Category: Shop Talk

In the studio 7/13/2014

As usual, here is a photo of recent unfinished work. I finished the background of Dinner in Trenton (large painting–44″ x 56″) yesterday. This morning I worked on Boat Hook (smaller painting. I continued working on the drawing for another large canvas–44″ x 60″.  I also stretched another 44″ x 60″ canvas and put the…

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Tom Hudson

I started a new cycle of paintings yesterday.  All paintings are 44″ x 60″. The only thing, really,that the paintings have in common is their size. It’s convent to buy stretchers in bulk. I build the stretchers by hand for paintings larger than 5′ x 6′. The first painting in the cycle isl in the drawing stage. It will take several more days to finish the drawing.

New easel

I am extremely happy with my new easel. It’s wider than my old workhorse easel and the mast expands higher, which means it can accommodate much larger paintings.  For as big as it is, it moves easily on its solid rollers.  There are stops next to each roller to keep it in place. It can…

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Tom Hudson

To address my acute storage problem, I decided to convert our two-car garage into a full-time studio. Unlike my current studio, the garage has a high ceiling, which means I can work more easily on large-format paintings. Besides, I already use the garage to stretch and prepare canvases.

In order to re-purpose the garage, we are installing a 10′ x 12′ shed in the backyard. We will move the camping, boating, and garden equipment–like the lawn tractor–into the shed. The garage doesn’t have north-facing windows but it does have good light. We will install baseboard heat like we did in my last studio in New Jersey.

So, after mid-August I will have my current studio with its bank of north-facing windows and the high-ceiling studio for big paintings.

In the studio 6/22/2014

Besides finishing The Call, I recently worked on the paintings in this photo. Today’s session was the second painting session for the one on the right, Heated Discussion (the drawing took several sessions). The painting in the upper-left, Explain (or maybe just Plain–I haven’t decided) is almost done. I am hoping that one more session will…

In the studio 6/15/2104

After getting back from my short trip to New York city last night, I was back in the studio at 5:00 A.M. I couldn’t wait to get back to work. Graduation Day is still in the under-painting stage. This morning I worked on the girl in the foreground, the right-hand background, and the woman in…

Starting a new painting

Here is the beginning of a new painting. After fixing the pencil drawing with ink, I covered the surface with broad color areas. The goal of this initial layer is to cover the entire surface with local colors. The drawing took several days but I did the laying-in in a single day. Next, I’ll rework the entire surface strengthening…