Hi, I am Bill Van Hoy.

At age 72, I fell in love with oil painting, well into retirement following two professional careers. My favorite subjects have roots in a lifetime fascination with the marine environment. I enjoy water associated scenes, including water reflections, marshes, deadrise boats, dramatic skies, rainbows and Navy ships. Being near the bay is one of the reasons my wife Barbara and I enjoy living in the Gloucester area of Virginia adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay and York River.

My first professional career was in the US Navy where I served twenty-one years in the surface warfare community advancing from Seaman to Lieutenant Commander, a track commonly referred to as a Mustang. Main service was aboard cruisers and destroyers. Retiring from the Navy, I pursued a second twenty-one-year career as a successful a personal financial advisor. Then when it was time for a third challenge, I sold the practice and moved into business consulting. During that period, I authored a self-help book “Stop Banging Your Head: Break through the wall of frustration in small business”. Now I am pursuing this new passion - oil painting.  It's about what's next, because you are either growing or dying.

Along the way I earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from North Carolina State University, a Master of Science in Command Control and Communications from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification from the College for Financial Planning.

Now here we are. What started as a hobby a couple years ago has grown. Thanks for being here.