Mr Hues begins the process with a photo shoot, capturing with digital photography the thing that makes the experience of that person unique. Whether it is an intimate sexual encounter or a model exploring the limits of her confidence his eye seeks out the expression of that moment.
Once the source material has been gathered the editing begins. He filters out the best images, crops them and prepares them for transfer to canvas or paper. At this stage all the decisions about what the final piece will be like are set. Scale, materials and medium are chosen. There is little or no invention in paint.
"I love drawing, even when I am painting I am still drawing with the paint."
The next stage sees the image transferred to canvas or paper. For the paintings Mr Hues stretches his own canvas preferring a slight texture to work on. The canvases are gessoed and undercoated in a mixture of burnt sienna, burnt umber and gold oil paint. The undercoat gives the impression of work by the old masters and reflects the classical education of the great schools of Europe.
The canvases are squared up and the image is drawn up in chalk then lined in with thinned Burnt umber. Watching him work at this stage is like seeing magic happen. The vision comes alive in line on the canvas. Most of the pieces are prepared and worked on in pairs on small canvases often no bigger than the page of a book.
"I love to work big but sometimes I am so filled with the story I am telling I have to make small pieces because they are quicker."
The lead colour, most often red, goes in next and any flat dark areas are blocked in. This is done in one session with several pieces underway at any one time. After each session the paint is allowed to dry. Mr Hues paints in oil preferring Alkyds and Liquin thinner as the drying process in hastened.
"I have little patience. I used to battle with the paint, overpainting while it was still wet. It beat me, now I know to take my time. It's better to get it right than to fight."
The highlights are done next in a harsh titanium white with a little yellow or burnt umber and dry brushed to soften the effect. Once dry this layer is overpainted with a glaze of liquin and burnt sienna. The lead colour is worked on in this glaze adding light and shade.
"I prefer a limited pallet. It can vary from painting to painting but only a little. I don't need every colour in the world to tell my story. The colours of the earth and the body are enough."
The final stage sees the lines reinforced and the white highlights added back. The details of hair or lace are completed and a varnish applied.
"My paintings are never finished, only ever abandoned."
The paintings take between three days and four weeks to make.
