News events exhibits etc
June 9, 2023
This just in
June 8, 2023
Here's a late update on my last post, a painting from Paris in 2022: Christy and I went to the grounds of the Louvre to paint, sticking to the shade and I came up with this:
The Louvre from the Porte des Lions, oil on panel, 11x15 inches
available at Susan Powell Fine Art
August 31, 2022
Back from France, back from Michigan. When we arrived in Paris at 9 AM on August 19, my phone's weather app said the temperature was 104 degrees fahrenheit, pretty warm. A cooler day followed and then we went to Trôo. I painted a few things, none but one of which I've actually taken a photo of, Christy did more and better.
One afternoon's work at the Porte de Calais in Trôo, a poor phone photo. I was painting oil on paper this time, hoping to economize on space and weight
We went to the nearby village of Lavardin, officially one of the plus beau villages de France. Christy was enchanted, and I thought I might as well try out the watercolors I'd brought, setting up (in the shade!) to paint in the opposite direction to which she looked - toward a dry field with cows milling around a few trees.
Christy painting the famous gothic bridge over the Loir
Long account of frustration with my paper skipped, I decided to turn it over and thoroughly wet and then wipe it dry, hoping to remove some of the excess sizing - all watercolor papers now seem to be sized way too much, at least for me - and move down the river a ways and try something else. To my surprise, the wipe-down really helped, almost making the paper - an old favorite, Saunders Waterford - as paintable as it had once routinely been.
I find it helps to try something more complex than simple when I haven't done watercolors in a while, and then to settle in for the long haul to work out the kinks.
Christy, as usual, finished before I did
My kit sprawled over the ground around me - setting up the tripod/table rig that I took the time, money, and effort to fabricate some time ago is a bigger annoyance than just bending over to the ground is, though I risk a bout of what my father used to call "easel back"
The Loir at Lavardin, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
After Trôo, we made our way to Ménerbes in the Luberon valley, Provence - a tiring trip for me, judging by the photo
We found an accessible spot between the road and someone's driveway near a sunflower field with juussst enough shade for the two of us to crowd into
lol
Sunflowers at Ménerbes, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
Then, impelled by the dauntless Christy, we drove a couple hours south to Cassis in order to see the Mediterranean sea. I grumbled but in fact it was great fun, plus we painted
View of Cap Caillat, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
The weather was a little more brisk in Cassis but we still chose a shady spot (it started in the shade of the lighthouse), also a popular one
stay tuned
July 16, 2022
I went out a few weeks ago paint in Rockport, MA, had a very satisfying time starting a 20x30 canvas on the most beautiful day on record with my friend Tom and my sweetheart Christy
photo by T. M. Nicholas
I had a really fun go at this, despite a nagging case of up-foot - it's either down-foot or up-foot when you're out on the rocks - and an even more nagging suspicion that the light reflecting off my pink shirt was going to make me paint the picture greenish by way of compensation. I was right but it was subtle and not unpleasing (sorry that I don't have a photo of the raw early stage), and anyway I had to do a long brush-up in the studio in order to finish it.
Cape Ann Coast, oil on canvas, 20x30 inches
We will be going to France in a few days, my first visit in 4 years, much too long. We certainly plan to be painting - as usual I'm packing far too many papers and panels to be covered in the allotted time by anyone but a maniac. Our first stop is my home-away-from-home Trôo, which even casual readers here will be familiar with, other locations to follow. It's supposed to be very hot, so I'll be adopting my late-career strategy of choosing my painting spots based on the availability of shade. I'll certainly be posting alla primas and paintings-in-progress to facebook, instagram too I suppose; anything that isn't terrible. And I'll do a post here when it's over, trying not to wait another year
April 28, 2021
I'll have a number of watercolors in a group show at the Zullo Gallery in Medfield, MA in May - opening date tbd, but probably the middle of the month. I grew up in a town adjacent to Medfield, and drove through there every day for years when I went to school and worked in Boston, so it's great fun for me to show there. Also! - the great George Inness lived in Medfield during the American civil war, if I remember correctly, and Dennis Miller Bunker painted there.
