Meet Mel Hills and Share in Her Joy
In this Q&A Artist Profile we get to meet wildlife and landscape artist Mel Hills and explore for love for painting.
What mediums do you like to work in?
I enjoy working with many media, but have predominantly been using watercolour.
I love its’ luminosity and unpredictable magic. It is very dramatic and interactive.
I got started with watercolour when I was 15 with a summer school taught by Nigel Lazenby and mentored by Lloyd Rees. What an Honour!
What gives you the most joy about your art?
Creating it!
The entire process of exploration and discovery, inspiration, learning, appreciation, problem solving is deeply satisfying to me.
It is like scratching an itch or having a good meal.
The timeless sense of flow and somehow unconsciously knowing how each mark should be placed is wonderful and mysterious.
Seeing the joy it brings to others and hearing the stories and experiences each piece evokes is also completely addictive and frequently gives fresh insight into things.
What is your studio space like?
Just this year I have built my own designed for purpose studio and am just in the process of moving in and fine tuning how it works for me. Super exciting!
Do you lead any workshops or classes?
I intermittently run classes and workshops. Usually privately run and organised through organisations such as the Colour Circle inc, The Art Society of Tasmania, yoga and art retreats, the local neighbourhood house.
My new creative space may allow me to run some private sessions in the future as well.
What do you wish you knew about having an artistic business before you started?
That it’s possible!!!
I was taught that art is only a back up career. What rubbish.
Collaboration is great fun. Other creatives are FRIENDLY – happy to share and incredibly supportive in general. They are a great source of community, strength, information and fabulously practical.
Keep records – really good ones. With dates and all relevant info of all your artwork. Organised filing systems with good key words in the titles for searching are things of beauty and wonder.
How do you nurture your creative muse, what inspires you?
What nurtures and inspires me are the same – regular time in nature. Meditation, walking, painting, observing.
Breathing deeply of the wonders of the world without the human attention and noise demands.
How does Tasmania inspire you?
I love Tasmania, it has fabulous light. Incredible cloudscapes and landscapes. Freshness, space.
Everywhere I look there is some new wonder. And it changes every few minutes.
What do you think are the best 3 ways to build your artistic skills?
- Practice, practice, practice.
- Try something new! Workshops are a great way to expand and explore.
- Try teaching/demonstrating.
Have FUN !! It’s not that serious.
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.
Artist Profile Stories
I want there to be more arts and crafts in our world, in our communities and in our own lives. Hopefully you’ve found this blog post inspiring and interesting.
So I’m creating, with your help, Art Trails Tasmania, allowing all of us who feel this love to create more of it.
And the Art Trails Tasmania blog is a key part of making this happen, telling the stories of members. It’s about what they have happening with workshops and classes, exhibitions, open studio trails, where to find their outlets, markets, fairs and festivals so you can shop their creations as well as their art and craft retreats.
Also being shared are the supporters of our artists, the galleries, shops, cafes, art societies and groups, places to stay and artist in residencies.
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