Although he had no formal training, it was obvious at school that Bill Makinson had a gift for art and crafts. He was happy doing his work which involved bookbinding with artistic gold leaf lettering that he embossed on the spine and cover, but he was thrilled when it was the art lesson and always attempted more adventurous subjects. He liked drawing on location at a local and has fond memories of such a time. Sport and music were other subjects that he excelled in. Woodwork was a particularly favorite subject that he was skilled at, and making furniture was something he would have like to have done on leaving school. However, things don’t always work according to plan and he supposes he’s lucky just how things have turned out. His first major step into the big world was the National Service in the RAF and this gave him time to draw and also to write music.
From the very beginning, Makinson found there was no substitute from painting on site. His first scenes were mainly townscapes; viewers would stand and watch him for hours. , I gained his inspiration from Terrance Cunio Ben Maile, David Shepherd, and J.M.W. Turner, with special encouragement from David Shepherd and Terrance Cunio to whom he will always be grateful. Nowadays his work is far more detailed, and may even take weeks/months to complete a painting. Locally, he’s well known and his paintings are selling steadily. Furthermore, the press is always keen to publish a picture of him painting in the local towns.