Just finished - a biggish pastoral oil started late last summer, and then left to "age," as Walter Sickert* might have said, until a couple weeks ago, when I promoted it to easel rank to bring it to a close. T. M. Nicholas and I were painting together in MA, choosing this spot in particular because both of us could find something appealing - he did a completely different painting - and, more immediate concern by far, it was in the shade
me, not roasting to death
Note the shirt - Lee's Donuts in Alameda, CA; shout-out to K. C.
Summer Oaks, oil on canvas, 30x36 inches
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*Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) One of my favorite artists, and from what I gather, a wit - certainly a terrific writer on the subject of painting
April 4, 2021
In May 2019, I taught a workshop in Cádiz, Spain - with Plein Air Holidays - and while there made the acquaintance of Cecilio Chaves, a Cádiz-based artist. He went out of his way to help us out in a city we'd never visited before, including inviting us to paint in one of his own special rooftop locations. One day I had a go at painting him while he was painting but didn't get it to a point where I could feel ok about it, even as a plein-airy vignette, especially since I flubbed a part of it and hadn't the time to make good on it after rubbing it out. If you've tried painting a painter, or anyone making repetitive motions, you'll have found that it works best if you can pick a position that is returned to most often and for the longest time - not something I did in this case, but I did put Cecilio's head down in paint, and left that part of the painting completely alone when I picked up the panel to fix up in the studio last week.
It was a fun moment, and I really enjoyed Cecilio's company as well as his terrific paintings.
Cecilio Chaves, Cádiz, oil on panel, 11.75 x 15.75 inches. Private collection
Here's us
photo by Kate Kilbourne
A few alla primas I did in Cádiz
Street with Motorbike, oil on panel, 11.75 x 15.75 inches. Available at The Highlands Art Gallery
Plaza de Espagna, oil on panel, 9.5 x 11.75 inches
I had to bail on this, also at the Plaza de Espagna about a week earlier than the one above
I think this was the first one I did there
Plaza San Francisco, Cádiz, oil on panel, 11.75 x 9.5 inches
I've got a few more Cádiz paintings that weren't signable on location, queued up for finish in the studio
Back to local stuff, a couple more paintings from 2020, both available at The Bayview Gallery
Started on location in Pomfret, VT, painting with TM Nicholas. We had strange watery sunlight on that trip, an effect of the fires in California
Last of Summer, oil on panel, 18x24
And here, very close to where I live, one of my favorite subjects - water and white pines:
Horsehide Brook, oil on panel, 20x16 inches
easel shot
March 31, 2021
A few recent paintings
Pemaquid, oil on panel, 16x20 inches, private collection
Started in a favorite spot, Lighthouse Cove at Pemaquid Point, and finished in the studio. Check out all the mixing I do for one little dab lol
video by Christy Hull Hegarty
Winter Light, oil on canvas, 24x36 inches, available at Susan Powell Fine Art
From a couple weeks ago, last winter hurrah
Melting Ice, Bridgewater, VT, watercolor on paper, 18x24 inches
This was on the Ottauquechee River
photo by Leo Mancini-Hresko
Quick end-of-day painting, I suppose we could have found a sunnier spot instead of a dark hole in the woods, but whatever
Forest Stream, watercolor on paper, 18x22 inches
Prescott Park, oil on panel, 11x14 inches, private collection
This is in Portsmouth, NH. I started it on location, but had some sort of easel-related structural failure that involved the painting in the snow, snow all over the palette, gnashing of teeth, etc, so I buffed it up in the studio.
One more snow pic, again, started on location - this time in Medomak, ME - and finished in studio.
Clear and Cold, oil on panel, 18x24 inches, available at the Todd Bonita Art Gallery
One more for now, from Friendship, Maine. TM Nicholas and I went to paint fall foliage, ended up here
Incoming Tide, oil on panel, 24x18 inches. Available at The Bayview Gallery
July 9, 2020
Brief miscellany of recent pictures.
This is from April I think, near the end of stick season, on the Great Bay estuary here on the NH seacoast.
