ABOUT

My New Book.  "A Sound Like Rain' is now available in its first Limited Edition. Go to my Store at www.donhill.au  to Purchase for only $37 AUD Free Shipping within Australia 








Don Hill is a Multi Disciplinary Practice focusing primarily on Environmental outcomes and previous living conditions.  Painting, Photography, Sculpture and Writing are the main features of his practice and his activism has been described as Accidental and Passive with the works being decorated and embellished with colour and gold. 
For more content and information of what's new.go to his new site at:

www.donhill.au 



Don's Art is Visually Descriptive and he uses a defined palette combining raw and found materials which includes bamboo and wood to bring to light particular episodes in his life and many travels.
He is Australian based and a Creative Director.
Over the past decade Don has been developing his writing skills and has written his new novel Kathmandu Taxi (Copyright) 2024.
From early childhood he has had a love of Art and been involved with many notables and projects over this time in Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan and Thailand.
Don is also writing a new story concurrent with a showing of works with the title "A Sound Like Rain".
With his latest writings he would like to see it published in multiple languages. 

A Sound Like Rain. 2024 ISBN979-8-89660-983-4  Yella-Hell. Digital Sketch and Limited Edition Print. 62 x 32.5 cm on archival paper.  A Sound Like Rain 2024

My Paint Box sat idle on the sideboard cupboard as I could not bring myself to paint anything anymore at present. My energy was spent and even though I had not created many works this time these were enough to progress to the next stage whatever that was and whenever it would happen.

The energy of the rainforest was still present in my mind and I had seen many things some good and some not so good.

That adventure had come to an end for the time being. I had an urge to go diving again in the Coral Sea in the underwater rainforest so I started to get my BCD and Regs ready for that next step into the Abyss. Wall dives on the edge of the Shelf held some promise as the vis was always 30 metres plus sometimes 70 metres.

Encounters here were usually big and tangible with the likely hood that a tiger might drift up from the depths to investigate who came splashing into their domain.


"Pool' Study Number One. Oil and Acrylic paint with Gold Leaf on board.


"Pool' Study Number Two. Oil and Acrylic paint with Gold Leaf on board.

The turbulence of sound, running, crashing water and the rustle of the leaf completes the poetry of noise. A noise that only Nature can make.
Once out of the blue the Paradise Kingfisher swoops down to the lower canopy with it's white tail dipping earthward the fluttering wings prods the leaves into a rhythmic almost operatic movement. Leaning forward there were strange sounds in the forest and also footprints in the mud.
Footprints in the Mud

"Depth of Presence. Oil and Acrylic paint with Gold Leaf on board.



"Moonlit figure at the Boulders' Gold and Silver Leaf, Oil and Acrylic paint on box board stretcher 81 x 81cm 2024 From a Sound Like Rain.

The Sun sank behind the trees at the West of the beach as Starfish made tracks and circles in the sand.



Kathmandu Taxi Due for release early 2025
Extract from "Kathmandu Taxi'  ISBN 979-8-89443-911-2 



Release 2025 (Fiction) But is it True?
All text and Images are copyright and the property of Don Hill. No text or images may be copied or used without the express permission of Don Hill. Copyright 2024.
Any references to people living or deceased is only coincidental.


Yesterdays Tomorrow

The Northern Winter had arrived and thoughts had turned
to Yak Butter Tea and whirling snowdrifts.
An idea had crossed Owen's mind as he was thinking of
absolutely nothing.
The thought of tramping through deep snow after leaving
Jomsom and heading further North to Loh Manthang.
At least he would have apples to nourish him on this, an
unpredictable journey.
He would be following the ancient traders from India
that had plied this trail for years to reach the Silk Route
to China.
Although Mustang was considered to be a dry region it would still
snow and the minus temperatures could not be underestimated
in it’s deadly form although even in blizzard conditions
there was a Nepal Ice, Everest Lager or some Raksi at the
end of the road which was indeed some comfort.
Owen's friends suggested that he travel to Lukla and hike
or take a mountain bike to base camp but he knew
it would look very crowded as opposed to where he
wanted to head to this time.
It was like the Queen Street Mall on any morning except
for the piles of rubbish that had been left behind by
locals and visitors alike.
Even though the attitude on this topic had changed and there
was as concerted effort to clean up the mess so to speak non
biodegradable items were still a problem.
Then came visions of Brian from Esk near Ipswich in Queensland
calling out for help as he held on for dear life at the edge of
the West Ridge of Everest and was eventually swept off.
It was as if his ghost was still there encouraging visitors
to join him at the bottom of a 2000 metre drop off
frozen in the snow and ice.
It is believed that Brian had died on his 28th Birthday in October
1984 while he was searching for his colleague Craig
on that Ridge.
This was not necessarily the case as there had been unconfirmed
sightings and reports of Brian in Lhasa in Tibet.
Some of the reported sightings held photographic evidence that
he was still alive.
Although a little blurry.
If this was the case why hadn’t he travelled back to Australia to
see and let his family know he was still on mother Earth.
The story was that he had been pretty banged up from his fall
but had got entangled in an avalanche and landed in soft snow
at the bottom of the drop, but barely survived.
A group of travelling monks had found him and brought him
back from the brink of death back into the land of the living.
Then the Chinese government had declared him an unknown
alien and kept him at their leisure in prison in Lhasa for couple
of years until they decided he was a bit weird because of the
exposure he had and then let him go into the local community on
his own volution.




The Art of Don Hill Contemporary Works 2002 to 2006.  An Overview.



