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If you’re painting you’re happy!
So here’s to making you happy!

framed
HILARY PAGE framed by Lewis Armstrong Portrait & Figure Workshop Lubbock Texas October 2003: During the final critique of self portraits, I photographed each participant next to her/his painting which I framed in the mat shown. With 25 in the workshop this was quite a performance. At the end, in a lighthearted moment, my friend Lewis matched my effort by framing me!
I’m the author of three art instruction books published by Watson-Guptill Publications, New York. The titles are
Watercolor Right from the Start, 1992
Color Right from the Start, 1994
Hilary Page’s Guide to Watercolor Paints, 1996 with continual on-line updates. The Guide has become an icon in the field.
Portraits Right from the Start, 2016. (Self-published.)

I’m  the author of sixty+ magazine articles published in “The Artist” UK, and in American Artist Watercolor issues. These include my ground-breaking article on “Visual Complements”. I have produced seven art instruction DVD/videos including a DVD on Portrait Painting entitled, “A Portrait of Clint”. I painted medical, dental illustrations for a professor at the University of Houston School of Dentistry.

Originally from England, I came to the USA in 1966, alone and straight out of Drama school in London to teach elementary school in Indianapolis. My portfolio of costume and stage designs won me a job at a commercial art  studio in Indianapolis. I also attended evening classes in figure drawing at the John Herron School Art Institute,(Indiana University). Later I taught elementary school in New York City. After a short hiatus for marriage and children, I returned to my artwork.

In Houston, Texas I became known for my acrylic murals in homes and businesses and was featured on several television shows in this regard. I started teaching watercolor painting in Houston, Texas, in the early 1980s, and later throughout the USA, in England, France, Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas. I also also jury-ed art exhibitions. I served as Administrative Director for the Watercolor Art Society-Houston where I founded and ran the model group in 1978 that is still flourishing today. As artist/owner, I ran Town and Country Gallery, Houston from 1981-1996. There I held exhibitions, sold my artwork and the artwork of a group of artists.

I have lived with my husband (also from England) since 1971; and with the family now grown and grand kids fast growing, I spend my time writing, painting, and gardening etc.!

 
A bit about my contributions to the art world:
  1. I coined the name Visual Complements to differentiate between visual and mixing complementary color pairs. See article Visual Complements An updated article is to be published in the Artist UK in 2025.
2. I was the one who brought to light the defects of Aureolin (lemon) PY40:  My lightfastness research for my book “Hilary Page’s Guide to Watercolor Paint” showed that Aureolin PY40 is a defective paint, contrary to contemporaneous literature and the ASTM rating. The chief chemists of two major paint companies corroborated my finding. ASTM stands for American Society for Testing and Materials. It’s an international organization that develops voluntary consensus standards for a wide range of industries including pigments used in artists’ paints. 
 
3. I developed a design to display Reflectance Curves that is of practical use to artists when mixing colors.
See article Reflectance Curves
 
 
4. While working on the “Art Anatomy” chapter of my forthcoming book “Portrait and Figure Right from the Start”, I developed a color-coded muscle recognition system. This is to help artists and medical students memorize each muscle’s position, appearance and function. MORE TO FOLLOW ON THIS WORK IN PROGRESS. 
 
 
Enjoy  my painting while traveling article and get some inspiration and tips for your own trips. And be entertained by my sometimes crazy adventures in Egypt, Peru, Mexico, China and more! The original article was published in the Artist Magazine February 2024.
 
 
My article of July 2024 in the Artist Magazine reviews the new Michael Harding Watercolours in which I describe how I test paints including testing for lightfastness and paint characteristics – Just as I did when testing the 2,000 watercolor paints for Hilary Page’s Guide to Watercolor Paints and updates. The cover of the July 2024 magazine is a pink flamingo so it’s easy to spot. It’s available at Barnes and Noble in the USA. I’ll be putting the article on this website in a month or so.