Great Bay Estuary, oil on panel, 12x18 inches
Here I am, all dressed up
First picture I finished in the studio after arriving here
Woodward Lumber, oil on panel, 12x18 inches
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Something I did yesterday, very warm and humid out, with ambiguous light.
Buggy too
Lamprey River, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
June 17, 2020
I broke my promise, it's been seven months since my last post. There have been changes since then: the big ones everyone knows about, but the small personal one is that I've moved across country, to New Hampshire. NH is the last place in New England where I was a resident before moving to California in 1999, though that was in the western part of the state and now I'm on the seacoast. The change is bracing. I'll start here with a few of the last of the paintings I did in CA before driving east - I have others in progress and still more to do in the future when I go back to visit. Next post will have northeastern paintings.
Parking Lot, oil on panel, 11x14
This is just around the corner from my Oakland studio in the Embarcadero district: I'd driven past it hundreds of times, and as often happens in that circumstance, I felt that there was a sort of locus where I could find a painting - I had a feeling about it. The usual fact is that the best spot to set up to paint really is from the middle of the road, moving, and when you stop you've got to make the best of where you can actually stand and put your easel. So, in this case, here is the result. I had a parking spot, and the cars on the right side of the painting remained in place long enough anyway for me to scratch them in. Between the dark wall running through the center of the painting and the buildings opposite runs Interstate 880, a sensed presence - at least to me - in a number of my little Oakland studies.
Like this one
Goodbye Oakland, oil on panel, 9x12 inches
Another painting from the frontage road, shown here with the yellow center line - I 880 is just beyond. I know I'm making a lot out of glorified blobs of paint, but I'm in a retrospective mood so bear with me: the light marks shown beneath the green sign are the lights of the Oakland Coliseum stadium - my studio before this last one - 9 years in that spot - was located behind and a bit to the left of the Coliseum. Like the title says, goodbye Oakland
Spring Oak, oil on panel, 16x20 inches - sold
This one was started on the spot in Sonoma County and finished in the studio.
video by Christy Hegarty (www.christysartspace.com)
workshop news
I have got two workshops planned for August - one in Harbor Springs, Michigan, the other in New Harbor, Maine. See my workshop page
There are a couple more podcasts where I'm being interviewed - here I am with Eric Rhoads: https://www.outdoorpainter.com/pleinair-podcast-tom-hughes-camaraderie/
and here with Laura Cassinari King: https://www.artistsofnewengland.com/podcast-this-month
November 13, 2019
I know, it's been a long time since I posted!
I am now on the roster at The Highlands Art Gallery in Lambertville, NJ. Included in the paintings shown there are the pasture picture shown in my April 26 post below, and this painting, started in Trôo, France and finished in the studio
Around the Corner, oil on panel, 16x20 inches
I will have three paintings in the Annual Holiday Show at Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison, CT. The opening is this Friday, the 15th.
Podcasts (!): I had a really fun interview with Antrese Wood for her Savvy Painter podcast in September. Earlier in the summer, Todd Bonita very entertainingly talked about my teaching style in conversation with Laura Cassinari-King on her Artists of New England podcast; it's good and Todd is funny
I just posted workshop information for 2020
Back to business: I'm in Maine right now, and when I have a few moments to spare from tending the woodstove I'm out painting. Here is an on-the-easel photo of a start I did a couple days ago at the Sherman Marsh in Newcastle
oil on panel, 24x18 inches
I'll post again soon, I promise
May 1, 2019
Here's video of the awards ceremony at the 2019 Plein Air Convention and Expo: my big moment comes at about 4:30
April 26, 2019
A quick update: I am really touched and gratified that I won the grand prize at this year's Plein Air Convention and Expo in San Francisco. I admit that I wanted to win - I kept submitting paintings to the bimonthly competitions - and I was invited to the convention and was sitting right there during the announcements, but it was still a big surprise!
Thanks to Eric Rhoads, Kelly Kane, Ali Duval Cruikshank, Kari Stober, Cherie Dawn Haas, and the rest of the staff at Streamline publishing
Here is the painting the judges selected - Fog at Back Cove, acrylic on canvas, 40x60 inches, private collection
Now that I think of it, it's satisfying in a way I can't quite define that this painting should have won - I submitted quite a few, and there were 4 or 5 that made me eligible to be a finalist - I have a real connection to this spot: my grandmother lived right there at the end of the cove, I have cousins there now, my father painted literally hundreds of pictures at Back Cove - in fact we went there to paint the first time I met him as an adult.
