“A GREAT PAINTER will know a great deal about how he did it but still will say, How did I do it? The real artist’s work is a surprise to himself.” – Robert Henri

Robert Henri’s wonderful book, The Art Spirit, continues to inspire me and countless other artists, to create art and live a more creative and courageous life. Here are a few more of the renowned mid-20th century teacher’s words to roll around inside your head and heart:

“Art when really understood is the province of every human being. It is simply a question of doing things, anything, well. It is not an outside, extra thing. When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his [or her] kind of work may be, he or she becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressing creature.”

Kathleen Hudson, Lake of Glass, Oil on canvas, 30 x 48 in.

“That person becomes interesting to other people. He [or she] disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for a better understanding. Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, the artist opens it, shows there are still more pages possible. Art tends towards balance, order, judgment of relative values, the laws of growth, the economy of living – very good things for anyone to be interested in.”

“There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we seem to see beyond the usual- become clairvoyant. We reach then into reality. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. It is in the nature of all people to have these experiences; but in our time and under the conditions of our lives, it is only a rare few who are able to continue in the experience and find expression for it.”

“Do whatever you do intensely.”

Kathleen Hudson, Muir Woods, Oil on linen, 24 x 36 in. | Private collection

So, Henri implores us to see ourselves as artists; to see ourselves as people who desire to create beauty, express truth as we understand it, and to always keep the book open – in a spirit of charity and goodness. Robert Henri can teach us a great deal. Maybe he will touch your mind and heart, too.

“In every human being there is the artist, and whatever his activity, he has an equal chance with any to express the result of his growth and his contact with life. I don’t believe any real artist cares whether what he does is ‘art’ or not. Who, after all, knows what art is?”

Kathleen Hudson, Waterway, Oil on linen, 30 x 24 in.

All of the paintings in our feature today are by Kathleen Hudson (b. 1986). As a realist who wants to surprise her viewers as well as herself, Hudson emphasizes dynamic light and atmosphere in her work. She is a Signature Member of Plein Air Painters of America and the second youngest artist ever to be elected a Fellow in the American Society of Marine Artists. In 2017, Hudson received the Grand Prize in the 6th Annual PleinAir Salon for her painting Bright Morning, Timberline Falls, which was featured on the July 2017 cover of PleinAir Magazine. 

Hudson moved from her native Kentucky to Boston in the fall of 2005 to begin an undergraduate degree at Harvard University. During her years in Boston, Hudson came to love the beautiful New England landscape as she painted, studied mountain travel narratives, and led backpacking trips for fellow students. After graduating with a History & Literature degree, she was selected to join Boston’s Copley Society of Art, the oldest non-profit art association in America.

Scaling Up from Small Studies

Hudson loves painting larger works that seem to wash over the viewer, and she teaches her own signature blueprint for scaling up successfully every time. If the thought of pulling a large blank canvas up onto your easel fills you with excitement and anxiety, then you’re going to love her instructional video, Mastering the Large Canvas. Check it out here.

Throughout the in-depth chapters, you’ll discover Kathleen’s meticulous step-by-step approach that breaks down the complex process into easily digestible stages:

  • From the crucial preparatory work of asking key guiding questions and creating thumbnail value studies… 
  • To establishing a strong foundational design and composition through an initial transparent underpainting… 
  • Building up the elements of the painting from background to foreground while maintaining unified color harmony… 
  • …and finally, assessing the work as a whole to make those key final adjustments that take it from great to extraordinary.

 Check it out here: KATHLEEN HUDSON: MASTERING THE LARGE CANVAS – SCALING UP FROM SMALL STUDIES