Village Squire, 1981-04, Page 8iy
8
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PG. 6 VILLAGE SQUIRE/APRIL 1981
Portrait of an Artist
by Sheila Gunby
"Most of my best paintings are done
on inspiration- on that fleeting glimpse of
a fox against a split rail fence, a grouse
talking off or a deer on my property."
Bill Creighton. Wildlife painter and
professional wildlife biologist. An artist
who knows the environment wild crea-
tures inhabit and captures them on
canvas.
"In the animal world. I like painting
foxes and moose," he says, "In the bird
world, waterfowl is an interest of mine.
flights of ducks in wetland areas. Just a
quarter of a mile down the road is a
beaver pond; I want to go there and do
some sketches."
Creighton lives on a farm in the north
end of Huron County in the township of
West Wawanosh and he works with the
Wingham Branch of the Ministry of
Natural Resources.
"I never really got serious about
painting until 1966." he says, "1 did
some sketches for the old Department of
Lands and Forests publications; I did
some deer and moose and people started
buying the originals. So I did some more
sketches. I've always been interested in
watercolours so I started doing black and
white watercolours and people began
seeing them at work. and at home."
From there. Creighton expanded into
regular watercolours and now does about
30 paintings a year, keeping his best for
the public.
His work has been shown in outdoor
exhibits. starting in Newmarket. then in
Markham and in Toronto at the Christel
Gallery and The Third Gallery.
After an employment move to London,
his work was shown at the Glenn Gallery.
He recently exhibited at the Burdette
Wildlife Gallery, near Orangeville.
In 1975, he put some paintings in a
Canadian Nature Federation contest in
Ottawa. Three were exhibited on a
cross -Canada tour and two were sold.
"The other one was a gift to my wife
Sharon," he says. "She wanted to hold
onto one of them."
Creighton's main interest is painting
wildlife. but he is starting to branch out
and explore new subjects "Since moving
to the country. I'm fascinated with Huron
county," he says, "The woodlots and the
old farm buildings and stone houses. I'm
getting into more landscapes and I'm
interested in the Amish community- their
methods of plowing fields with horses- so
I'd like to paint them as well. There's a
lifetime of painting on this property
alone," he says. "I'm inspired by just a
'fleeting moment' and I'd like to be able
to capture it. I do a quick sketch and paint
at night in my studio."
Creighton paints two or three times a
week, about two hours each sitting and is
now working on a commissioned paint-
ing.
Most wildlife artists of to -day are
super -realists," he says. "They paint
every hair, where I try to paint a mood- an
impression. There's not too many water-
colorists doing wildlife work. but there's
some super painters like George McLean.
Robert Bateman, Glenn Loates."
Last year. Creighton spent a week with
Zoltan Szabo. an internationally known
watercolorist and landscape painter. "He
has helped me combine my landscape
work with wildlife," he says. "He had a
real influence on me but he didn't change
my style. I didn't want to be held down by
regulations. 1 wanted to be free -wheeling
in my work. Zoltan Szabo showed me
shortcuts and ways to improve my work."
Creighton's framed paintings cost from
$200 to S400. depending on the
size of the canvas. He has a ready
market. selling from his home to people
familiar with his work or through paint-
ings he has sold to others.
"Painting becomes an obsession." he
says. "I want to drop everything and go
out and paint. Sometimes, driving to
work, 1 see something and I want to stop
and paint it.