Donald Hildreth is a direct descendant of Jasper Francis Cropsey, a well-known painter of the 19th Century Hudson River School and co-founder of the American Watercolor Society. Hildreth entered the world of fine art as a novice at the age of fifty and honed his latent innate ability with intensive studies with nationally recognized Master Artists including Steve Huston and Jove Wang. His travel to Western China and the famed Silk Road with Jove Wang in 2006 provided the inspiration for his latest body of work.

Hildreth's paintings were the subject of feature articles in SouthwestArt and Art Of The West magazines in 2003. Museum exhibitions include: "Treasures of the Sierra Nevada", the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County; Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona; Pasadena Museum of California Art; "Water Sights" and "Nature's Palette: Garden Views, Vistas & Fantasies 1880-2005", Pasadena Museum of History. Donald Hildreth is an Artist Member of Oil Painters of America and the California Art Club.