About Bill Eriksen:

Bill was born to do the same two things he has done all of his life, which is to paint pictures and play music. By the time he was seven he was painting booklets of things he loved such as clouds, old ships, birds and butterflies and playing violin in the school orchestra. These two things continued through the years and by the time he was in highschool he continued drawing and painting and played guitar and piano in many bands through the years. Bill received an AA degree as an art major in college and has kept on with both endeavors until present. He has shown his paintings in many galleries all over California and is currently at the stockton art league gallery on pacific avenue. He has also had a career teaching music including directing the entire guitar curriculum at university of the pacific for many years until his retirement. Bill has also retired from public performing of music but who knows what may happen in the near future!

About Art:

Bill’s art is basically a form of realism with a touch of impressionism thrown in. The general look of a painting is realistic but we have made a filmed demo of him painting a forest scene at sunset (actually 3) which shows how things which look detailed such as leaves etc are actually done in a very relaxed manner thus giving the “impression” of much more detail. This film captures pretty well how he does all of his nature painting. There is a second film where he shows how he handles detailed things such as buildings and perspective.

About the music:

The music included here captures a history of his studio recorded pieces. Bill’s style is basically both improvisational jazz and classical on both instruments. From his earliest recordings in the late seventies until present, he has always focused on his original compositions. Bill’s band Nova and The 9th Creation were both put into the San Joaquin Valley’s Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. He has appeared with or opened for many well known performers such as Cal Tjader, Herbie Hancock, Tower of Power, Charlie Musselwhite, Firefall and many others. Bill is currently recording a jazz guitar album in which he also plays all the background parts.