Small Prints

Here are some new small prints.  I figure they are great for hanging in series.
See and purchase at my website: liamjonesfineart.com

Pantone Color Trends 2012 Paintings

I love colour. Yes, I spelled color "colour" because I'm Canadian. It's what they taught me in school right along with "pay your crazy taxes, tell on bullies, and drink light beer". It's not my fault.
So back to what I was saying.
What the entire design world uses for colour is a system of colour predictions that are worked out many years ahead of time, so that every industry can safely develop products that will go together with what everyone else is doing. The housepaint companies will match what the couch cushion makers do, and so on. Pantone is at the forefront of the colour industry, tying all of the industrial world together in colour. This is fascinating to me.

The colours for 2012 are beautiful. Some brilliant and talented people have spent untold hours developing these colours, their relationships and how they'll work and shift over time, so they're not like a Ke$ha song. Please, someone make her go away. I've decided to not only embrace these colours, but make an example of them.
The idea is simple bold designs using the defining colours of 2012. Colours like Tangerine Tango, Stardust, Driftwood, French Roast, and Olympian Blue. These are quick paintings I've designed using the quaint Windows painting app. Like this:



And then gone and painted it for real, like this:




They're a hoot. And there's a bunch of them on. This is the first, now available in my eBay store.

I found an artist I really like the other day: Jean-Francois Provost. It's so great to live in the age of the internet and Google. Exposure to artists like this is just a click away.

First thing that catches me about this guy's work is his strong design. This particular painting is an early favourite, because of the strong contrast and earth tones, and the very painterly approach. He's got that wonderful organic and mysterious effect that I look for in abstract painting. Provost uses collé frequently, and that wonderful knack for composition is seen throughout. Here's some more that I think are just wonderful:

Here's Provost's website.

Painting for me is a lot like a messy and bold jazz solo: the energy is directed at being a strong voice, playing on the fly, just laying it down. It's imperfect and fun as hell!

Here's my latest painting, available on eBay

Here's some new abstract paintings available on eBay or from my website, Liam Jones Fine Art:

I am doing everything I can to paint full time. I'm a one-man show, so there's a lot to do. I'm so passionate about my work, and I think that comes through.

Liam

Abstract Art

Painting in the morning has become a regular routine recently. I used to be a night owl, now I'm an early riser.

Here's a new abstract painting. You can purchase it off my website, or eBay, or contact me through this blog.

That is no match for wishful thinking!

Abstract paintings that are bright and bold like this just do it for me. The working title is "No Match For Wishful Thinking". Maybe it should be "Wishful Thinking". Maybe "The Power of Wishful Thinking".

See, I'm a fan of animated movies. Especially ones like "Ratatouille", that speak of the things that are counter-intuitive to the crap of every day life. I wax inspirational: With all the bad news in Japan and unrest throughout the middle East, the recession, our crazy goverment and their posturing, the decline of the family unit... there's so much bad out there, I say "That is no match for wishful thinking!"

I'm ba-ack!

If you're new to my work, welcome!

It's been over a year since I pretty much stopped marketing my work online. Life is like that sometimes. A parent passes away, and everything gets put on hold. Things change, and time just keeps on moving forward.

So this is my new website. Seriously, I can't stand this computer business. It's gives me grey hairs and a short temper, but if you're an art lover and you've stumbled on my stuff through one of the many ways I've put "Liam Jones Fine Art" out there online, then it was worth it!

There's a bunch of new stuff coming down the pipe. One exciting new development is a partnership with Jacek Karlowski, who is one heavy musician and a great painter here in the Toronto area. We've been friends for years, and finally there is the opportunity to team up and pool our resources. We call our project "Good Guy Productions". Well, we haven't fully settled on the name, but it kinda gets the idea across.

Anyhoo, welcome! It's great to be back. I hope to hear from you. Here's to music and art!

Here's a couple of new paintings. Click on them to go to my eBay store.

Latest Abstract Paintings

To find out more, or to purchase these paintings, go to Liam's eBay store: Liam Jones Fine Art: eBay

Latest Painting: "Cathedral"

This is my latest painting, now available in my eBay store: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/A-Gallery-of-Art-by-Liam-Jones

Latest Paintings

This painting is titled "So Much Left unsaid".

