There’s nothing like creating a successful painting. Success can be making a seemingly dull thing beautiful or capturing the feel of particular place, the drama of a cloudy sky, or the look of a foreign place where I see both the differences and similarities of life in other countries.

At age fourteen I started my art career as a self-taught painter in oils. I was inspired by a book on Greek mythology illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, and some reproductions of works by various members of the Hudson River School. By the time I was old enough to consider art school, the focus was on non-representational art, which did not interest me.

I turned to a career in product illustration, and then to art direction and creative work in advertising. After years in the commercial art world, I recently returned to painting almost full time, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to explore the challenges of painting in the U.S. and around the world.

—Bill Canright