Colorado treasure Kathleen Hudson applies an inspired visual intelligence to landscapes, seascapes, and waterfalls, almost mystically capturing their centuries-old history and beaming it into our present moment.
Hudson’s landscapes are on view at Cole Gallery (Edmonds, Washington) through May 2, 2023.
More from the gallery:
Newly welcomed to Cole Gallery from her seat in Colorado Springs, Kathleen gathers the majestic natural forces around her and scatters them over and through her paintings.
Artist’s Statement
The landscape has always been my chief source of artistic inspiration. I love to capture sweeping views of rugged terrain, shimmering waves, and dramatic atmospherics. According to my family, I began painting as soon as I was old enough to hold a brush. Oils became my favored medium during middle school when I painstakingly copied several of John Singer Sargent’s works. I enjoyed an unconventional upbringing and traveled broadly, exploring new terrain and—notably—dozens of art museums. Viewing awe-inspiring places like Yosemite, the Wye Valley in Wales, and Niagara Falls left me with a desire to recreate some of these scenes on canvas.
To this day I try to evoke that same childhood sense of wonder in my landscapes. My paintings represent specific places and moments in time: the brief point during a sunrise when the sun fills the air with an ethereal golden glow; a break in a storm where light pierces through heavy clouds; or the sight of glacial runoff sending waterfalls down the side of a mountain wreathed in fog.
Scenes like this are real, but because my paintings highlight rare moments of particular beauty, they tread a fine line between the “real” and the otherworldly.
What makes a landscape otherworldly or sublime?
The short answer: light and atmospheric movement.
A mountain may become more than just a mountain when you stand beneath it and watch the sunlight dance across its slopes’ jagged contours. You listen to the wind whistle overhead as it enters rock crevices and rushes downward; moments later, you feel its breath across your face. The same atmospheric forces that make the mountain arrestingly beautiful—moving light, air, clouds—envelop you, too. You become part of the landscape. It is then that the mountain becomes part of a visual drama that can awaken something within you, filling you with wonder and even longing.
When I envision a new painting, I focus on points of shifting light and atmosphere in the scene. To me, these are the source of a landscape’s beauty: the things that make us stop and look before continuing on our way. ~Kathleen Hudson (kathleenbhudson.com)
Let Kathleen Hudson teach you how to paint beautiful landscapes:
- PaintTube.tv art video workshops featuring Kathleen Hudson
- Plein Air Convention & Expo, Denver, Colorado, May 2023
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