Above: "Self Portrait 11/02", Oil on Panel 16" x 23" William Hays has been painting for more than 30 years in oils and watercolors. He began working in representational landscapes and, while living in Alaska, branched out into abstracted imagery, performance, video, installations and sculpture. Since moving to Vermont in 1987, he has come full circle with a renewed concentration on representational paintings of landscape, seascape and portraiture on canvas and panel. His work is frequently included in juried exhibitions regionally and nationally where he has been singled out for recognition. His purchased and commissioned paintings grace the walls of private collectors around the world. His portrait of the first couple to receive a civil union in the United States is now on display as part of the permanent collection of the State of Vermont. It is the only image of a gay couple on display as part of a government collection in the United States. Although he has painted in watercolors for longer than oils, he now uses watercolors less frequently (and rarely in the studio). While traveling he does small, on-site paintings His work on location has mainly concentrated in the northeastern North America and in western Europe. Hays spent two extended trips abroad in Mexico and Guatemala and Spain where he did more than 60 watercolor paintings and many more drawings. In 2007 Hays began linocut printmaking. With the purchase of a press late that year, he has been particularly productive in this new medium. The reception of the many color prints has been immediate and strong. His paintings can be viewed at The Artist's Loft Gallery in Brattleboro, Vermont and Liverpool, Nova Scotia. He regularly shows paintings at the Elaine Beckwith Gallery in Jamaica, Vermont; The South Street Gallery in Greenport Long Island, NY; The Art Sales and Rental Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and ADJA Studio and Gallery in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.