Let the Painting Happen
William Crosby's intuitive landscapes balance structure and spontaneity, inviting the viewer to feel their way through.
For William "Bill" Crosby, a painting begins with a single line—a horizon, a gesture, a mark in space. What comes next, he allows to unfold naturally. "One brushstroke leads to another. I let the painting happen."
Bill’s work lives in the space between abstraction and representation. His brushwork hints rather than declares: water, light, tides, and treetops may surface through the layers, but they remain open to interpretation. Rather than mapping a place, his work conveys the atmosphere and memory it stirs.
"It’s emotional. Some people compare it to jazz. There’s a rhythm. A mood. You feel your way into it."
Though he is now known for his expressive acrylics, Bill began his artistic journey with photography and architecture. At the University of Michigan in the 1960s, he was steeped in the clarity of black-and-white film and the formal rigor of architectural studies. Those early disciplines still echo in his paintings today—in their asymmetrical balance, their subtle composition, and his enduring fascination with light.
Photography offered control. Painting offered freedom. The balance between the two, he says, has shaped his entire career.
"I like to move around when I paint, even with the little paintings. It’s like a dance."
A longtime teacher and mentor at SUNY Plattsburgh, Bill taught photography for over three decades. Yet even then, he was painting in his own time—first quietly, then more seriously. With his wife Pat, a designer and builder, Bill split time between upstate New York and South Thomaston, Maine. Together, they kayak, recycle architectural materials, and offer creative feedback. "She doesn’t say much," Bill says, smiling. "But I know from her look if something isn’t working."
Their Maine home sits along the Saint George River, where Bill finds inspiration in early morning light, rock formations, and the rhythm of tides. It’s not unusual for him to kayak at dawn, letting the water and quiet become part of his process.
"I go out along the river and see all the rock formations. Light quality is so important to me."
He paints in series, exploring moods and variations. Spring may bring pinks and light greens; winter a starker palette of black, white, and gray. Sometimes a painting leans more abstract, sometimes toward the representational. He rarely paints from photographs, preferring to let memory and emotion guide his brush.
Even when he paints a place—like Mount Katahdin or Monhegan Island—the forms are secondary. What matters is the feeling. The invitation. “I try to leave the painting open,” he says. “So the viewer can enter it. Finish it in their own way.”
Bill's paintings have been compared to jazz for good reason: they are improvisational yet grounded, emotive yet spacious. And like a good piece of music, they unfold over time.
Explore More
William Crosby is a Maine- and New York-based painter whose atmospheric landscapes blend memory, emotion, and improvisation. His acrylic canvases reflect a deep love of the natural world, filtered through decades of experience in photography, teaching, and abstract expressionism. Explore his work at the Portland Art Gallery in Portland’s historic Old Port or view his collection online.
Watch the Full Interview
To hear more about Bill’s creative journey—from architecture and photography to abstraction and jazz-like painting—watch his full conversation on Radio Maine with Dr. Lisa Belisle.