Being a local Cedar Key artist isn't the only career Bill Roberts has had. Growing up on a farm in the Everglades area, he started driving cattle at the age of 11. Meeting with Bill recently at his studio in Rosewood, he shared stories about his career as a day worker driving cattle throughout thirty counties in Florida. It's no surprise that a majority of Bill's outstanding paintings are cowboy related. "I miss the cowboy life," he stated, but draws on his memory of those cattle days to produce these memories on canvas.
In addition to his love for painting, Bill is a fisherman and conducts excursions for inshore fishing. The locals know him as "Captain Bill."
Bill's love for art began at age fifteen when his mother gave him a watercolor set. He took the finished pieces to a small restaurant/bar in the Everglades and proceeded to sell about 10 of them. "It was the only place I had to sell them. It was about 18 miles into the sawgrass. I carried them down there, and they hung them up." Then followed joining the navy, getting married and raising a family. During these years he devoted little time to painting. "I was busy making a living," he said.
In 1975 Bill began coming to Cedar Key with a travel trailer on the weekends and in 1982, he moved here full-time. He explained that the Key Hole was previously an auto parts store but around 1979 it became a community art place and local artists started placing their work on consignment. This was the first gallery on Cedar Key and Bill resumed his painting on a regular basis.
Boxes of reference material fill his studio. Photographs of area points of interest include houses, water scenes, old photos of Second Street and wildlife. Bill explained he usually paints from these photographs by doing a lay-out and then finishing the piece on location. "When I first started, I was turning out about 50 paintings a year for about three or four years. I'm doing about 75 to 100 now," he stated. He explained that sometimes he projects a photo onto the canvas and sketches it out. "To get the angles right," he said. Bill is self-taught but holds the distinction of having many of his paintings shipped to Germany, England and France. He was commissioned by the University of Florida to do a painting of an alligator, which now hangs in the president's box at the football stadium and measures 24 ft. high and 3 ft. long. Many of his paintings are hung at Cook's Café and have led to more commissions. He does admit that painting cowboys is his favorite subject, along with Cedar Key themes which are his best sellers.
Bill's daughter also paints and although he was her instructor, he says, "Now I learn from her. She surpassed me." Both Bill and his daughter will be doing a show in March at the Arts Center.
When questioned about the changes on the island over the years, Bill said, "Back in '75 you could have bought the whole island for a million." He talked about the increase in property values and said when he first came here it was 80% locals and 20% outsiders. He feels that's now changed to 80% outsiders and tourists.
Hearing about his careers as cowboy, fisherman and artist was a fascinating portrait through his eyes. | 
