I approach painting on three different levels. All three are interrelated, but easier to discuss separately. The first is the aesthetic. Composition for me is a complex exercise of arranging squares and rectangles broken by subtle curves and angles and activated by a graduated system of warm and cool colors, hopefully fitting into a cohesive whole.

The second level is creating a sense of place. Light, atmosphere, local color, and texture play the major roles, enabling the viewer to say, yes, this is Nantucket, Ireland, Martha’s Vineyard or the Azores. Painting on location, producing small studies, is crucial to the success of the final studio painting. Although I put the most emphasis on the studio work, many collectors have sought out the studies as works of art in and of themselves.

On the third level is the emotional or spiritual content. This is the most difficult one for me to articulate. Painting is a means to explore composition and express deep-seated spiritual sentiments. I seek out places that are conducive to these ends. A painting must have mood and subtle power. I try to stir the soul.

William P. Duffy was born in Boston in 1948. He received his art education at the School of the Worcester Art Museum/Clark University and the Boston Architectural Center. His work can be found in private collections throughout the United States and in several foreign countries. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists, and is a member of New England Plein Air Painters, an artist member of the Copley Society, and a member of the Oil Painters of America in whose 2006 national exhibition Bill was given an Award of Excellence.

From 1993 to the present, Bill has exhibited at the Mystic International Exhibition at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport. At his first International Show, judged by George Plimpton, founder of the Paris Review, and Stephen Doherty, Editor of American Artist, he received an "Award of Excellence". In the 1998 Show, judged by James Taylor of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England, and Peter Sutton, Director of the Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT, Bill was honored with another "Award of Excellence". Judges Stephen S. Lash, Chairman of Christie's Americas, John Carter, President of Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, and Dawn Riley, CEO and Captain of the America's Cup contender, "America True", gave Bill the 2004 International Show's "Award of Excellence".

Other exhibitions have included a 1996 group show at Big Horn Gallery in Fairfield, Ct, the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport's annual Modern Marine Masters show from 1994 to the present, and a one-man show of plein air works at Quidley and Company Gallery, Nantucket, in June 2006. Currently one of Mr. Duffy's paintings is touring five venues on the east coast with the American Society of Marine Artists 30th Anniversary National Exhibition. Beginning in May 2008 at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington Delaware the exhibition continues to these four museums

Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum
St. Michaels, Maryland

Noyes Museum of Art
Oceanville, New Jersey

Spartanburg Art Museum
Spartanburg, South Carolina

and finally from June 7, 2009 to September 5, 2009
New Bedford Art Museum
New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Mr. Duffy has been the subject of articles in SEA HISTORY, U.S. ART, ART BUSINESS NEWS and most recently in FINE ART CONNISSEUR and AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR.

Gallery affiliations include the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Christina Gallery, Martha's Vineyard, Quidley and Company, Nantucket, and the J. Russell Jinishian Gallery, Fairfield, CT.

• The J. Russell Jinishian Gallery - Fairfield, Connecticut
• The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport - Mystic, Connecticut
• Quidley and Company - Boston and Nantucket, Massachusetts
• The Christina Gallery - Edgartown, Massachusetts
• The Century House - Nantucket, Massachusetts
• J.M. Stringer Gallery - Berardsville, New Jersey