"We all have within us the impulse to look into the clouds and find an image, to see a face in a rock, a scene in the grain of wood. We also have the impulse to make a mark, whether it be a scratch on a rock, a line in the dirt, or a brushstroke upon paper. By learning to control the movements of our hands, we can create our own patterns, own own clouds in which to look and find images." -- William McNamara

Although his style is traditional, Bill McNamara's visions are somehow contemporary. Close inspection of his work reveals the abstract qualities of layers of color, the play of light and shadow, and the subtle and intricate patterns of nature, which combine in paintings often described as "magical realism". His works have been in major exhibitions such as those held by the Butler Institute of American Art and the National Watercolor Society, and he has had solo exhibits at the Arkansas Arts Center and the Springfield Art Museum, both of which include McNamara paintings in their permanent collections.

Since 1976 Bill has lived on a mountaintop bordering the Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area in Northwest Arkansas. His affinity for the wild places surrounding his home is reflected in his "intimate" landscapes of small pools or studies of lichen and rock, and in his watercolors of the Buffalo River Country, which the National Park Service reproduced as murals for the Buffalo National River Visitor Center at Tyler Bend.

Selections of Bill's paintings have been available as Limited Edition Prints since 1982.