Hills began his artistic career almost 50 years ago in Washington DC. He first studied under Dean Stambaugh, an American landscape luminist artist who exhibited the Corcoran and Philadelphia Museum of Art.
He graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1983 earning a bachelor's degree in Visual Studies. He was awarded the Adelbert Ames Fine Art Award for excellence in studio work and art history. At Dartmouth, he studied painting under Esme Thompson and wood sculpture under Fumio Yoshimura. He also studied watercolor at the Art Students League in New York City.
His recent work blends his traditional training in landscape, portraiture and collage with cubist influence and abstract expressionism. He splits his time between Woodside California and Cameron, Montana. His work is inspired by a love of nature and the pleasures of a life spent outdoors. His work is to capture the energy of the majestic coast and golden hills of California, as well as the rugged beauty of Madison County, Montana and the wonders of the Yellowstone region.