What I love most is how the painting stays open. It doesn’t force a story. It gives you just enough — the shore, the light, the stillness, the suggestion of guidance — and lets your own memory supply the rest. That’s a kind of generosity, and it’s also a sign of an artist who knows exactly when to stop.

Studio Notes

Notice the calm structure: broad horizontals in the water and sky, then the upright figures anchoring the foreground. The color stays fresh and clean, and the brushwork stays confident — more “stated” than “worked.”

Paintings like Counsel belong to the later continuum of Bill’s work, where decades of looking have distilled into quiet confidence. Nothing is rushed. Nothing is explained. The image trusts the viewer to meet it halfway — the same way lived experience does.