“I don’t profess to be a great artist. I am just a regular guy who has a painting addiction!” So says Bill Buckley, whose crystal-clear images of the Island abound in his exhibition, “Vineyard Views,” at the Chilmark library. The scenes, which you can see through the end of November, cover one end of the Island to the other. He says, “Bright colors, blue skies, and familiar scenery give people a one-stop view of many of the Island’s vistas.”
Buckley began painting 50 years ago, after breaking an ankle in seventh grade. Stuck at home, Buckley recalls, “People would come by and give me a paint-by-number set. After about two or three of those, I started flipping them over.”
Buckley graduated from the Art Institute of Boston after enjoying art through high school. Although he continued to paint, he didn’t pursue art for his career. However, Buckley picked it up with a vengeance after moving to the Island in 1998. He loves going out virtually daily with his acrylics to paint, typically early in the morning. The crisp blue skies that populate his canvases speak to the Vineyard’s unique light. While he begins en plein air, Buckley usually takes photographs of his subject matter and completes the work back at home.
Many of his paintings capture familiar views. There are those of the Edgartown Harbor, Polly Hill, Vineyard Haven boatyard, the old Lagoon Bridge, Bend in the Road, a Menemsha fishing shack, and East Chop. Yet the images aren’t photorealistic. In simplifying the compositions, Buckley creates a sense of nostalgia, as though they are memories of scenes we have seen, minus their exacting details.
He includes human-made structures in all his images — boats, houses, bridges, and lighthouses. “I feel comfortable doing something pleasing people recognize. They are forms and shapes most people look at, but never notice again.” He adds, “I also like the architecture of it all, and trying to blend with the landscape around them.”
Buckley also brings us up close to imaginary architecture. In his large painting, “A View to the Gut,” we look through huge windowpanes from a house that doesn’t exist across the water to Chappaquiddick, with little homes nestled along the waterfront.
Although most of the artworks depict early morning views, “Edgartown Lighthouse, Moonrise,” and “Chappy Landing” capture the evening hours with skies whose blue hues vary from the majority of Buckley’s other pieces. In the latter painting, Buckley captures the shimmering lights of the ferry dock on the harbor water, which barely ripples in the still night.
“South Beach,” with its striped umbrellas dotting the sand and corresponding empty chairs, speaks to Buckley’s earlier abstract compositions, which are not in the show, but a style he has also pursued: “I do vary my painting. I still enjoy the abstracts, but I have recently worked on painting more plein air, and use the Martha’s Vineyard scenery as inspiration and subject matter.”
Buckley’s influences include Picasso, Monet, Gauguin, Botticelli, Magritte, Hopper, and Dali: “I have found countless points of inspiration allowing me to work in various mediums. As a painter, I work mostly in acrylics, oils, and mixed-media, but I also enjoy drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. I am interested in contrast in colors, the geometry of lines and circles, and visual imagery.”
Buckley, who has exhibited around the Island over the years, says, “I like to share my enthusiasm for painting, and I appreciate the opportunity to show a large number of pieces at one time, to allow viewers to draw relationships from picture to picture. I feel that there is strength and a singular style to my work.”
Bill Buckley’s “Vineyard Views” is at the Chilmark library through the end of November. For more information, visit paintingsbybillbuckley.com, or contact him at wbuck@paintingsbybillbuckley.com.
