Bill Brouard
Bill Brouard was born on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius where he enjoyed a blissfully happy childhood with his parents and five siblings before moving to London in 1973 at the tender age of 17. Completing an art foundation course in 1974 at Winchester Art College, Hampshire; Bill spent two years studying within the fine art department at Newcastle Polytechnic where he subsequently completed his studies within creative and performing arts drama; majoring in dance. Becoming a single parent at the age of 24, Bill’s commitment to his young son, Tristan, forced him to put his creative passions on hold and over the next few years he worked within a succession of demanding jobs within the catering industry where he steadily worked his way to becoming a head chef at a number of prestigious establishments.. Meeting his wife Lulu in 1982 and marrying after a whirlwind romance, they produced two further children; Dominic, now an in-house documentary film editor for the National Theatre in London; and Caroline, a talented singer/songwriter based in Brighton. With a growing family to support, Bill decided to retrain as a computer engineer and for many years he enjoyed a successful career within this new industry. He finally began to pursue his creativity in earnest in 2008 following the sad loss of his eldest son Tristan at the age of 28, as a result of complications of multiple sclerosis. Despite the pain and trauma he suffered during his seven year battle, Tristan was a true inspiration to all those whose lives he touched by his endless demonstration of the power of unconditional love. To help cope with the grieving process and to slowly begin to come to terms with the death of his son, Bill initially began to express the pain of his loss through the creation of a series of poetry which he published online. Having previously been introduced to the rudiments of Photoshop by Lulu (by now his ex-wife), he turned his attentions to the creation of inspirational digital artwork. His work became a healing journey as he began to experience a soul connection through the writing process and the crafting of his art. For the past two years, he has been almost compulsively creating and producing a vast portfolio of over 3,000 beautiful spiritual images which he publishes through his FaceBook Fan Page, “Visual Alchemy”, where he currently has over 11,000 followers; including many A-list celebrities. Bill would prefer not to categorise his artwork due to the limitations inherent in giving something a “label”. He says, “I create my artwork for the sole purpose of helping the awakening of consciousness. I never cared for being too precious about anything, so a sense of humour is often present. I am frequently surprised and delighted by what appears on the screen, as I go into sort of guided meditation and work totally intuitively. My greatest feeling is that beauty can be used as a means of accessing the divine. I believe that we are all one and that we deserve to see the beauty in ourselves and each other. We are all spiritual beings trying to understand and grow through the human experience and we each have unlimited potential for creativity and personal expression. Hearing personal stories of how my work has assisted others in their healing journey; including chronic pain management and the addressing of some forms of post traumatic stress by the use of my art as a meditative tool; totally validates my commitment to helping to make a positive difference to the lives of others.” The future is looking very bright for Bill as he prepares for a move back to London after living in the Somerset/Avon area for the past 26 years. To date, his work has been featured on CD covers, websites, blogs, clothing and You Tube videos combined with inspirational music. Bill will be showing his work throughout the UK this autumn and will commence a worldwide exhibition tour starting in LA early next year. He has recently enlisted the services of a personal manager to handle the volume of interest his work has begun to generate and to guide his future career as a world renowned visionary artist.