William Neal (born 1947) is an English artist painter and graphic designer who

achieved international recognition after working for the progressive rock band
Emerson, Lake & Palmer. During the last 10 years, and alongside his watercolour
work, William has produced a series of large abstract paintings complemented by
musical compositions written specially for the works by himself and other
collaborators. Successful shows featuring these series of paintings were held in
the Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries in 2007, and the Mill on the Fleet in
Gatehouse of Fleet in 2009.

Biography
Born in Guildford in 1947, Neal was brought up in the village of Bramley, Surrey.
He gained a diploma in art and design at the Guildford School of Art (now the
University for the Creative Arts), graduating in 1967.[1] Following a diverse
career in the graphic arts, he worked for the BBC, Pitman Publishing and C.C.S.
Associates, a leading design group in London’s West End. It was from C.C.S. that he
met Greg Lake and went on to work for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, producing cover
designs for the two million selling albums Tarkus and Pictures at an Exhibition.[2]
The original paintings were hung at Hammersmith Town Hall, and photographed by the
late Keith Morris, a former graduate with Neal from the Guildford Art school.[3]
His work was also used by other rock bands such as Stone the Crows, Audience, The
Mick Abrahams Band, the Upsetters and numerous reggae bands for Trojan Records.[4]

From 1971, he concentrated on painting full-time, holding many exhibitions until he

met Stefan Knapp in 1978. This proved to be a major turning point in his career
becoming Stefan’s studio assistant and close friend. Stefan’s influence as an
internationally famous enamellist and painter together with his kindly direction
and encouragement laid the basis for all of Neal’s work up to the present.

Although Neal's work bears no resemblance to the scale and symbolism of Stefan’s
work, the studio discipline and long gradations of colour will always be hallmarks
of this unlikely yet highly beneficial meeting. Today he works from his studio near
Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway in south-west Scotland. The theme of peace,
colour and harmony permeates all of his paintings, many of which depict in
watercolour, his specialist subject of the Galloway landscape by moonlight. His
paintings continue to be instantly recognizable and enthusiastically collected and
to date over 5000 limited edition prints have been sold.[1]

In 2012, over 40 years since last working with Keith Emerson, Neal's watercolour
painting "Moonlit Dunes" was used for the cover of Keith's latest CD "Three Fates
Project" with Marc Bonilla, Terje Mikkelsen, The Keith Emerson Band and the
Munchner Rundfunkorchester.