Jeff Jones

I have been extremely lax in my posting on this art analysis blog. I do apologize for this and will make a better attempt at finding compelling, interesting and notable art to display and analyze here.

Today’s image is from the artist Jeff Jones (or Jeffrey Catherine Jones) and is titled Sheherazad. I must admit that I was unaware of Jones’ work until it was introduced to me by Rebecca Guay. Jones has a very sensual feel to the works and employs a muted palette of colors while making the most of composition to offsite a relative lack of detail. If you look at the body of Jones’ work, you will see a definite arc which begins with a very Frazetta-esque design and color aesthetic and moving more toward a heavier application of the paint and in some cases, a more impressionistic handling of the subjects. This image is an earlier work and illustrates this earlier, thinner application of the paint. It appears that Jones began with a burnt umber underpainting that was applied to a canvas support. I would suspect that a wipeout technique was employed in order to achieve the variation in umber thickness. A thicker application of whites and ochres over areas of burnt sienna and umber create a transparent material effect as well as a more solid flesh rendering which pushes those areas forward in illusory 3 dimensional space of the picture plane. Jones then carves out sculpturally the form of the hair and body allowing the under umbers/siennas to create the hair and shadow areas of the arm and neck. Even though this is a relatively simple execution of these techniques, it is the masterful treatment which keeps me staring at it and returning for more.