Category: Paintings

In the studio 1-18-2015

Main Street #2 is on the old easel in front of some unfinished paintings. One of the challenges (and pleasures) of Main Street #2 is the large number of figures in the space–14. Although the painting is largish, 40″ x 56,” the figures range from small scale to very small scale. Originally it had even more…

A visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Asian collection

Cleveland Museum of Art's New Atrium

The Cleveland Museum of Art recently rotated its vast Asian collection, which I happily discovered during Friday’s visit. After a Caesar salad in the Atrium cafeteria–‘extra anchovies, please’–I started my weekly ramble in the galleries above the cafeteria where the Asian collection is housed. Major museums, like Cleveland,  rotate parts of their collection all the…

Finished painting: John in Profile

I finished this small painting this morning. It’s another in the series of my young children posing outside with a white lawn chair. I think this is the 3rd or 4th in this series. I have another small one in-hand. I’m thinking about doing this painting in a larger format, say 36″ x 48.”

Finished painting: Black River

I finally got this small painting–21″ x 30″–to a good place. This morning’s session was the 9th. I wanted to do a full figure in a small format, and I wanted to paint green. Are those enough reasons to make a painting? I titled it Black River because the subject (my daughter, Jane) is proudly holding…

In the studio 12/7/14

My homemade palette is prominent in this photo. I painted the cardboard back of a cheap, framed print a neutral brown. The glass is very easy to clean, and the size is just right. The palette has my usual assortment of colors and pre-mixed tones. The cart (one of two I have) that the palette…

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Tom Hudson

I spent the past the several days drawing. Yesterday I started drawing on 2 new canvases: Euclid Avenue (48″ x 60″), and Sunday (42″ x 56″). The day before, I started the 40″ x 50″ Girl in Purple Boots. This furious drawing is, in part, the result of a screw-up. Several days back I started another 42″ x 56″ canvas called Watch. But it was a struggle. The surface wasn’t right–it wasn’t coming together. The next day, hoping that a fresh start would rectify things, was just as bad. Then it dawned on me: I selected the wrong-sized canvas. I was unsuccessfully trying to shoehorn my worked-out design into the wrong size and scale. No wonder it wasn’t coming together.  The design was intended for a 48″ x 60″ canvas. Duh.

I played with redesigning it but didn’t like the results. So I wiped off the drawing and put another ground on the canvas–I didn’t like the surface anyway. Although I really like the design for Watch, I decided to put it aside for awhile, and used the larger canvas for Euclid Avenue instead. I am putting the finishing touches on several other 48″ x 60″ canvases today and Watch will have to wait until those surfaces are ready.