Explore the Mel Hills Exhibition “Peak Experiences“

Step into a world of misty peaks, glinting waterfalls and alpine wildflowers as Mel Hills unveils her long-awaited mountain celebration series.

Inspired by Tasmania’s iconic wilderness these breathtaking paintings invite you on the ultimate no-scrub, no-pack bushwalk.

This is nature reimagined in oil – bold, delicate, and full of wonder. Join Mel in the gallery, brush in hand, and experience the magic of mountains through the poetry of paint.

An Exhibition to Delight

After many, many years of saying “I’ll get to that mountain series one day,” I’ve finally gone and done it. Started it, at least.

What followed was a tumble into joy – a wild, paint-splattered journey into the heart of Tasmania’s mountain wilderness.

This exhibition is the first of what I hope will be many works celebrating those glorious, wind-bitten, mist-wrapped, heart-expanding places that so often leave us happily breathless and slightly off track.

So come along. No gaiters required.

A Lightweight Bushwalk

This is the ultimate lightweight bushwalk. Guaranteed no scrub. Fitness level? Entirely optional.

Leave the heavy pack behind, and let your imagination take the weight.

Wander into yawning chasms, glittering waterfalls, sunlit ridgelines, and places where the cliffs turn blue in the afternoon haze. You might even feel the chill of a mountain tarn, where golden light brushes the peaks and a cold wind whispers secrets through the rocks.

An Exhibition Ode

This is my ode to the Tasmanian high country – its sweeping drama, its quiet beauty, and the tiny alpine plants that cling to impossible ledges, flowering like they don’t know they shouldn’t.

These paintings have been bubbling away in my sketchbooks, journals and imagination for years.

Sources of Inspiration

They’re inspired not only by the places I’ve wandered through (and occasionally gotten lost in), but also by the great Tasmanian photographers who’ve long celebrated these landscapes – Dombrovski, Truchanas, and others who captured the mist and majesty so powerfully on film.

Each piece in this show is painted in oils on triple-primed board and framed by hand in timber.

An Exhibition of Detail

I’ve researched them in detail – plant lists, terrain, light direction, stories from the track – and many are accompanied by working folios, with sketches, notes and ideas.

If you enjoy seeing the process as much as the final product, you’re in for a treat.

What You’ll Find at the Exhibition

You’ll find waterfalls plunging into stillness, wildflowers studding the foreground like bright jewels, and the deep blues and greys of layered ranges receding into cloud.

And yes – there’s a touch of creative licence here and there. This is mountain truth through a poetic lens.

There’s full interpretation with every painting, both displayed and attached to the back – just in case you want to get nerdy after you hang one on your wall.

And everything’s ready to go, with hanging wires and D-rings attached.

See You There!

I’ll be in the gallery each day, probably wielding a brush, definitely up for a yarn.

Happy to be heckled, gently quizzed about track conditions, or distracted with stories of your own wild wanderings.

Come say hello – or just sit quietly and soak in the views.

So if you’re needing a breath of fresh air without packing the thermals, this is your invitation. Wander through wild country, led by paint and story.

Let the light-drenched cliffs and alpine tarns whisper something to you. Perhaps you’ll find your compass. Or perhaps, like me, you’ll be content to lose it completely – and just keep exploring.

About the Artist

Hello, I’m Mel Hills, a Tasmanian artist with a love for the natural world.

Growing up on the spectacular East Coast of Tasmania, I developed a fascination for all forms of wildlife, and early on, an obsessive interest in birds.

Led by my fascination with wildlife, I studied Zoology at the University of Tasmania. Followed by a Graduate Diploma in Wildlife and Scientific Illustration from the University of Newcastle.

While a need to explore, discover and understand led me to link studies in both art and science, it is the bringing together of the two that gives me most pleasure.

For me, there is no boundary between the two disciplines; both require observation, analysis and experimentation. They’re very complimentary.

I’m just a kid who likes to say “hey, look at how cool THIS is” all the time.

I’m so lucky! The entire process is so much fun, exploring, observing, problem solving; just the thought of picking up a paint brush makes me want to jig!

My hope is that my love for the natural world shines through my work, irrespective of the medium, subject or location.

I hope that you too, find inspiration and delight as you explore my work.

Find Mel’s work on her website on Facebook and Instagram as well as on Redbubble and Bluethumb.