BILL JEWELL

Bill Jewell was born in Bangor, Maine. When he was three, his parents relocated to Portland. Bill’s interest in creativity began with cartoons. His taste for Cap’n Crunch cereal led him to pencil & paper where he drew his cereal-box icon. He progressed to drawing detailed birds out of an old book that his favorite Aunt gifted him as a child. From there he became intrigued with the unique color transitions and silhouettes at sunset and sunrise which became his very first watercolor paintings. They are still one of his preferred subject matters to paint.

When he applied for college at Northeastern University in Boston, he got accepted in as a Geology major. Upon acceptance he thought, how am I going to make a career out of rocks? He switched his major to Medical studies which he also decided wasn’t his forte. Back to the drawing board. Since then he has made a vibrant career as a full time self taught painter. He now paints with watercolor, oil and acrylic. His fascination with Geology has led him to the process of making many of his own painting pigments which he makes from some of the rocks & minerals he has collected & mined over the past decade plus+. They definitely add an intriguing effect that just plain paint out of a tube simply can’t compete with! The crystalline structure of the finely ground minerals is the key component of this intrinsic element. Frequently people will ask, “You can make paint out of a rock”[or mineral]? Bill’s response is always the same, ‘Yes, the Cave Painters did that about 40,000 years ago!’ Those paintings are still intact!

Jewell has painted as a sole source of income for 40 years. He began his first gallery, ‘Creative Framing & Gallery’ in Portland, Maine’s Old Port back in 1977. His sister, Tina did framing and his mother, Ann collected and sold antique art. They moved their shop’s location several times renaming it ‘Jewell Gallery’. After a fairly long run Bill finally decided to move out West as he had envisioned since a young age. He relocated to Lake Tahoe in 1983 after unexpectedly running into a childhood friend from Maine while visiting there. The stunning beauty of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Range became a favorite subject to paint for Jewell, which he continues to this day. The adjacent great western Desert region also fascinates him with its sharply faceted forms and vibrant light & shadow. He has painted hundreds of views of these regions, many of which were painted on location.