Month: May 2014

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Tom Hudson

The Betty Jane launched for the season. We were late getting her into the water this year but we’re ready to go now.

The Betty Jane launched for the season

The Betty Jane launched for the season

Two unfinished small paintings on the easel

Here are two unfinished small paintings. I enjoy painting the full-length figure in the smaller format. In the portrait the contrast between the dark head and the light sky, seat, and shirt caught my eye. What I like about the homemade glass palette you can see in the photo is that it’s easy to clean. A safety…

In the studio 5/25/14

Here’s work from today and yesterday. Yesterday I finished the under-painting for the smaller work titled Woman on E. 10th Near Tompkins Square. I met the woman during my last visit to New York in November. I was rambling around my old stomping grounds and she was kind enough to let me photograph her. It’s 30″ x…

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Memorial Day.

 

This past year we lost my father-in-law Wayne Kaniper. Every new holiday without him is melancholy (he died in November). I hold faithfully in memory both my brothers–Tim and Keith–along with my father and mother, my grand parents, and many others.

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Tom Hudson
Some people never change. OK, I never change.

I remember one particularly heated conversation about art. I was 19 and preparing for my first trip to New York city. My companion, a musician, and I were walking along a Midwestern city street gesticulating to one another, carried away by the force of our ideas.

I explained that my highest goal was to paint the truth of someone doing something simple, like walking along the street. I told him I couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful, more mysterious, or more fascinating.
I still feel exactly that way!
I am still guided by that same feeling; still riveted by the same mystery.
Anyway, as I was heatedly gesticulating, I walked directly into a lamppost and nearly knocked myself out. It might sound like a prank but I assure you it was not.
My companion was gracious enough not to show any pleasure at my pratfall. I can’t remember much of what he said but he predicted he would join me in New York soon. And he did. I watched him play his own songs at Gerdes Folk City (of blessed memory) the following year.

In the studio 5/18/14

Here is the beginning of a brand new painting. The underpainting was applied in two sessions. The 36″ x 48″ painting is titled Heated Discussion. As usual the pencil drawing was fixed with ink before paint was applied. The underpainting is thin enough to see the drawing through it. The lower painting, The Antique Shop,…

On the easel 5/11/14

Mother’s Day. The weather is perfect. We worked on the boat–The Betty Jane–yesterday and today.  Painting was light this morning but I did get a session in with The Call. First time I’ve worked on it in a little while. I used the last of my old roll of canvas stretching three large ones yesterday. Earlier this…

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Tom Hudson

It’s a beautiful day today. The weather is fine and it’s Mother’s Day.

Kathleen, my darling, it’s been 24 wonderful years. I love you as much now as I did then–more.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mother-in-law Rose. You have always been the mother-in-law every man wants: kind, supportive, and good-hearted.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mother Betty Jane. It’s impossible to believe you’ve been gone 34 years. In my heart you’ve never been gone for a single instant. Not a day goes that I don’t think about you.