About Will

 I am primarily a figurative painter and muralist who works in mostly realism, but likes to incorporate some abstraction into my work. I mainly enjoy using the medium of oil paint in my work, yet enjoy incorporating other mediums such as photography help correctly convey the concepts, and subject matter of my work to the audience. As I am primarily a studio artist and native Mississippian, I draw inspiration from past experiences along with what is currently happening around me in the world today. The aesthetic of my work has deep ties to my personal experiences and love of traveling to, and the lifestyles of southern Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast of Florida. I draw inspiration for my use of color and style of painting from the colors and rhythms found in the times spent in these areas throughout my youth, the present, and future experiences. I am working to capture the sounds, lifestyles, and all-around aesthetic “or tone” of the areas that I am representing in my works. From these inspirations I work to portray a narrative portrait or scene that captures the moment and personality of the person or area in which I am referencing.     

For as long as I can remember I have always been drawing of painting at every stage of life. I was lucky enough to have a High School art teacher in Ms. Donna McCullar who took notice in my rough talents and helped to inspire me to continue to create. It took me until taking a Drawing 1 class at Mississippi State University under Professor Alex Bostic, while majoring in Business, for me to realize the love and gift that I had in art. Getting to know Professor Bostic through the semester and him teasing me to change to an art major was one of the most influential points in my art journey. At the end of that semester Professor Bostic would give me his business card and tell me that if I ever wanted to give a career in art a try to keep in touch and that he felt that I had the tools to make a good living in the art world. Fast forward three years when I returned to Mississippi State University from taking time away from school to work in the real world, I decided to take his advice and become an Art Major on my return to school. Through my tenure at Mississippi State, I was privileged enough to study under amazing professors who became mentors to me. While at MSU I found my love for oil paints through a portrait class under none other than Professor Bostic. My time spent at MSU was so important to my growth as an artist from learning to say no to Professor SoonEe and trusting my own ideas for my work, to taking numerous Professor Altomonte’s art history classes that truly opened my views of the world and how influential art can me. 

These valuable classes and lessons learned from all my professors truly helped shape the artist I am today. The opportunities that have come from these times spent picking professors brains and why they do what they do in their work has helped to mold me into the professional artist that I am today. While at MSU I had pieces of art work accepted into a juried show which was my first show over being the Cotton District Art Festival, along with my first pieces being accepted into a show I was fortunate enough to be the lead painter on a mural for a art history class I was in, which was the first mural I was able to work on. These two instances where major building blocks for my work as a professional artist now.