Blue Willow with Pompoms original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

Blue Willow with Pompoms by Polly Jones

I don't drink out of this old mug because of all of the crazing, but I sure enjoy painting it.

8" square on canvas. Sold

Some Day

Some Day by Polly Jones

18" by 24" acrylic mixed media on wood panel. Pompom daisies in that same glass pitcher, seashells and a ginger jar... it might be finished. There's a group show at The Center for Contemporary Arts next month that I'm hoping to have this included.

I keep forgetting to mention that I have been setting up a website.  It's on Virb, and has been fairly painless to work on.  If you have a moment, please take a look here:  http://pollyjonesart.com/  Let me know if you have any suggestions.  It's a work in progress.

Dirty Drawers and a catch up post

My friend Lara and I finally went to an open life drawing session at  The Center for Contemporary Art  here in Abilene last night.  The group is called "The Dirty Drawers." We've been talking about doing it for years.  Now I know why I hadn't gone...it is hard and scary.  Wow, I was much worse than I expected.  I "forgot" to take pictures while there and am only showing the portrait I did.  Let me clarify that she did not actually have facial hair. In drawing the full body, apparently a good sense of anatomy is pretty important.  I feel challenged now, and am going to have to go back and do better!

Listening Shell for Lynne by Polly Jones

 Here is a commission painting I did a couple of weeks ago.  I learn so much every time I go back and repeat a subject. 

I'm working on an 18" by 24" painting now, taking it slow because I want to leave it open and have different degrees of finish in it.  Fortunately the flowers are still alive!  I hope to work on it this afternoon, but also need to clean house and make a desert for my book club coming over tonight.  We're discussing "Orphan Train" by Kristina Baker Kline.  Has anyone out there read it?

Two paintings, new versions

I Dream of Daffodils by Polly Jones

Sunday Afternoon by Polly Jones

I'm pretty sure I've made public vows on this blog not to go back and rework paintings but instead move on to new work.  That's easier said than done. Some paintings are very bossy and won't shut up until I go back and work on them some more.  Here's are links to the old versions:  I Dream of Daffodils and Sunday Afternoon.  I'm also working on a commission of a shell painting.

I Dream of Daffodils original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

I Dream of Daffodils by Polly Jones

I Dream of Daffodils by Polly Jones

This vase shape reminded me of "I Dream of Jeanie's" home.  You have to be a certain age to get that reference.  Doing taxes and eating Chinese food....hope all is well with you.

12" by 12" acrylic mixed media painting on canvas.  In my Etsy store here.

Sunday Afternoon original acrylic mixed media painting by Polly Jones

Sunday Afternoon by Polly Jones

After a dreary season of cold and grey, my eyes desperately need to see some color. This was a crazy still life set up full of pattern and fun to paint. I used a wood block print cloth from Eternal Threads as a beginning point and went on from there with some of my favorite objects: that same black ginger jar, blue willow bowl and teapot from China. It's part of my series that incorporates a page of poetry from an old book I have, as well as map bits.

12" by 12" mixed media acrylic painting on gallery wrapped canvas. Sold.

A present and Daffodils in Light and Shadow

Daffodils in Light and Shadow by Polly Jones

I'm so excited each year when our daffodils bloom! These are from the back yard and they are so sweet and heartening. In Texas we have days that feel like spring mixed in with extreme cold. They are like the light and shadow playing around on this still life.

12" by 12" acrylic mixed media painting on canvas. Sold

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The brushes above are a present my husband brought back from a conference.  He knows me well. I hadn't really bought new ones in a while and had forgotten how much of a difference a new brush makes.  They spring back on the surface and leave a different type of mark. Hopefully I'll take care of them better than I normally do:)

Square Plate mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

Square Plate by Polly Jones

The plate keeps moving forward instead of laying flat like it should.  Also, the top stripe wants to come forward and the plate doesn't really do the forshortening that it does in real life.  This does not bother me a bit.  I wanted it to be more about pattern and texture than space.

6" square on canvas for sale. Sold

Yorkshire Sculpture Park mixed media landscape painting by Polly Jones

Yorkshire Sculpture Park by Polly Jones

I painted this from a photograph I took at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park summer before last in England. I normally don't paint from photographs but this image was somehow fresh in my mind's eye and I really enjoyed painting a landscape for a change.  We saw some incredible sculptures while there.  Especially memorable was work by Anish Kapoor.  They don't translate so well in photographs, but in person I was blown away.  Staring into it made me lose my sense of time and scale, hard to describe. 

