Elizabeth Hughes

ELIZABETH HUGHES

See Instagram: eliz_hughes_art 

or contact at: eliz.hughes20@gmail.com

I started drawing early in life and kept a notebook of fashion designs during my early teens. A neighbor was a billboard artist but had a collection of oil paintings in his home. Inspiration! My parents gave me a set of oil paints and I started copying photos from Reader’s Digest. 

Fast forward a few years, through school, medical technology training, marriage, with art very much on the back burner. An aunt was a painter and we started getting together to paint every couple of weeks and took a class or two at a local gallery.

I moved from Windsor, ON, Canada to New England in January, 1968. I painted for many years, off and on, as my young family grew. My training is informal and learned from teachers in adult ed and senior centers in towns where I have lived. Classes were offered in many mediums and I tried my hand at silversmithing, and stained glass, where design elements came into play. I tried acrylics, Japanese brush painting and watercolor. 

The subjects of my artwork these days are photographs taken in the course of travels or even in my kitchen, with bounty from my garden! 

I found watercolor rendering to be the most challenging because of the light touch required, after layering on lots of oil or acrylic paint.Most recent is learning pastel technique, with Robin Thornhill, at the Artist Muse, here in Amesbury. I like playing with light and color and this medium seems to work well for me. I enjoy the creative challenge!

I do my own framing and I use frames that I find at flea markets and thrift shops. I repurpose them to match my artwork.

I have exhibited paintings locally in the last year or so. I participated in the Amesbury Open Studio Tour in 2019 and a Pop up Gallery in N. Andover in May 2020. I currently have work on exhibit at CI Works in Amesbury.