Don Hill is a well-known and widely respected impressionist artist who has lived in Whanganui for many years but has recently moved back to Lake Ferry, south of Martinborough in the Wairarapa. He was part of the original 12 artists who set up Fine Arts Whanganui.
"As an impressionist artist, I paint using the direct, or Alla Prima method, which involves working to complete the entire painting 'wet in wet'.
"This achieves a much livelier result."
Don is well known for his ability to paint horses and portray the New Zealand high country. Painting has always been his passion and combined with his interest in the rural lifestyle and horses, he manages to articulate the energy and vibrancy of these animals.
His studies of men on horseback evoke strong feelings of nostalgia for a way of life that is increasingly disappearing.
Also characteristic of Don's work is the wonderful contrast between the creamy surface of the oil paint and the often rugged subject.
He has now been a full time artist for the last 23 years. With his recent move back to his old stomping ground of the South Wairarapa, he is looking forward to painting more of the familiar landscape he grew up in. He says he can see the Kaikoura Ranges from his home.
"I started off in Wairarapa as a 10 year old. I went to school down there and my kids were born in Featherston, so I've probably spent more years in South Wairarapa than anywhere else," says Don. His mother, now 92, and two sisters live in Whanganui.
"I spent most of my painting days in Whanganui." Don says the exhibition is typical Don Hill, but there are quite a few new works exhibited.
"There'll be 20-odd paintings in it, and some big work." Don's large canvases are legendary. "About half of them people won't have seen. I've kept it fairly loose — I don't like them too fussy. Landscapes are what I like and what I do best."
Don does a lot of commissioned work these days and has a loyal following of art lovers who collect his work.
