"The portrait Wild Bill came out of a friendship which developed as the result of my daughter, Grace’s, close relationship with Bill’s nephew, Kevin, during their high school years and until Kevin's death from cystic fibrosis in 2001. Bill is from Indiana, where he is a professor of English, and during his frequent visits to Kevin and his family the kids got us together to join in on their philosophical talks. We saw each other frequently, sometimes at the hospital, as Kevin got sicker and sicker, and the conversations took on more and more depth and weight. I painted them together in conversation in a large portrait entitled "Body and Mind: Kevin and Uncle Bill" in 2000. Bill taught Kevin to enjoy the life of the mind, and in the painting, Kevin is holding a book as light shines across his body and illuminates Bill's head. Bill was not aware of the pet name by which Kevin referred to him until after Kevin's death when all of his friends started calling him ‘Wild Bill.’ He loved it, and I wanted to paint him again, this time by himself, but with that attribute in mind."

Catherine Prescott 2003