), he did go to Instituto Allende where he spent the next two years painting and working as a graduate assistant.

From Mexico, he went to Charleston for a couple of years and then made his way to SoHo in Manhattan for another eight. But Bill was born and raised in South Carolina and the region began to call him home. Besides, he says, “I wanted to paint the Southern landscape before too many irrevocable changes took place.” He and his wife Anne, also an accomplished artist, finally settled in Saluda, southeast of Asheville.

Bill works en plein air but mostly in his studio. “I hike, sketch, do small ‘field studies’ in oil, and take hundreds of digital photos, and use these to develop my compositions.”

He eschews the word “scene” when describing his paintings, preferring instead to call them “explorations.” He explains, “The word ‘scene’ implies a simple rendition of what is actually seen—or a “pretty picture. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I try to translate, to explore, rather than imitate, and that applies to all aspects of my painting.” This means being creative when it comes to composition, color, and images seen and unseen, things actually there or not there, and this becomes the painting. His creative passion, he says, is “to find order in the apparent chaos of nature.”

Bill is fascinated by the nuances of color and light: “In exploring the myriad of subtle, illusive grays in nature, the result has been more information and a softer look.” He’s also drawn to the diagonals he finds in our region’s landscapes. “I spent years painting landscape on the coasts of North and South Carolina and Georgia which are relatively flat areas and don’t lend themselves to the use of strong diagonals. The landscape of Western North Carolina is all about diagonals.” These, he says, lend a dynamic element in contrast to the parallel edges of his works.

Bill’s paintings are in galleries throughout the Southeast. You can see his paintings at BlackBird Frame & Art, 365 Merrimon Avenue in Asheville. John Horrocks, owner of the BlackBird gallery, says: “Representing Bill Jameson is an honor. It’s more than just his skill and technique, though. His paintings are powerful expressions of a spiritual connection to his surroundings.

William Jameson’s new book, Blue Ridge Textures, features many of Bill’s paintings he considers his favorites, all inspired by hiking the highlands of the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia. The artist also offers workshops (limited to 12 participants) for newly aspiring to accomplished artists. For more information about the artist, about his workshops, and to order copies of his book, visit williamjameson.com.