In 2003, Hilary exhibited at "Welsh Artist of the Year" open exhibition at St.David's Hall in Cardiff. In the same year she also showed at the "Swansea Open" which was held at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea. She then went on to show at the "Art Matters Open" at Art Matters in Tenby.

In 1990, some of Bryanstons' abstract water colours were shown in London at Duncan R Miller Fine Arts in Hampstead, together with the abstract painter Bill Gear (since deceased).

She is listed in Frances Spalding's book, '20th Century Painters and Sculptors, Dictionary of British Art', published by the Antique Collectors Club in 1990.

She has belonged to many professional artists groups over the years namely, Birmingham Artists Group (BAG), Artists in Public, Birmingham Artists Trust (BAT), Swansea Arts Forum, Sculpture Cymru and a locally formed artist group, The Flame Bearers.

She has survived as an artist by teaching painting, ceramics and woodcarving to adults on a sessional basis with the Lifelong Learning Service, The W.E.A. and Swansea University (D.A.C.E.).

She works from her studio where she lives, in the mountains north of Pontardawe in the Swansea Valley.

ARTIST STATEMENT
The roots of my direction as an artist originate from my early childhood. I was fortunate enough to have the encouragement of my parents to study their collection of art books. I was riveted by the paintings of Paul Klee, Mondrian, Dufy, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Bosch, Bruegel, Velazquez and many many more. I was too young to understand the text, yet the paintings fascinated me profoundly.

I also have vivid childhood memories of being taken to modern sculpture exhibitions where I saw the work of Lyn Chadwick. I may only have been nine years old.

To underpin this rich visual diet, we also saw a great deal of art first hand, when we went to visit my grandmother, who lived in the South of France. We saw work by the artists who lived down there...Miro, Matisse, Leger, Picasso...and later Giacometti at the Fondation Meaght, near St Paul de Vence.

Various external stimuli influence my images. I play harmonica. Amongst other things, this involves the control of breath. I also practice Hatha Yoga breathing exercises and meditation. I walk in the mountains where I live, in a remote cottage on the side of a mountain near the Swansea Valley. I walk on the beaches and coastline of Gower.

Sometimes, I work from life, painting portraits or the 'real', landscape. I carve stone and work in clay. This gives me a better understanding of the third dimension and an awareness of gravity, mass and contour.

I have the ability to 'channel' images. I construct a kind of 'check point' for these 'received' ideas.

I see myself primarily as a painter of the imagination, sustained on a diet of the local spectacular landscape.