Latest painting: I went to a usual spot of mine in Sonoma (see Feb 27 post) a couple weeks ago, and bashed away at the painting below for 5 or 6 hours, then quite a bit more work in the studio to bring it around.
Reflection, oil on panel, 20x24 inches. Available at The Highlands Art Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
It's really nice here in spring
February 27, 2019
Watercolor done in Sonoma this month during a break in the rain
Sonoma woodpiles, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
News:
1. I am now showing at The Waterhouse Gallery in Santa Barbara, California, with a number of paintings in their currently running "Small Gems" exhibition.
2. Southwest Art Magazine is doing an Emerging Artist article on me in the upcoming issue (March/April): I did a pleasant and quite long (a painting talker talking about painting and himself) interview with Kim Agricola, senior editor at the magazine, and hope she didn't have too hard a time finding something interesting in all that. Here's a link to the online version:
https://www.southwestart.com/articles-interviews/emerging-artists/emerging-artists-tom-hughes.
3. In contest news, I won three more "bests" in the bimonthly PleinAir Salon competition since my October 2018 post (now archived):
Best Acrylic, August/September 2018
Best Acrylic, October/November 2018
and Best Figure and Portrait, January/February 2019
Looking back a few months, I was invited by the great Carolyn Lord to participate in the 2018 Milford Zornes Watercolor retreat, taking place in Mt. Carmel, UT. This was at Zornes's ranch, previously the home and studio of Maynard Dixon. I did quite a bit of work before the rainout of the last two days, but I'm only willing to show a couple of them, whoops. I was really vexed by the paper I was using, all of it, but the old saying about the poor workman blaming his tools may apply.
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Virgin River, Barracks Canyon, watercolor on paper, 22x30 inches
Barracks Canyon, watercolor on paper, 18x24 inches
This just in
June 8, 2023
Here's a late update on my last post, a painting from Paris in 2022: Christy and I went to the grounds of the Louvre to paint, sticking to the shade and I came up with this:
The Louvre from the Porte des Lions, oil on panel, 11x15 inches
available at Susan Powell Fine Art
August 31, 2022
Back from France, back from Michigan. When we arrived in Paris at 9 AM on August 19, my phone's weather app said the temperature was 104 degrees fahrenheit, pretty warm. A cooler day followed and then we went to Trôo. I painted a few things, none but one of which I've actually taken a photo of, Christy did more and better.
One afternoon's work at the Porte de Calais in Trôo, a poor phone photo. I was painting oil on paper this time, hoping to economize on space and weight
We went to the nearby village of Lavardin, officially one of the plus beau villages de France. Christy was enchanted, and I thought I might as well try out the watercolors I'd brought, setting up (in the shade!) to paint in the opposite direction to which she looked - toward a dry field with cows milling around a few trees.
Christy painting the famous gothic bridge over the Loir
Long account of frustration with my paper skipped, I decided to turn it over and thoroughly wet and then wipe it dry, hoping to remove some of the excess sizing - all watercolor papers now seem to be sized way too much, at least for me - and move down the river a ways and try something else. To my surprise, the wipe-down really helped, almost making the paper - an old favorite, Saunders Waterford - as paintable as it had once routinely been.
I find it helps to try something more complex than simple when I haven't done watercolors in a while, and then to settle in for the long haul to work out the kinks.
