William D Thompson is a native son of Alabama. He holds an Engineering degree with electives in art from the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Bill has been exhibiting his dynamic oil paintings since 1995 when he entered the Eastern Shore Art Association's Members Open competition and won Best of Show. That same year his work was purchased by the Mobile Museum of Art for their permanent collection. After finding continued success in the fine arts, Bill following his heart, left behind a career in aerospace engineering to pursue painting. Bill works from a studio in his home along the shores of Mobile Bay. His paintings have won numerous awards and he was selected for the US Dept of State Art in Embassies program, a program designed to blend art and diplomacy and his work has been chosen twice for the Alabama State’s Choice Award. WD's paintings hang throughout the USA and in numerous foreign countries including England, Switzerland, Belgium, France and Italy.
Bill's paintings echo his inner feelings, capturing the extraordinary qualities, poetry and rhythms of everyday life through the use of composition, form and color. Rich, juicy and thick oil paint is applied with palette knife, brush and fingers to create complex three dimensional textures.
Bill is a member of the Oil Painters of America.
A W A R D S
Alabama States Choice Award ….. 2007 Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival
Merit Award (Judge Don Andrews) ….. 2006 Grand Festival of Art By The Bay
Alabama States Choice Award ….. 2004 Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival
Merit Award (Judge Henry Casselli) ….. 2003 Bay Rivers Art Guild Juried Show
Gene B Whiting Award (honorable mention) ….. 2002 Grand Festival of Art By The Bay
Wade Watkins Award (oil) ..... 2001 Bluff Park Art Show
Mary McGrath Award ..... 2000 Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival
Honorable Mention ..... 1999 Mobile Museum of Art
Paul Duncan Best of Show ..... 1999 Foley Art in the Park
Museum Permanent Collection "Southern Shade" ..... 1998 Mobile Museum of Art
Robinson Memorial Award (under Judge Doug Dawson) ..... Pastels ‘98, Pastel Society of Northwest Florida
Director’s Choice Award ..... 1998 Art With a Southern Drawl Competition, Univ. of Mobile
Museum Permanent Collection "Pelican Point" ..... 1995 Mobile Museum of Art