Jeffrey Catherine Jones recently passed away on May 19th, 2011. While I never knew him personally, his work has influenced me. I have bought only 5 prints: a Bernie Wrightson, a Howard Terpning, a Keith Parkinson (whch I gave to my best friend), a Richard Schmid and a Jeffrey Jones which is in my bedroom. He was influenced by many artists throughout his career. I can see Frazetta in there, along with N.C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover, Harvey Dunn and Mead Shaeffer, and James McNeill Whistler and maybe even Vermeer and Klimt. You can also see influence by his peers at The Studio, Barry Windsor-Smith, Michael Kaluta and Bernie Wrightson. This should not detract from his work in any way, as through all of those influences and more, he was true to himself. He is not a well known artist outside of the comic and fantasy art world. That is sad, for his work goes so far beyond that and like any great illustrator removes the boundary between illustration and fine art. He struggled in his life with his art and his illnesses and his identity. I believe they were going to make a documentary of his life, but I'm unsure if it was ever produced. Thanks for the great work, Jeffrey, I hope you can find peace wherever you have gone.
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Hi Mark,
I was at a dinner party last night where the conversation turned to Frank Frazetta's artwork. I am a life long artist and was heavily influenced by Frazetta's paintings early on. Someone at the party mentioned, are you familiar with Jeff Jones art? Strange that I was not, as the two artists work is quite similar. Later that evening, I returned home and took a "deep dive" into Jones remarkable work on Google. Now I can go on and on about what a master illustrator-artist he was but what I took from looking at his work was a distant memory of what at is and can be unlocked when the imagination ( and obviously technical skill) is released to its full potential. You see, the older i get, the more I realize that there is an "art spirit" if we can just get out of our own way and respond to it. I can see that you are a very good artist yourself and I know that you know what I am talking about. We are born to be artists, but to reach a level that Jeff Jones did is beyond remarkable and continues to inspire me.
You can see my art at: danloge.com
Dan
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