The Astrologer by Bill Bell/artlicensing.com T-Shirt

A native of Philadelphia, Bill Bell is a completely self-taught artist who took up painting full-time in 1982 after a successful career as a musician and record company executive. For Bill, painting is a compulsion; "it is also my fun, my therapy, and my challenge." Working in brilliant acrylics, he creates richly detailed and visually complex scenes based on memories and impressions of people, pets, events, and dreams that have shaped his life. His unique and enchanting designs have been reproduced as prints, posters, greeting cards, T-shirts, puzzles, children's books, album covers and several series of collectors plates for the Franklin Mint. Bill likes to emphasize the activities of people and animals in pleasant, but often absurd context. His work always invites the viewer to explore the entire canvas and revel in the activity, colour and fantastic details he manages to include so effectively. "I paint nostalgia and nonsense," says the artist. "Nostalgia for the world that used to be and nonsense for the world of my dreams." Each one of his paintings is brimming with the joy he chooses to see in his life. Bill Bell/Artlicensing.com