Bill Thompson
Layered vinyl images
The process is very similar to creating individual color screens in printmaking except each color (screen) is now cut from vinyl sheet and the unwanted parts (previously the blocked areas) “weeded” from the rest before very carefully layering each cut sheet on top of a previously one.
This is achieved, lightest to darkest, using a transfer process which removes the cut vinyl shapes from their backing sheets to a base material which can be illustration board for framed work behind glass, or alternatively, a wood panel or plastic substrate for non-framed work.
Accurate registration of each layer is critical, so each portrait is limited to 4 or 5 color tones for best effect. Considerable care has to be taken during the transfer process to avoid trapping air bubbles between the layers. Every image is a one-of original.
Bill Thompson was born and raised in the Lake District of northern England and has lived and worked in Europe, Africa, South America and Canada before coming to the United States nineteen years ago. Home is now in Albany, Oregon.
Bill is a self-taught artist in transition between his professional life (over 40 years in engineering management) and his passion and pastime of creating art. He firmly believes "It's never too late to be what you might have been!" and considers this current phase as just another path on a longer journey of self-discovery and change.
Bill’s art takes many forms and crosses media and genres ranging from traditional representational art of landscapes and wildlife acrylic paintings to religious artifacts using wood burning techniques to, more recently, portraits of music and film idols painted in a more graphic, pop art style. His latest work extends this portraiture to mosaics portraits created from small, hand-cut vinyl tile pieces to more complex vinyl images assembled from layers of precision-cut vinyl sheet. Bill considers each work to be a small but significant step in exploration, experimentation, excitement and inspiration — a personal journey that strengthens and uplifts the spirit.
Nothing gives greater satisfaction than knowing others viewing his work might share that experience.
