Local Artist Captures the Essence of Dunedin in New Book

Bill Renc at the  has always had a knack for capturing the true spirit of the area in his dazzlingly colorful paintings. 

His work has been featured in numerous museums and collections throughout the state, and he has been commissioned to produce artwork for civic events, charities and even billboards. 

But other than a book of bird portraits he collaborated on with another artist nearly two decades ago, Renc had never put his unique works into a single, signature collection, until now. 

"Painting the Town and the Beaches," Renc’s coffee table book containing 153 paintings and drawings of scenic Dunedin landscapes and wildlife, was released at the end of January and serves as an illustrated guide to the area he has called home for decades. 

“Last April or May, I thought it might be a good thing to work up. I was sitting at dinner and I told (wife) Linda, 'I’m going to write a book',” Renc recalled.

“Some years there’s a big project I have to work on, but last year I didn’t have anything, so I decided I’m not going to sit here all summer and do nothing. Two days later I was at the snapping pictures for the first paintings.”

For a tome so rich in content and detail, producing the 128-page collection went surprisingly smooth, he said. 

Renc worked out how many pages it would be with Linda, who had previous experience with bookbinding, then used index cards with sketches on them to lay out the images he wanted to include in the book. 

He elected to use roughly 60 of his existing paintings in the book, leaving nearly 100 that he needed to create. 

After taking photographs of the settings, landscapes and wildlife to use as a frame of reference, Renc, who has been an artist since his childhood days growing up in Pompano Beach, worked on the pieces as often as he could, most right inside his Main Street gallery. 

“Luckily, last summer was real slow. Sometimes I would have 2-3 uninterrupted hours to work on it,” he said.

“I got some suggestions from people who would come in the gallery,” he said. “There are a few things in there that were indirectly suggested by gallery visitors.” 

The book was sent to a local printer in November before being shipped to the binder in Nashville. Three weeks later, 2,000 copies of the finished product were delivered to Renc on four pallets. 

The result is a gorgeous, case-bound book, filled with indelible images of Dunedin with bright colors that seem to pop off the high-quality paperstock.

Many of the original works hang in the gallery, but they are selling fast on the heels of the book’s debut. Renc estimates he has sold about 20 of the originals so far.

Renc, who has run the art gallery with his wife in downtown Dunedin since 1995, views the book as a way for visitors — and residents — to see a side of Dunedin they might not be familiar with. 

“It would have been very easy to turn this into commercial guide featuring restaurants and night spots, but I wanted to put things in here that that the casual visitor wouldn’t see.” 

“I wanted to show them parts of the area that I love.” 

Gotta Have It?

"Painting the Town and the Beaches" is available at the Painted Fish Gallery, the , and the  for $45.

Renc will be singing copies of the book at his gallery during the Taste of Dunedin on March 25 (1 to 4 p.m.).