One evening, about a month after that first taping Don phoned Bill. “Bill,” he said, “we've shown the program around and we’ve gotten tremendous response. The station management wants to go for it. They want us to do a series. How soon can you come back in?” Bill knew now that he could beat that intimidating camera. He went into training. He painted every day until he had the … [Read more...]

“Mr. Alexander,” Sid introduced himself on the telephone. “You don’t know me, but I’d like to work with you. Dorothy, my wife, took a class from one of your students in Vancouver and we have had a heck of a time getting your Magic White. People ought to be able to buy it without going through the trouble we had to find it. I’d like to help you market it.” Although the … [Read more...]

People were always phoning or writing Don and Bill with requests for more specific instruction. Bill just referred them to Don. Don, though, was getting even more letters and calls than Bill. Finally, the two of them met and decided that they should create a book to go with the new television series. Don introduced Bill to Valerie Lee, an editor and writer at KOCE. She was a … [Read more...]

The committee which evaluated the award submissions rejected most applicants. At that time, the judges rarely screened more than the first ten minutes of a program. In 1979 Bill filmed his first series with Carrol Ellerbe. Bill was not only on television, one of the top professionals in the industry was his director. This was also the first series with which KOCE issued a … [Read more...]

In the Spring of 1982, he was in a small room in the Woodfield Shopping Center in Chicago waiting to do a demonstration. He was nervous, his hands were sweating, and he didn’t know what to expect. Bill's celebrity from his "Magic of Oil Painting" television show was growing every time a new show aired. Even though Bill had painted in shopping malls for most of his career, … [Read more...]

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Bill realized that, at some point in his life, he became a teacher more than a painter. From that point on, it became important to him to share the techniques he learned throughout his career with others. Bill's techniques were at odds with … [Read more...]