Christy, as usual, finished before I did
My kit sprawled over the ground around me - setting up the tripod/table rig that I took the time, money, and effort to fabricate some time ago is a bigger annoyance than just bending over to the ground is, though I risk a bout of what my father used to call "easel back"
The Loir at Lavardin, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
After Trôo, we made our way to Ménerbes in the Luberon valley, Provence - a tiring trip for me, judging by the photo
We found an accessible spot between the road and someone's driveway near a sunflower field with juussst enough shade for the two of us to crowd into
lol
Sunflowers at Ménerbes, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
Then, impelled by the dauntless Christy, we drove a couple hours south to Cassis in order to see the Mediterranean sea. I grumbled but in fact it was great fun, plus we painted
View of Cap Caillat, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
The weather was a little more brisk in Cassis but we still chose a shady spot (it started in the shade of the lighthouse), also a popular one
stay tuned
July 16, 2022
I went out a few weeks ago paint in Rockport, MA, had a very satisfying time starting a 20x30 canvas on the most beautiful day on record with my friend Tom and my sweetheart Christy
photo by T. M. Nicholas
I had a really fun go at this, despite a nagging case of up-foot - it's either down-foot or up-foot when you're out on the rocks - and an even more nagging suspicion that the light reflecting off my pink shirt was going to make me paint the picture greenish by way of compensation. I was right but it was subtle and not unpleasing (sorry that I don't have a photo of the raw early stage), and anyway I had to do a long brush-up in the studio in order to finish it.
Cape Ann Coast, oil on canvas, 20x30 inches
We will be going to France in a few days, my first visit in 4 years, much too long. We certainly plan to be painting - as usual I'm packing far too many papers and panels to be covered in the allotted time by anyone but a maniac. Our first stop is my home-away-from-home Trôo, which even casual readers here will be familiar with, other locations to follow. It's supposed to be very hot, so I'll be adopting my late-career strategy of choosing my painting spots based on the availability of shade. I'll certainly be posting alla primas and paintings-in-progress to facebook, instagram too I suppose; anything that isn't terrible. And I'll do a post here when it's over, trying not to wait another year
April 28, 2021
I'll have a number of watercolors in a group show at the Zullo Gallery in Medfield, MA in May - opening date tbd, but probably the middle of the month. I grew up in a town adjacent to Medfield, and drove through there every day for years when I went to school and worked in Boston, so it's great fun for me to show there. Also! - the great George Inness lived in Medfield during the American civil war, if I remember correctly, and Dennis Miller Bunker painted there.
Just finished - a biggish pastoral oil started late last summer, and then left to "age," as Walter Sickert* might have said, until a couple weeks ago, when I promoted it to easel rank to bring it to a close. T. M. Nicholas and I were painting together in MA, choosing this spot in particular because both of us could find something appealing - he did a completely different painting - and, more immediate concern by far, it was in the shade
me, not roasting to death
Note the shirt - Lee's Donuts in Alameda, CA; shout-out to K. C.
Summer Oaks, oil on canvas, 30x36 inches
*Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) One of my favorite artists, and from what I gather, a wit - certainly a terrific writer on the subject of painting
April 4, 2021
In May 2019, I taught a workshop in Cádiz, Spain - with Plein Air Holidays - and while there made the acquaintance of Cecilio Chaves, a Cádiz-based artist. He went out of his way to help us out in a city we'd never visited before, including inviting us to paint in one of his own special rooftop locations. One day I had a go at painting him while he was painting but didn't get it to a point where I could feel ok about it, even as a plein-airy vignette, especially since I flubbed a part of it and hadn't the time to make good on it after rubbing it out. If you've tried painting a painter, or anyone making repetitive motions, you'll have found that it works best if you can pick a position that is returned to most often and for the longest time - not something I did in this case, but I did put Cecilio's head down in paint, and left that part of the painting completely alone when I picked up the panel to fix up in the studio last week.
It was a fun moment, and I really enjoyed Cecilio's company as well as his terrific paintings.
