Tom Hughes was born in Massachusetts in 1965. Hughes left the university to become a staff artist at the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, specializing in illustration and mastering every medium – ink wash, block print, watercolor, monotype, acrylic, and scratchboard. Once referred to as “a genius” by renowned artist and author Charles Movalli, Hughes has had solo exhibitions in galleries throughout New England, North Carolina, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and France. He’s proficient in several painting media including oil, acrylic, and watercolor; his subjects are diverse and range from figure painting, portrait, landscape, and still life.

Hughes’s work has appeared in American Artist Watercolor magazine, and Tom Hoffmann’s book Watercolor Painting, published by Watson-Guptill in 2012. His portrait of the publisher B. Eric Rhoad’s was featured in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine. His works have also been illustrated in Southwest Art Magazine.

In 2018, Tom became a Signature Member of the Plein Air Painters of America. He also won three “bests” in the bimonthly PlenAir Salon competition: Best Acrylic (August/September 2018), Best Acrylic (October/November 2018), and Best Figure and Portrait (January/February 2019).

In 2019, Tom Hughes won the $15,000 Grand Prize for his painting “Fog at Back Cove,” acrylic, 40 x 60 inches, at the Plein Air Convention and Expo, in San Francisco.