Bill Fravel

Born and raised in Santa Cruz , California Bill is a self-taught watercolorist, favoring landscapes and seascapes of the California Coast ……so far.

An award winning graduate in architecture, University of Notre Dame Bill has developed his watercolor techniques and style over the last 25 years…while raising a son and foster daughter, teaching pre-school, coaching youth soccer and leading a Boy Scout Troop in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bill did a lot of camping in California and the Sierra Nevada and subsequent paintings of those regions. He received a California Arts Council Grant in 1981 to develop YOMAMA ART CENTER for Eddy Street Boys’ Home/Catholic Social Ser vices, San Francisco .

In 1993 his wife, Marilyn, had several paintings framed and arranged his first solo show. Inspired, ignited and needing ocean, the Fravels and their son, Emery, relocated to Davenport-on-the-Central Coast . Bill promptly fixed himself a studio, the Whale Hedge, named for the large topiary shrub that borders the studio and their home. In 2001, Bill started offering “free” demonstrations of his techniques every Sunday at 10 am at the Whale Hedge.

Bill opened the Whale Hedge to the public in November 1996. Since returning to Santa Cruz County , he has served as a SPECTRA artist for Public School, sponsored by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County. He is also active in organizations concerned with planning and development in Davenport and on the North Coast .

Bill is an active artist member of the Santa Cruz Watercolor Society, the Santa Cruz Art League, and the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County. He is an associate member of the National Watercolor Society, the American Watercolor Society and the California Art Club.

26543 Carmel Rancho Blvd. , Carmel , Ca 93923    Phone & Fax 831-624-1172

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