Cecilio Chaves, Cádiz, oil on panel, 11.75 x 15.75 inches. Private collection
Here's us
photo by Kate Kilbourne
A few alla primas I did in Cádiz
Street with Motorbike, oil on panel, 11.75 x 15.75 inches. Available at The Highlands Art Gallery
Plaza de Espagna, oil on panel, 9.5 x 11.75 inches
I had to bail on this, also at the Plaza de Espagna about a week earlier than the one above
I think this was the first one I did there
Plaza San Francisco, Cádiz, oil on panel, 11.75 x 9.5 inches
I've got a few more Cádiz paintings that weren't signable on location, queued up for finish in the studio
Back to local stuff, a couple more paintings from 2020, both available at The Bayview Gallery
Started on location in Pomfret, VT, painting with TM Nicholas. We had strange watery sunlight on that trip, an effect of the fires in California
Last of Summer, oil on panel, 18x24
And here, very close to where I live, one of my favorite subjects - water and white pines:
Horsehide Brook, oil on panel, 20x16 inches
easel shot
March 31, 2021
A few recent paintings
Pemaquid, oil on panel, 16x20 inches, private collection
Started in a favorite spot, Lighthouse Cove at Pemaquid Point, and finished in the studio. Check out all the mixing I do for one little dab lol
video by Christy Hull Hegarty
Winter Light, oil on canvas, 24x36 inches, available at Susan Powell Fine Art
From a couple weeks ago, last winter hurrah
Melting Ice, Bridgewater, VT, watercolor on paper, 18x24 inches
This was on the Ottauquechee River
photo by Leo Mancini-Hresko
Quick end-of-day painting, I suppose we could have found a sunnier spot instead of a dark hole in the woods, but whatever
Forest Stream, watercolor on paper, 18x22 inches
Prescott Park, oil on panel, 11x14 inches, private collection
This is in Portsmouth, NH. I started it on location, but had some sort of easel-related structural failure that involved the painting in the snow, snow all over the palette, gnashing of teeth, etc, so I buffed it up in the studio.
One more snow pic, again, started on location - this time in Medomak, ME - and finished in studio.
Clear and Cold, oil on panel, 18x24 inches, available at the Todd Bonita Art Gallery
One more for now, from Friendship, Maine. TM Nicholas and I went to paint fall foliage, ended up here
Incoming Tide, oil on panel, 24x18 inches. Available at The Bayview Gallery
July 9, 2020
Brief miscellany of recent pictures.
This is from April I think, near the end of stick season, on the Great Bay estuary here on the NH seacoast.
Great Bay Estuary, oil on panel, 12x18 inches
Here I am, all dressed up
First picture I finished in the studio after arriving here
Woodward Lumber, oil on panel, 12x18 inches
Something I did yesterday, very warm and humid out, with ambiguous light.
Buggy too
Lamprey River, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
June 17, 2020
I broke my promise, it's been seven months since my last post. There have been changes since then: the big ones everyone knows about, but the small personal one is that I've moved across country, to New Hampshire. NH is the last place in New England where I was a resident before moving to California in 1999, though that was in the western part of the state and now I'm on the seacoast. The change is bracing. I'll start here with a few of the last of the paintings I did in CA before driving east - I have others in progress and still more to do in the future when I go back to visit. Next post will have northeastern paintings.
Parking Lot, oil on panel, 11x14
This is just around the corner from my Oakland studio in the Embarcadero district: I'd driven past it hundreds of times, and as often happens in that circumstance, I felt that there was a sort of locus where I could find a painting - I had a feeling about it. The usual fact is that the best spot to set up to paint really is from the middle of the road, moving, and when you stop you've got to make the best of where you can actually stand and put your easel. So, in this case, here is the result. I had a parking spot, and the cars on the right side of the painting remained in place long enough anyway for me to scratch them in. Between the dark wall running through the center of the painting and the buildings opposite runs Interstate 880, a sensed presence - at least to me - in a number of my little Oakland studies.
Like this one
Goodbye Oakland, oil on panel, 9x12 inches
Another painting from the frontage road, shown here with the yellow center line - I 880 is just beyond. I know I'm making a lot out of glorified blobs of paint, but I'm in a retrospective mood so bear with me: the light marks shown beneath the green sign are the lights of the Oakland Coliseum stadium - my studio before this last one - 9 years in that spot - was located behind and a bit to the left of the Coliseum. Like the title says, goodbye Oakland
Spring Oak, oil on panel, 16x20 inches - sold
This one was started on the spot in Sonoma County and finished in the studio.
video by Christy Hegarty (www.christysartspace.com)
workshop news
I have got two workshops planned for August - one in Harbor Springs, Michigan, the other in New Harbor, Maine. See my workshop page
There are a couple more podcasts where I'm being interviewed - here I am with Eric Rhoads: https://www.outdoorpainter.com/pleinair-podcast-tom-hughes-camaraderie/
and here with Laura Cassinari King: https://www.artistsofnewengland.com/podcast-this-month
November 13, 2019
I know, it's been a long time since I posted!