11" by 14" acrylic and mixed media collage on gallery wrapped canvas.  For sale in my etsy store here.

Tempest in a Teapot original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

Tempest in a Teapot by Polly Jones

8" by 10" on wood panel for sale. Sold

An Honorable Mention

Polly Jones with "Carnival Glass"

Yep, that's me with the blue ribbon that says artist on it.  I think I'll start wearing that around town for fun. I was happy to get an Honorable Mention at the Stars of Texas art show last night for a painting I did last year.  It's an annual juried exhibit in Brownwood, Texas in their historic old depot building. Benito Huerto was the judge. There was a crowd and it was fun to see all of the different kinds of work.

Blue Flow with Limes original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

Blue Flow with Limes by Polly Jones

Here's that old blue flow bowl again.  I've used an Indian print napkin as backdrop but changed the color of it from blue to yellow. It's very freeing to do that in a painting.  It makes me remember that I have a lot of choices I can make that aren't tied to duplicating what I see.  Why on earth I have to remember that after painting these things for over thirty years I don't know!

Sold.

Revisiting some paintings

Mandarin Happy, old version.  I never realized what an awful photo it is til now.

Mandarin Happy by Polly Jones, new version.

Two Sides at Once by Polly Jones, new version.

Couldn't find my old photograph of this 16" by 20" one.  I've added it to my Etsy store.

Winter Pear, old version.

Winter Pear by Polly Jones, new version.

Sometimes these paintings taunt me until I work on them some more.

Bird's Eye Grapefruit mixed media painting by Polly Jones

Bird's Eye Grapefruit by Polly Jones

Using layers of paper embedded in thick paint were my strategy to keep from getting caught up in the details. The light was almost blinding in my studio today.  I like that.  One inspiration for using such thick paint was recently seeing Melissa Miller's juxtaposition of tightly rendered areas with really wildly painted backgrounds.

Saturday night we drove to Dallas for the opening of a friend and former student, Jay Hendrick at Cohn-Drennan. It was a great show!  His work centers around playful grids and are done on discarded cardboard boxes he finds at George Mason where he studies.  We went to several openings in the area including the Melissa Miller one.

Bird's Eye Grapefruit, Sold.

Lime Up original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

Lime Up by Polly Jones

I probably won't be posting until after Christmas and wanted to wish you all happy holidays.  I have some candy making and card writing to do.  It felt good to take some time off and paint. No one really minds a late card...right? 

Sold.

Winter Pear and last day of Etsy sale

Winter Pear by Polly Jones

I had to make myself paint today, which is unusual.  We have had several cold, dreary, iced in days in a row and I've been feeling blue and undisciplined.  I challenged myself to just go with it and use the natural light (or lack of light) and try to find some beauty in it.  Painting usually makes me feel better.

This is the last day of the 20% off sale in my online gallery.  You can check it out here.

6" square acrylic painting, Sold.

Fresh off the easel.

Grape Cluster by Polly Jones

Upright Pear by Polly Jones

The grape one is tiny at 4" square.  The pear is a 6" one.  Both sold.

I took this blurry photo of a Cezanne painting of his uncle at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It inspired me to use thicker paint. 

Apples original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

Apples by Polly Jones

These apples were labeled "Happy Apples" on their bag.  Had never heard of that type before.  I must say, they did made me happy to paint after such a long hiatus. 

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to have a great time in New York City for my first visit ever.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art had several Cezanne paintings, my favorite being a small one of apples.  Kenny loved it too and drew in front of it for a while. It just shows the indomitable human spirit when I'm able to even try to make a painting after seeing all the amazing work at the Met and the MOMA.  Seeing work in person always challenges me to stretch the use of physical paint and texture.
8" square on wooden panel. Sold

Etsy Sale and Bragging

Hello again my friends.  I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop from now through December 9th.  If you enter the code Sale2013 when checking out, you will receive 20% off.  If you have any problem with this, just let me know and I'll make sure you get the discount.

 I am so proud of my husband, Kenny Jones!  His work was selected to be included with the New American Paintings West #108 issue.  There were so many entries and it's such an honor to be chosen.  Below is one of the three paintings in the magazine.  You should check out his blog here for a look at more work.

Toward a Clearing (with L.P.  & LHC), 36” X 48”, Ink on panel, by Kenny Jones

Paintings for Verge Exhibit

For the Center for Contemporary Arts Verge show, art by Polly Jones

Here are two of my paintings that will be included in the Verge exhibit at The Center for Contemporary Arts.  Below is the postcard with information for the event.