For Elizabethton artist Joshua Williams, his trek in the world of art has taken him into the realm of the abstract.

William’s journey started when he was real young when he first got into drawing.

“As an only child, I guess I felt comfort in drawing and getting lost in that world,” said Williams.

Williams’ love for drawing would eventually transfer over to painting through inspiration from his grandmother, Nancy Clark.

“I spent a lot of time with my grandmother,” said Williams. “She did like these wood crafts. She painted on them with acrylic paints and stuff. I got see and play with paints early. To keep me busy, she would put some paints on a plate and let me paint. That is I got started into painting.”

In his teen years, Williams said he became drawn to the type of painting that famous artist Bob Ross did on his PBS tv show. His grandmother bought him the stuff he needed to get started painting. She even got him some step by step books. However, Williams’ time watching Bob Ross had already instilled in him the vision he needed to create art.

“I was just good at it,” said Williams. “She had got me these step by step books, but I didn’t need that. I watched the show so much that I already knew what I wanted to do. She took me to classes where it would be mostly older people and then me. I didn’t care though; I liked to do it.”

In high school, Williams love for creating art would begin to dwindle.

“Getting through high school and stuff, alot of things went on there, and I didn’t do anything as far as art,” said Williams. “I lost interest in the oil paintings, in painting trees and mountains. The realism type stuff. It didn’t fuel me anymore.”

With painting on the back burner, Williams would transition into creating hip hop and rap music.

“We had a label together doing hip hop and rap music,” said Williams. “We did it at a pretty high level for about ten years.”

Just like his interest in painting, Williams’ want to do music would slow down, opening him back up to getting into drawing once again.

“As that was slowly starting cool down, I didn’t want to make music anymore,” Williams said. “I got back into drawing. I think it was more like I was in a depressed state. So late at night, when I couldn’t sleep, I started drawing stuff again, which I hadn’t done in a while.”

It was during this time that Williams found the type of art he wanted to do, and it all started with the beginning of a piece he did not like and the attempt to clean it off the canvas.

“I was doing these markers on these poster board type materials,” he said. “I did something one day, and I was like, ‘I don’t really like this.’ So I took some water and was going to wash it off. But all it did was blur all of the colors. It was exactly what I wanted it to look like.”

Williams has been creating abstract art for the past seven years will be putting on his first show at Blue Rivers Studio in Downtown Elizabethton. The show will run all month, and an opening reception will be held this Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Williams said that he appreciates what Blue River Studios is doing for art in the Elizabethton area.

“It is big,” said Williams. “This area has always been short on art because there has never really been any places to back the artist. So artist have had to do everything by themselves which makes it hard. It is great what they are doing.”

Joshua Williams, his trek in the world of art has taken him into the realm of the abstract.

William’s journey started when he was real young when he first got into drawing.

“As an only child, I guess I felt comfort in drawing and getting lost in that world,” said Williams.

Williams’ love for drawing would eventually transfer over to painting through inspiration from his grandmother, Nancy Clark.

“I spent a lot of time with my grandmother,” said Williams. “She did like these wood crafts. She painted on them with acrylic paints and stuff. I got see and play with paints early. To keep me busy, she would put some paints on a plate and let me paint. That is I got started into painting.”

In his teen years, Williams said he became drawn to the type of painting that famous artist Bob Ross did on his PBS tv show. His grandmother bought him the stuff he needed to get started painting. She even got him some step by step books. However, Williams’ time watching Bob Ross had already instilled in him the vision he needed to create art.

“I was just good at it,” said Williams. “She had got me these step by step books, but I didn’t need that. I watched the show so much that I already knew what I wanted to do. She took me to classes where it would be mostly older people and then me. I didn’t care though; I liked to do it.”

In high school, Williams love for creating art would begin to dwindle.

“Getting through high school and stuff, alot of things went on there, and I didn’t do anything as far as art,” said Williams. “I lost interest in the oil paintings, in painting trees and mountains. The realism type stuff. It didn’t fuel me anymore.”

With painting on the back burner, Williams would transition into creating hip hop and rap music.

“We had a label together doing hip hop and rap music,” said Williams. “We did it at a pretty high level for about ten years.”

Just like his interest in painting, Williams’ want to do music would slow down, opening him back up to getting into drawing once again.

“As that was slowly starting cool down, I didn’t want to make music anymore,” Williams said. “I got back into drawing. I think it was more like I was in a depressed state. So late at night, when I couldn’t sleep, I started drawing stuff again, which I hadn’t done in a while.”

It was during this time that Williams found the type of art he wanted to do, and it all started with the beginning of a piece he did not like and the attempt to clean it off the canvas.

“I was doing these markers on these poster board type materials,” he said. “I did something one day, and I was like, ‘I don’t really like this.’ So I took some water and was going to wash it off. But all it did was blur all of the colors. It was exactly what I wanted it to look like.”

Williams has been creating abstract art for the past seven years will be putting on his first show at Blue Rivers Studio in Downtown Elizabethton. The show will run all month, and an opening reception will be held this Friday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Williams said that he appreciates what Blue River Studios is doing for art in the Elizabethton area.

“It is big,” said Williams. “This area has always been short on art because there has never really been any places to back the artist. So artist have had to do everything by themselves which makes it hard. It is great what they are doing.”