I am now on the roster at The Highlands Art Gallery in Lambertville, NJ. Included in the paintings shown there are the pasture picture shown in my April 26 post below, and this painting, started in Trôo, France and finished in the studio
Around the Corner, oil on panel, 16x20 inches
I will have three paintings in the Annual Holiday Show at Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison, CT. The opening is this Friday, the 15th.
Podcasts (!): I had a really fun interview with Antrese Wood for her Savvy Painter podcast in September. Earlier in the summer, Todd Bonita very entertainingly talked about my teaching style in conversation with Laura Cassinari-King on her Artists of New England podcast; it's good and Todd is funny
I just posted workshop information for 2020
Back to business: I'm in Maine right now, and when I have a few moments to spare from tending the woodstove I'm out painting. Here is an on-the-easel photo of a start I did a couple days ago at the Sherman Marsh in Newcastle
oil on panel, 24x18 inches
I'll post again soon, I promise
May 1, 2019
Here's video of the awards ceremony at the 2019 Plein Air Convention and Expo: my big moment comes at about 4:30
April 26, 2019
A quick update: I am really touched and gratified that I won the grand prize at this year's Plein Air Convention and Expo in San Francisco. I admit that I wanted to win - I kept submitting paintings to the bimonthly competitions - and I was invited to the convention and was sitting right there during the announcements, but it was still a big surprise!
Thanks to Eric Rhoads, Kelly Kane, Ali Duval Cruikshank, Kari Stober, Cherie Dawn Haas, and the rest of the staff at Streamline publishing
Here is the painting the judges selected - Fog at Back Cove, acrylic on canvas, 40x60 inches, private collection
Now that I think of it, it's satisfying in a way I can't quite define that this painting should have won - I submitted quite a few, and there were 4 or 5 that made me eligible to be a finalist - I have a real connection to this spot: my grandmother lived right there at the end of the cove, I have cousins there now, my father painted literally hundreds of pictures at Back Cove - in fact we went there to paint the first time I met him as an adult.
Latest painting: I went to a usual spot of mine in Sonoma (see Feb 27 post) a couple weeks ago, and bashed away at the painting below for 5 or 6 hours, then quite a bit more work in the studio to bring it around.
Reflection, oil on panel, 20x24 inches. Available at The Highlands Art Gallery, Lambertville, NJ
It's really nice here in spring
February 27, 2019
Watercolor done in Sonoma this month during a break in the rain
Sonoma woodpiles, watercolor on paper, 15x22 inches
News:
1. I am now showing at The Waterhouse Gallery in Santa Barbara, California, with a number of paintings in their currently running "Small Gems" exhibition.
2. Southwest Art Magazine is doing an Emerging Artist article on me in the upcoming issue (March/April): I did a pleasant and quite long (a painting talker talking about painting and himself) interview with Kim Agricola, senior editor at the magazine, and hope she didn't have too hard a time finding something interesting in all that. Here's a link to the online version:
https://www.southwestart.com/articles-interviews/emerging-artists/emerging-artists-tom-hughes.
3. In contest news, I won three more "bests" in the bimonthly PleinAir Salon competition since my October 2018 post (now archived):
Best Acrylic, August/September 2018
Best Acrylic, October/November 2018
and Best Figure and Portrait, January/February 2019
Looking back a few months, I was invited by the great Carolyn Lord to participate in the 2018 Milford Zornes Watercolor retreat, taking place in Mt. Carmel, UT. This was at Zornes's ranch, previously the home and studio of Maynard Dixon. I did quite a bit of work before the rainout of the last two days, but I'm only willing to show a couple of them, whoops. I was really vexed by the paper I was using, all of it, but the old saying about the poor workman blaming his tools may apply.
Virgin River, Barracks Canyon, watercolor on paper, 22x30 inches
Barracks Canyon, watercolor on paper, 18x24 inches