Brandon Hillis hasn’t invented a time machine, but he’s captured a startling likeness of one on canvas.
Hillis recently completed a painting of the “Back to the Future” cast, complete with DeLorean time machine. The painting, which he estimates took some 70 hours to complete, will be donated for an auction to be held at Dancing With Our Stars, a cancer fundraiser set for Nov. 4 at Park Theater.
The project was personal as Hillis has lost two family members to cancer.
“Doing this was like my own time machine because I got to think about the time I spent with my aunt and my grandfather,” said Hillis. “It didn’t take me back to 1955, but every hammered nail and brush stroke took me back to birthdays, holidays, and even some random days where I was with the ones I’ve lost to cancer.”
He said his grandfather lost his fight with mouth cancer in 2008. His aunt died of cancer of the throat, lungs and brain in 2015. Brandon also has a grandmother, Kaye Hillis, who is a breast cancer survivor and has been cancer free for 16 years.
The “Back to the Future” painting is 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall. “It’s like a movie sign you would see in a cinema,” said Brandon.
He did all of the work himself, which includes making the wooden frame.
The characters look amazingly similar to the ones from the original “Back to the Future,” so much so, avid fans of the movie can tell which scene they are painted from.
Dancing With Our Stars is a cancer fundraiser where couples, or groups, show their moves on stage in hopes of winning one of the coveted disco ball trophies. Contestants are still being accepted. If interested, call event organizer Elaine Lawson at 581-6113.