Diana Hillman - painting and growing peonies out in the hills

Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD

At this time of year, Diana Hillman might be best known for her peony farm. 

She told the Citizen, “A friend of mine who is crazy about peonies and who said to me, ‘You have a lot of land here. Why don't you use some of it for peonies?'

“So, we ploughed up a field and planted 1200 peonies. I don't think that field was ploughed up for 100 years.

“I tend to get carried by whatever I do. Now it's an addiction. Every time I see a new peony, I have to have it. The peonies take a while to develop.” 

Ms. Hillman is a fine painter as well. So, we talked about her history before and since she has lived in this Headwaters area. 

“I come from Montreal originally,” she said. “I came here in 1970; I was married and we bought a property near Erin. Six years later, we moved here to Caledon. To people in Erin, it was a whole other world. This was 1981 but I have always been painting.

Painting professionally – that is, selling my paintings – Ms. Hillman went back to it in 2009. She started by becoming a member of Headwaters Arts. Signe [Ball, founder and owner of In the Hills magazine] and  founded the juried art show, along with others. Diana thought if there was a centred art show at the Dufferin County Museum and Archives (DCMA, now the Museum of Dufferin -MOD) it would bring more attention to individual artists.

“I went back to oil painting about 10 years ago and discovered it worked a lot better than acrylics for me. Better because the basic is acrylic dries faster than oil. For me, I like to move it around. The acrylic dries too quickly and if you don't like what you've done you have to over paint it. But the whole section that you have to over paint changes.

“I paint mainly with oil on wood panel or paper, special paper for oil. I like a smooth finish to my paintings. I take a great big soft brush and smooth the whole thing out and sometimes, it gives a sort of soft touch. 

“I painted a tree with every leaf detailed and I thought, I don't like this painting. So, I took to it with a cloth and – aha - I liked it much better.

“Now I usually smooth it down with a big soft brush.” 

So, we joined her on her website : DianaHillman.com, where there is a very simple exhibit of some of her paintings, grouped under certain headings. Going there gave Ms. Hillman the opportunity to talk about her progression as an artist. 

Shown under the heading “Flight Series” is her Winter Island, which she explained. “is Dorval Island where I grew up. It was fun painting that.”

Flight # 1 out West revealed, “I went to Winnipeg and then did series of what I call patch work paintings from how the fields look out west.” 

She commented about her paintings selling, “People like the landscapes. Actually, it really is a matter, as a curator once said to me. ‘Sales doesn't mean they're any good.'

“I was part of the juried show, Artist Project, which is run by the people who run the One of a Kind Show. There were 300 artists.

“The Artist Project is at least original art. I only took the flight series down there and they did reasonably well. I cover my costs and I'm lucky enough to paint what I want to paint. I drive home and if I see something that interests me, I grab a shot of it.”

The show, staged in February of this year, “It was really gruelling. I had three colds in a row and I can't really tell if I was really tired because I was unwell.”

She was very pleased to tell us, “I was invited to have a piece in the Society of Canadian Artists show at Todmorden Mills Gallery on Pottery Road in Toronto. There's a theatre there too.

“Other juried shows are in Quest Gallery in Midland and the Art Gallery of Mississauga. I have been lucky enough to get a painting in every time I've applied.”

Briefly, “I thought I was moving into abstract – my first road works paintings were very simple in form and I thought, oh that's were I going, but, instead, I went to where the paintings were taking me.”

She said, “I have a friend who was a landscape painter and she moved on to the abstract painting but I stayed where I was. 

“I sprained my ankle once, when I was committed to doing an open house. I couldn't walk. So, I started looking a former photographs of mine and looking at them on my computer and thought, I remember that and the colour. It worked for me. I have the most painted computer. I can only paint from my own photos. My daughter is a photographer and she sends me photos but I wasn't there so I can't paint it. I need to know the colours from being on the spot and the know the feeling there.” 

We returned to the subject of the peonies: “Peonies business has taken on a bit of a life of its own. Ideally, I would paint all winter and farm peonies during the summer. It's not a cut flower business. We only sell the cut roots.

“We have 150 varieties. Right now, we're importing them and making some of the root stock that I'm planting available to sell. Because we have this start, there's a lot of work keeping up with the weeding. 

“I've got some really great advice. The people at Mount Wolf Farm have taught me a lot on how to become a farmer. It's nice to be able to use the property for something interesting .”

For the future, “The peonies is rolling on its own and will be self sufficient. How many varieties can you have? Apparently quite a lot. I get up in the morning and think, let's see what's happening in the world of peonies.

“I feel the same way in the world of art. Once the peonies get going, it should be easier. I've learned more about peonies than I thought there was to know. The Canadian Peony Society has been very helpful.”

There are problems with inviting the “public” to a peony farm: “We went to a peony festival in Oshawa and it was a zoo. People were trampling peonies to take pictures of themselves with the flowers. There's a peony farm in California that was ruined on Instagram by people wanting to post pictures of themselves.”

She reflected, combining her passions, “It would be fun to paint an old Dutch style of the flowers with their big blooms.”

She said, “My plan is to stay interested enough to get up in the morning.”