"A Survival Story’ (Yuliana Kusumastuti 2022)

"The road that led me to Nudgee Beach was totally accidental and unexpected as well as never planned. This was an unwelcome journey that became the ending of one and the beginning of new one that eventually led to fresher things but at that time doubt and uneasiness had set in" - Don Hill 2022

I parked my car early one morning by Nudgee beach, walking barefoot I could feel the grass and then the grey sand while chirping birds followed me all the way.This was my first time in the area, but it didn't take long for me to notice the peaceful and serene qualities of the place.Nudgee beach is a place that has great meaning for him, as from this place more than two decades ago, he found himself loving art, creating art and to this day continues to explore ideas and his craft.
Nudgee beach therefore becomes the starting point for my own explorations to understand the ideas of Don’s artworks.
As I continued walking on the beach, I began to think about how my experience of a peaceful beach can mean something so different to his and thought perhaps his series exploring bamboo could provide some insight to his past, the beginning of fresh starts, ideas and his journey.
I had the opportunity to meet him in person a year ago in 2021 at the exhibition "Tide Line "in Tenerife, Brisbane.
He and environmentalist artist John Dahlsen collaborated in an elegant exhibition which included a book.
John Dahlsen exhibited his recent art and research of waste material from the beach alongside Don displaying a set of photographic limited edition prints observing the local environment at Nudgee Beach and Bruce Bay in New Zealand.
A point. A beginning.

                                      The Art of Don Hill Contemporary Works 2002 to 2006.  The Desert Beach Works 

For Don the beach and its environmental qualities provided him both the starting point of his conceptual explorations and oftentimes the medium to bring his ideas to life as he collected and incorporated discarded items found on the shore like timber, wooden pallets and vinyl to his art.
Hills interest in the relationship between nature and human interaction in his artworks exploring how humans often determine the life and growth of nature and how the life of organic materials have the opportunity to be recycled and renewed. This is how his interest in Bamboo started and continues today.
He would drive to locations where he knew there were clumps of growing bamboo and wait for the council harvest to eventuate, with council or rather human intervention determining the life cycle of nature under the guise of maintenance to control the inherent rapid growth of this substance. The bamboo he would collect during these harvests mainly consisted of bamboo of the decorative yellow and green streaked variety. Rather than allowing council to dispose of the bamboo Don Hill through his art would recycle and provide it with new life.
I particularly enjoy his works on bamboo, "Night at the Beach', "Sucking Neptune" and "Night Crawl". Those pieces expressing joyful and bold colours. "Night at the Beach", dominated by bright red, and "Sucking Neptune" and "Night
Crawl", are expressing bold fluorescent and bright yellow colours. Using gold leaf and acrylic paint, the works he has created between 2005-2006 are powerful. The composition of his works during this time are 'contented', yet at the same time one can feel the irregular dimensions of bamboo, the roughness of their cut and their arrangement hiding the real story which is
namely the process Don Hill explored in creating the finished composition.
The Bamboo plant is a unique plant, known for its qualities of structural strength while being flexible, a durable plant surviving the wind and bad weather yet easy to grow. For Hill, it's a challenge to work on a hard substrate on which to apply acrylic paint and gold leaf, becoming the main medium. All of the works of this time rely on a spontaneity and lack of thought about composition. This is the way he responds to the strength and durability in Bamboo to 'heal' his negative energy. His intuition keeps his mind free when making art. His intuitions drive where or how to place pieces or paint to achieve regulated design and acceptance. This randomness is apparent in most if not all the works. If there is such a formula to his intuitive process it would be a composition formula that follows a guiding light of the subconscious will.
I asked Don the question of what his decisions or thought process is when incorporating colour into his work.
He states that colour is an individual thing and he used it to hide some of the desperate times that happened on the journey that the bamboo pieces depict.
Leaving some areas of unpainted bare bamboo to show through as a background.
Furthermore, he explained that he was exposed to and inspired by the impressionists works when he lived in Europe.
When I look at Hill's bamboo art, I often perceive themes of memory, the journey and loneliness, when I asked him if these themes are present in the pieces his response followed.



About the Art of Don Hill 

The works described are organic manifestations and an extension of himself taken from nature with an undercurrent of visual beauty using gold leaf and colour to remind the viewer that there is still beauty in the world regardless of the times we live in.
He states that the practice of using bamboo was an accident in waiting and he cannot explain why it came about but it did.
"It was in front of me as I awoke from my dreaming'.
This happened one early morning after a night of no result with non objective nonsense.
The "Process' stands apart and may seem random, careless and reckless but is also enjoyable as he stumbles and wanders on, still on the verge of creating something new.The Art of Don Hill is now available. 













A time when Gold Leaf ruled the Day and Night


The Art of Don Hill Contemporary Works 2002 to 2006.  Each piece became an individual Element in the Finished Art.

The Art of Don Hill Contemporary Works 2002 to 2006.  Another Late Night Epiphany had arrived. 


The Art of Don Hill Contemporary Works 2002 to 2006. "Yin Yang Mountain Top' Siddhartha's Land 




"Tide Line'  Don Hill and John Dahlsen an Overview 


Since then my arrival at Nudgee has become a morph of molten new experience with different titles and shots erupting from a new camera as well as more images taken with my battered old Fuji.Nudgee presents a Non Objective pallette which on a first encounter is hard to deal with and decipher.
A hieroglyphic composition or exquisite Pollock or Fairweather in disguise.
Which way should the subject be approached, contemplated, created, completed and presented.
This makes the subject matter difficult to deal with as well as progress on as an individual. It was abstraction at the very start and in some ways it still is even with the finished art. There had never been an attempt to set out to make definitive detailed pieces, only definitive art to encourage an emotive response from the audience.
The result is found in the following with most photos taken in the early morning at low tide with minimal interference and virtually no editing.



"Dancing with Matisse' Digital Print on Archival Paper signed and numbered 61 x 33 cm