“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”
If Janet Hill’s paintings were a diary, they would tell a tale of waking up with the sun to black coffee and a blueberry muffin, donning a nautically-inspired pleated skirt and deciding on a pair of beautifully embellished heels, arranging bouquets in a favourite vase before dashing out the door, for a bicycle ride across town to a favourite patisserie to fetch delectable desserts for an afternoon tea party . . .
Hill, an oil painter who works from her in-house studio in Stratford, Ontario, seeks to find the glamour in her surroundings. Her paintings, displayed in private collections throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia,create a longing for lazy Sundays, picnics and high tea, all while dressed in duchesse satin gowns and perfect pearls, and carrying Hermès Kelly handbags, of course!
The inspiration for her paintings, filled with the sweet nostalgia of times gone by, of timeless fashion and elegant pastimes, comes from many different places, including films, both classic and modern, and so, this week, we invite her to share with us her:
{top five favourite films:}
1. Gone With The Wind (1939) | watch the trailer
I love a strong female lead, particularly if she is vain and very strong willed. I think that there’s a little bit of Scarlett in every one of my portrait paintings.
2. Henry & June (1990) | watch the trailer
Bohemian Paris in the 1930’s. It’s my visual hunting ground for ideas and images that I return to over and over again.
3. Bell Book and Candle (1958) | watch the trailer
This movie has those fabulous vibrant 1950’s colours and interiors. It’s a little silly and strange and Kim Novak is to me what Audrey Hepburn is to a lot of women.
4. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008) | watch the trailer
I was prepared to be annoyed by this film, mainly because of Brad Pitt as the shrunken little man, but instead I was charmed by it. I love the cinematography and the magic realism element. It really captures life as a magical and beautiful place which is something that I try to portray in my work.
5. No Country For Old Men (2007) | watch the trailer
I have a bit of a dark side and this movie really satisfies it. Explaining how it influences me is a little difficult. I love the austerity, the isolation, and the unpredictable nature of the film. I paint a lot of empty rooms and a lot of people by themselves. I really enjoy solitude and I think there’s an element of loneliness (albeit a happy kind of alone-ness) in many of my paintings.
