The golden hour, that beloved time at dawn and dusk when the sun’s warm, diffuse light transforms the world into a place of breathtaking beauty, is the inspiration behind Kathleen Hudson’s latest series of paintings, which she will be showing this month at FoR Fine Art in Whitefish, Montana.
Billowing Cloud, oil on linen, 30 x 30 in.
“It’s my favorite time to paint,” says Hudson. “I really like the contrast between dark and light, and how the long shadows make interesting shapes. There is a lot more warmth in the light, and then these blues and purples in the shadows that contrast with the yellows. It sets up a natural drama between the warm sunlight versus the cooler values of the shadows.”
This new body of work marks something of a departure for Hudson, a distinguish plein air artist whose practice is rooted in painting from life. For these pieces, Hudson is relying less on studies in the field and using photo references for her landforms and her imagination to infuse her sweeping dramatic skies with the glow of golden hour. “What I’m doing now in the studio is trying to use what I’ve learned from painting outside—like how the landscape and light changes during sunrise and sunset—and using what I know to push my imagination more. When you know what light looks like, on the land and in the sky, you can make it up and still have it feel true.”
Storm at Sunset, oil on linen, 24 x 48 in.
Taking a more imaginative approach to her work has allowed Hudson to apply cinematic lighting to a landscape she might see midday in different light to enhance its dramatic potential. The artist, who has always strived for accuracy, has found it freeing. “One thing I keep telling my students is that they don’t need to paint everything they see, or exactly what they see,” she says. “When you’re an artist you want to say something true and meaningful about your subject, but it doesn’t have to photographic. Completely letting go of my reference materials has been really fun because it’s challenging me a bit.”
At Dawn, oil on linen panel, 24 x 24 in.
Most of the works in the show depict the region around Rocky Mountain and Glacier national parks. For Storm at Sunset, Hudson focused on the gradations of color in the monsoon clouds and expansive sky. A similar but sharper and more extreme color palette informs her dramatic skyscape Billowing Cloud. Hudson incorporated aspects of a landscape in Kentucky, where she grew up, in At Dawn. “I wanted to create something that really captured the subtle warm tones of dawn or the pre-dawn golden hour,” she says. “I used texture more than value variation in the rocks and trees to create interest.”
Some might think that painting sunrises or sunsets is trite, but not Hudson.
Cloud Patterns, oil on linen panel, 12 x 12 in.
“It’s common for us to be transfixed by something remarkable in nature, but because they are common doesn’t mean they have less value,” says Hudson. “The fact that a lot of us are moved by looking at a sunset makes it more of a shared experience, something universal we can all identify with.”
Golden Hour opens with a reception on September 4 from 5 to 8 p.m. in conjunction with Whitefish Gallery Nights, and remains on view through the end of the month. —
FoR Fine Art 235 Central Avenue • Whitefish, MT 59937 • (406) 730-8855 • www.forfineart.com
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