William Armstrong started out at 14 painting signs for butcher shops, in Newark, he grew up to become one of the world's leading scenic artists, creating dozens of major movie sets.

An accomplished artist and craftsman, he's worked with Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee and Woody Allen. His ornate movie sets featured in "Architectural Digest" include Meet Joe Black and The Legend of Bagger Vance, which brought the painter to Savannah where he stayed.

Armstrong typically works from pen and ink drawings and pencil sketches, carefully observing the landscape and people around him. A traditional painter, Armstrong refuses to work from photographs. "A photograph is only a mechanical reproduction of what is there," he says. "A painting can convey the emotion of the moment. There's a quality of painting that comes from within."

His paintings are worlds away from high-profile movie sets like "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Scent of A Woman" or "Conspiracy Theory," but they enlighten viewers with their heightened sensitivity to the ineffable beauty of a palm tree at sunset or the spiritual presence of an old wooden dock.

Since settling in Savannah, Armstrong has found himself, like many area artists, fascinated by the ever-changing Lowcountry landscape. "I could tell I would enjoy painting here because of the wealth of weather changes you have," he says. "You have instant storms and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

He enjoys creating watercolors on location, in the plein-air tradition, painting a shell-pink and pale-lilac sky over the marsh at sunset or celebrating the view across the river at Bonaventure Cemetery. Inspired by John Singer Sargent's watercolors, Armstrong explains that he strives for a "looseness with the brush strokes" in his watercolors, which showcase palm trees with spiky fronds and plush, diaphanous clouds.

Armstrong's best work is the product of intense, almost inhuman, attention to his surroundings. "Most people think nothing changes," he says, "but things change all the time -- if you're paying attention." By remaining attuned to his environment, he is able to capture subtle reflections in the water that mark the season or a particular time of day. He uses rich oil paints to intensify the colors of a Beaufort marsh, creating a rosy haze echoed visually in the sky and in the river.

"I love color theory," he says. "I work out all my colors beforehand, based on the light and the time of day." He simultaneously captures the luminescent glow of the marsh in oil paint and the seemingly infinite blue of the sky -- ranging from deep cadmium to pale aquamarine -- in many of his oil paintings.

"It's amazing what people don't see, even when something is right in front of them," he says. "I try to teach people to see the beauty in their own neighborhood and to learn to see the day-to-day changes in the world around us."

Exclusively represented in Charleston by Charles II Art Gallery