Tom Hudson

Death of history painting

At the end of the eighteenth century, art flowed along several currents. History painting, the primary current, was in its heyday and remained the undisputed champion until ‘history’ intruded into contemporary events with the French Revolution. This current continued into the middle of the nineteenth century with Delacroix. Another important current used myth to launch…

Reminds me of winter

Reminds me a little of winter, eh? It’s actually warmer today than it was on Christmas Eve when we lost power with the wind chill at -29 f. The fireplace kept the frigid air at bay during the 3-hour outage. Photo from the deck on Christmas. Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Transparent earth colors

Oil paint can be profitably judged for either its covering strength or transparency. This comports with some well known bits of studio wisdom: “fat over lean,” and “thick lights, thin darks.” Covering colors, often called ‘body’ colors, hide everything beneath them. Transparent colors modify what is beneath them while leaving them visible. In watercolors, transparent…

Poem: The Poet’s Wife

Sometimes I post my poetry here on my blog. I still have the painting mentioned in this poem, which is I am showing here. The Poet’s Wife The poet’s tiny wife suffered from the cold. I gave her my fiancé’s Chinese jacket, It fit her but could not obscure her homeliness— none of the owner’s…

Review: Van Gogh oil paints

When I started my oil paint brand reference, I excluded ‘student grade’ brands. The distinction between student grade and other brands was based on price. Everyone understands that you get what you pay for but art supplies is one product area where the old adage is not reliable. Art supply manufacturers include some of the…

Castles in the air

I knew a writer who wanted to transition from the technical documents that he wrote to pay his bills to fiction. His vision inspired a whole universe; not one novel but a series. He spent what little free time he had as a single dad and technical writer working on his project. I admired his…

They lost Jeffrey Sachs

Six months ago I would have described Jeffrey Sachs, the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, as the consummate insider. For the past 30 years Sachs has taken leadership roles in economic and public health issues with Africa as a special focus. After the adoption of his Millennium Village goals in 2000, he…