Tom Hill, born in Texas in 1925, received his artistic training in illustration and graphic design. He is a painter of realistic watercolors based on photographs of Mexican and cowboy scenes and figures, often with enhanced intensity of color. He served as an artist while in the United States Navy. He has also been an artist-reporter for the "Chicago Tribune" newspaper in Illinois. Hill freelanced in commercial art in New York City before moving to Arizona, where he now lives. He is a member of the National Academy of Design, New York City, elected an Associate in 1974, an Academician in 1994.

The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma maintains an archive of recorded interviews with Western artists. An interview with Tom Hill has been included as part of The A. Keith Brodkin Contemporary Western Artists Project, of the Donald C. and Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center, at the Museum.


Source:
http://www.newmastersgallery.com/ArtistsGH/hill.htm
http://www.oldutica.com/tom_hill.html
http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/r_keit.html

Tom Hill is a representational watercolorist of Mexican and cowboy figures, born in Texas and living in Tucson, Arizona.

"A lot of people feel that watercolor is a 'lightweight' medium," he observes, "one that's okay for sketches and studies, but not for major works and one that is not permanent. This misconception is probably the result of having been given, as a child, watercolors to 'play with,' As it is so dynamically done today, however, watercolor painting is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult mediums and one of the most exciting. Properly taken care of, it is one of the most permanent."

"I was always sure I'd be an artist. When I was six, I would lie on the floor and draw on the backs of discarded envelopes. Even now, I remember the pleasure when I put pencil to paper and felt the tactile quality of the graphite rubbing onto the paper."

Raised in California, he was an artist in the Navy, attended the Art Center College of Design in Lost Angeles, was an artist for Universal Studios in Hollywood, and then became a staff artist for the Chicago Sunday Tribune and attended the Art Institute of Chicago. He left Chicago to become an illustrator in New York City.

"I always felt temporarily transplanted in the East," he says, and he moved in Arizona. "As I acquired more experience in drawing and painting, I began to realize that I desired more than just realism in my paintings. I also searched for more than reportorial art for myself. I wanted to be able to make statements in my paintings that would be understood by the viewer, and I wanted my work to have a 'feeling' about it, a soul, if you will."

Hill is a member of the American Watercolor Society and an Associate of the National Academy of Design, was featured in Southwest Art, April 1977, and has written two books on how to paint in watercolor.

Source:

"Contemporary Western Artists", by Peggy and Harold Samuels

A native Californian, Tom Hill was a scholarship student at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. His work today is clearly the result of an interesting and varied early art career. Before moving to Arizona to pursue a full-time career painting, teaching, and writing, he was a U.S. Navy artist while in the military service, a story-board and set design artist at Universal Studios, an artist-reporter for the "Chicago Tribune", and a free-lance illustrator and graphic designer in New York City.

An elected lifetime member of the American Watercolor Society and an academician of the National Academy of Design in New York, Tom Hill has traveled to more than 50 countries, seeking inspiration for his colorful and light-filled watercolors.

His paintings have been shown in museums and galleries across the country including the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Academy of Design, the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, the Gene Autry Museum in Los Angeles and the Tucson Museum of Art.

Hill has authored five best-selling books and a sixth book, titled "Travels with My Paintbox" was recently published. He and his artist wife Barbara live in Tucson, Arizona.