W.I.P. Exhibit Opens Friday
When Gregory S. Hill’s newest exhibition opens this Friday, August 15, the 18 paintings he’ll be showing will have a different palette from much of his work. They will evoke a different mood than his patrons are accustomed to feeling. They will be a different style.
G.S. Hill is venturing into impressionism.
More specifically, he is restraining himself to be an impressionist.
“Greg always wanted to be an impressionist painter,” Judi Hill explained, “but he gets started and then keeps going, and the painting becomes the realistic style that we all know.”
For this exhibition, Hill is showing paintings that he would ordinarily consider unfinished. Works in progress. W.I.P.
Greg and Judi Hill got the idea for this exhibition last year, after friend and collector Denise Olson spotted one of Greg’s unfinished paintings hanging in the gallery and bought it on the spot. “She loved it just as it was and wouldn’t let him finish it...the next day island artist Donn Russell stopped by, saw the painting Denise had purchased, and said he thought it was the best painting Greg has ever done.”
Hill admits that he does find it difficult to stop work on a painting. “I’ve always wanted to be more impressionistic in my paintings, but I’ve always worked on them until all the detail was in them…It’s driving me crazy not to finish them...I love the detail...to my eyes there’s always more to be done.”
Wife and partner Judi tries to help: “I’ve been telling him ‘don’t work on it any more...STOP!’” Greg smiles and agrees: “Judi will come in and say ‘don’t touch it!’ But usually I have to put in just a little more.”
And, he adds, if someone comes to the gallery to purchase one of his works in progress and asks him to finish it, he will.
The canvases being shown depict preliminary stages: charcoal, oil wash, and pencil. Each has a different wash, sepia, blue, or orange. And there are scenes never seen before in a G.S. Hill painting, including two views of Steps Beach that in the decades he’s been on Nantucket he has never painted.
”It’s a whole new concept for me: every year I’ve said I’m going to be more impressionistic. This might be what I’m looking for ... it might be the start of something new and exciting...next year’s summer show might be called ‘Impressionism’.”
He may be changing his style, but G.S. HIll is still a master of capturing the look, the mood, and the essence of Nantucket.
Works in Progress opens with an artist reception on Friday, August 15 from 6 pm to 8 pm at the G.S. Hill Gallery, 40 Straight Wharf. www.GSHill.com
