{"id":14133,"date":"2026-01-22T11:46:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=14133"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:46:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:46:40","slug":"looking-at-my-own-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2026\/01\/looking-at-my-own-paintings\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking at my own paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"

My unfinished paintings surround me here in the studio. I never look at them; rather, my eye studies them, and I try to make my eye happy. I hear “It needs more work,” and “Come on, you lazy dog, pick up the brush.” I like to get to the studio early and please my eye. It’s important to me to accomplish something before the day is too far gone.<\/p>\n

When I was young, I thought I heard, “You’re not good enough,” when actually I heard, “It’s not true enough; keep working.” Once, when I was a student, I took a break during a drawing session to study the others’ drawings. It was what you’d expect–student work. Except for one student. Bob’s drawing was full of life. But Bob was miserable. “I’m not good enough,” he told me. Funny, all the other students were proud of their daubs, but the one true artist there was wretched about his beautiful drawing.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Opens Renovations<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Bob never came to terms with his eye, and art became a form of torture for him. He eventually gave up art for poetry. He was an excellent poet but a better artist. His struggle with art lent drama to his drawings, whereas his poems felt like a record of events that had happened elsewhere. Later, he married a schizophrenic whose chief pleasure was telling her husband that he wasn’t good enough.<\/p>\n

After some time, when a painting is finished, I’ll look at it and form my own opinion. It’s happened that I’ll come across one of my paintings that I’d forgotten about. Sometimes the discovery is pleasurable. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

A stack of unfinished paintings:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Smooth Move—Smooth Painting Surfaces<\/span><\/a><\/div>

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My unfinished paintings surround me here in the studio. I never look at them; rather, my eye studies them, and I try to make my eye happy. I hear “It needs more work,” and “Come on, you lazy dog, pick up the brush.” I like to get to the studio early and please my eye. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":14139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[235,139,6,24,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anecdotes","category-bio","category-paintings","category-shop_talk","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/stack-unfinished.jpg?fit=800%2C1067&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5655,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/12\/in-the-studio-121315\/","url_meta":{"origin":14133,"position":0},"title":"In the studio 12\/13\/15","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"December 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today's was the fourth painting session on Girl in the Purple Boots II. \u00a0I think it's far enough along now that you can get a sense of what it is about. I'm in my second pass with\u00a0the painting. The first pass is a rough-in with local color (each pass can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bio"","block_context":{"text":"Bio","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/bio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/studio-2015-12-13.jpg?fit=600%2C659&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/studio-2015-12-13.jpg?fit=600%2C659&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/studio-2015-12-13.jpg?fit=600%2C659&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4744,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/02\/purge\/","url_meta":{"origin":14133,"position":1},"title":"Purge","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Winter time; bitter, bitter cold.\u00a0More snow this morning. I've written before about the benefits of working on a lot of paintings simultaneously. Working this way allows paint layers to dry thoroughly. Painting over a layer too soon leads to bad problems (to use a technical term), such as cracking and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bio"","block_context":{"text":"Bio","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/bio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/winter-balcony.jpg?fit=500%2C359&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4848,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/03\/in-the-studio-31515\/","url_meta":{"origin":14133,"position":2},"title":"In the studio 3\/15\/15","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"March 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I worked all day yesterday and today on The News. According to my studio journal, today's painting session was the thirteenth. \u00a0I'm almost finished. People who know me laugh whenever I say a painting is almost finished. Some paintings have been almost finished for months. But if the drawing is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Paintings"","block_context":{"text":"Paintings","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/paintings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/the_news_unfinished.jpg?fit=500%2C694&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5177,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/06\/in-the-studio-6715\/","url_meta":{"origin":14133,"position":3},"title":"In the studio 6\/7\/15","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"June 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Grandfather was turned against the wall for a long time; I just didn't like the direction it was going. \u00a0Since then I've completely altered the background by adding the landscape through the window, and the green curtains. \u00a0I wanted to make a painting that didn't look 'modern.' \u00a0I used to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Paintings"","block_context":{"text":"Paintings","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/paintings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/studio-2015-6-7.jpg?fit=488%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3597,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/in-the-studio-542014\/","url_meta":{"origin":14133,"position":4},"title":"In the studio 5\/4\/2014","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"May 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is another painting from the cycle of large paintings ( this one is 42\" x 56\") that I am doing. The drawing was finished yesterday and it took yesterday and today to finish the initial under-painting. Following my usual practice, the detailed drawing--pencil over a raw umber ground--took several\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bio"","block_context":{"text":"Bio","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/bio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/studio-2014-5-4.jpg?fit=444%2C358&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5451,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/09\/in-the-studio-92715\/","url_meta":{"origin":14133,"position":5},"title":"In the studio 9\/27\/15","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"September 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This small painting (20\" x 24\") is on a canvas board I prepared with traditional gesso (just whiting and glue). I like traditional gesso a lot. It's smooth and slightly absorbent. Unfortunately, it's too fragile for canvas and easily cracks. But it's great on\u00a0firm surfaces. Canvas board, while not as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/studio-2015-9-27.jpg?fit=560%2C373&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/studio-2015-9-27.jpg?fit=560%2C373&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/studio-2015-9-27.jpg?fit=560%2C373&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gw6F-3FX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14133"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14142,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14133\/revisions\/14142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}