As appeared in the December 2004 issue of
Southwest Art
"Leap Of Faith"

He could have been a big time pool shark, could’ve been raking in the cash and looking cool as he chalked his stick and set up his next shot in a high stakes game of snooker. In the central Nebraska farm town where Todd Williams grew up, there were smaller dreams indeed than to become a professional billiards player, especially for a boy who was very good at the game. But Williams had an even bigger, if perhaps a less outwardly glamorous, dream – a vision that had been quietly incubating within him since the third grade, when his teachers, friends, and family started telling him how talented he was at art.

Williams smiles about the choice now, gazing out his studio window at the peaceful backyard garden of his home in northwestern Arkansas. “Praise God, I think I made the right decision,” he declares, envisioning the smoky, noisy, sometimes rowdy pool hall that could have been his daily environment instead – an atmosphere not highly attractive to the artist’s Christian sensibility. More importantly, Williams knows that such a life could never offer the deep creative satisfaction he finds when he heads to his studio each morning and picks up his palette, contemplating the privilege of re-creating on canvas some of the loveliness of God’s created world.

Still, it was an indirect path that led from a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art at the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri to Williams’ current role as a full-time fine artist, painting on his own terms, in his own studio. First came an internship in illustration and design at Hallmark Greeting Cards in Kansas City, where he honed his drawing and imaginative skills during his final semester at the Art Institute. When he graduated, Hallmark was in the midst of a hiring freeze, so Williams sent his portfolio around in search of similar work, accepting a position with DaySpring Greeting Cards in Siloam Springs, AR. Eventually he advanced to senior designer, and he and his wife, Rebecca, raised their young daughter in the quiet, tree-lined town near the Missouri and Oklahoma borders, not far from the Ozark Mountains.

Greeting card design was certainly creative work, and a good way to hone his painting, color, and composition skills in a regular paycheck job. But for Williams, the persistent, long-held dream of developing his own aesthetic voice would not be ignored. After several years of painting only in his free time while making a living with commercial art, in 2002 he took the leap of faith – resigning from DaySpring - that landed him in his own studio full time, and soon earned him the recognition of being juried into such exhibitions as the 2004 Oil Painters of America show.

Those first few months of being his own boss were exhilarating, but the initial experience of freedom and responsibility were almost overwhelming, Williams remembers. He found himself working intensely and almost non-stop, forgetting to take time to integrate a healthy dose of non-work activity into his life. “I was driven,” he admits. “I love art, and it’s consuming at times, but eventually I realized I’m a better artist if I live a more balanced life. My advice now is to enjoy the process as much as the final product - to be led, instead of driven.”

Williams has relaxed into his own advice. He approaches painting now with seriousness and pleasure, putting in regular workday hours at the easel but also making time each day for family and friends. He takes pride in the creative accomplishments of his daughter, who draws and paints (“better than me at her age,” crows her father), sculpts, and studies classical ballet. He travels from time to time for on location painting, most recently to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. And being equally adept at landscape and figurative work, he has the luxury of choosing from a broad range of subject matter when he starts a new painting. “I tend to work in series. When it’s really hot outside I usually paint in the studio,” he explains, “but in the spring and fall I’m outside painting in plein air as much as possible. Then in the winter I may begin a new figurative series.”

Often an idea for a painting or series presents itself to the artist during the course of everyday life - like the time he and his wife were visiting friends. “Our friend was sitting in a chair with her daughter in her lap, and the daughter was playing with her hair. Light from the window across the room was hitting them and creating such a beautiful pattern,” Williams recalls. “I thought it would be a great idea for a painting, so I asked the mom if they would come to my studio and we’d set something like that up, and we did.”

Whenever he can, Williams paints from life, whether with a model or out in the land. As he often tells students in the painting workshops he leads, art has parallels with the way the world’s creation is said to have taken place: “In the beginning, God divided light from darkness, and to paint you have to begin to see value relationships – divide the light from dark,” he explains. “The best way to see that is from life, not from photographs.”

Another important aspect of truly seeing, and then visually conveying what one sees, lies in a feeling of connection with the subject, Williams believes. Experiencing an emotional resonance while taking in a scene of great beauty, reflection, or calm, for example, sets the stage for what the artist describes as his own “poetic expression” of that beauty. That’s what he aims for, as an ultimate goal, each time he approaches the canvas. In the meantime, however, his immediate intention is to enjoy the process of painting, which means having fun with the application of paint. “Depending on the moment and what I want to say about the subject, a lot of times I’ll use just a palette knife and then refine the edges with a brush,” he says. “I like variety in texture – it’s more exciting that way.”

Williams varies his style as well, depending on genre: A somewhat looser, more expressionistic approach defines his landscape paintings, while figurative images are given a sharper-edged touch, more in the vein of classical realism. When it comes to the figure, it is the female subject to which he finds himself most frequently drawn. Often these paintings present a mood of quiet reflection, as a woman or girl is portrayed in a moment of thoughtfulness or repose. When Williams’ daughter began studying ballet, a series of images featuring young dancers was inspired by the fluid, graceful, and natural lines of their poses, even in unassuming positions of rest. When asked what attracts him to figurative art in general, the artist reveals an underlying theme of humility and faith. “Since God is really the ultimate master Artist,” he muses, “I believe the figure is the epitome of great art, and we can only imitate what He made.”

With the landscape as well, Williams’ paintings often express a tranquil sense of balance and order, even in scenes featuring the presence of human activity: houses, buildings, barns, and boats. Through the use of composition and lighting, a quietude is conveyed, like idyllic memories from a time long past. Williams acknowledges inspiration from a couple of his artistic heroes in this regard, including Anders Zorn and James Whistler. Their ability to simplify a subject’s visual elements – paring them down to the essentials -makes these artists worth emulating, he says. “When you paint you need to have the ability to use much reserve - to paint with great economy - especially in limiting the color palette. It creates a real natural harmony and expresses more of mood.

“Painting is a lot like music,” he continues. “You can carefully compose a complex piece of music, but sometimes music that is simple and flows naturally, without a lot of layering, can actually be more powerful and timeless. That’s a lot the way I think about painting: It seems to be a natural process to just go out and look, and when I see something that draws me in, through the process of editing and simplifying I come up with an image that speaks more powerfully. If I just took the copycat approach and put in everything that I see in a scene, it wouldn't be as good.”

The final intent of his art, Williams contends, is to offer the viewer an experience of serenity in a world where widespread suffering and an inhumanly fast pace often make it difficult to pay attention to the beauty that exists. “In the Bible it says, ‘If there be any virtue, any praise, think on these things, and the peace of God will be yours.’ If I can help people to focus on things that are true and just, pure and lovely, that’s really what I see as part of my goal as an artist.”

Todd Williams’s work may be seen at Meyer Gallery, Santa Fe; Howard/Mandville, Kirkland, WA; Legacy Gallery, Scottsdale and Jackson, WY; Gardner Colby Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard and Naples, FLA; Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio; and at www.toddwilliamsfineart.com
- written by Gussie Fauntleroy