And this painting is titled: "The Opposition's Intentions"

These paintings are cathartic! I call it my own personal art therapy. It reminds me of Bob Marley, what he said after he was shot. He said that he forgave them. And more, that he took a look at why these people did what they did and made a song of it. I say amen to that.

New Paintings

These are my latest abstract paintings, now for sale on eBay.





If you like these abstracts or hate these abstracts, let me know! Leave a comment.

There are more to come.

Liam's Choice Artists: Cecily Brown: Gifted, Rude Painter

Hard, Fast and Beautiful,
Oil on Canvas, 254 x 279cm2000
Cecily Brown

I've discovered a new favourite artist. I don't always have my eyes faced outward to see who's hot in the art world, but I suppose I should, especially if it's someone brilliant like Cecily Brown.

I've got to comment that I don't dig the pornographic content. Not that I have anything against women, or sexuality, but I do have something against porn. I'm a Christian, after all. I prefer a PG rating. This stuff is offensive in it's content. But it's Brown's delivery that is so compelling. Her skill is undeniable, and the viewing of her work is so engaging, it's hard to look away even though I'm staring at something lude. Something unredeemably and unrepentantly sinful.

Ah, that word "sinful". I can feel my inner mocker snickering.

Hold on while I jump up on my soapbox: It's a good thing to be sinful nowadays. Smoking pot, swearing, and in this case, explicit sex-- it's all a good thing. To most people. For instance, outside of my Christian circle, most guys love porn. Most girls, too. Porn stars are seen as completely liberated, and heralded as heroes, and even role models. There's no shortage of porn in art school. Art school is almost like a next phase of sex ed. Of course, all of this is wrong. It's the sign of the times, I guess. Maybe you disagree with me? Write a comment about it below. But I digress. I now jump down off my soapbox.

My favourite painting of Brown's that I've seen is "Hard, Fast and Beautiful" pictured above. I know, I know, call me a hypocrite, but hear me out: I love the work of Francis Bacon. I love modernist paintings, Manet, Van Gogh... I love photos blurred by movement. Cubism. I love sketchy work; work that don't tell the whole picture. Brown's work has something of all of these. It's like Brown is an amazing lyricist who swears during every otherwise great line. She's reached into a box of Lucky Charms and pulled out all the marshmallows. Mmmmn. Maaaarshmallows.

I love "Hard, Fast and Beautiful" for it's simpler composition. It somehow becomes bolder and showcases Brown's handling of the medium and how her mind works, which in my opinion, is borderline genius. Brown seems to have an infinite capacity for conveying much with very little. Most of Brown's works are very busy and full. I'm a minimalist at heart, so frenetic design is a bit of a turnoff normally, but not here. That being said, of course my favourite paintings by Brown remain the ones that say more with less instead of those saying more that's said with less, but there's more of it anyway.

This painting above is titled "New Louboutin Pumps." It's a great example of why I love Brown's work so much. I mean, look at this thing! It's loaded. It seems to reference Monet, or other Impressionaist painters and Francis Bacon. In addition to porn and voyeurism. I read that her dad was a great art critic, someone named David Sylvester, and she used to cruise galleries as a kid with Francis Bacon. I don't know. Don't trust everything you read online!

I find myself wondering how quickly does she finish one of these massive eye-epilipsy-causing, brain warping celebrations of hedonism? If I was a fly on the wall of her studio, what would I learn about painting? Does she think her way through so many moments of multiple angles, movement and distortion? Or does it just happen naturally? I hear she works on up to 20 canvases at one time. My kinda girl.

New Paintings Available

A new painting of Jesus, using a wash/drip technique, lots of texture and subtractive painting techniques, glazes and lots of passion.



Here is a new 12 panel abstract, it's called "Dante's Garden". A very modern multi panel abstract painting in reds, browns and golds, A "zen" decorative painting.



And this painting is my most recent horse painting. Equestrian art seems to really grab people. I think it's great excercise to sketch and paint horses, it keeps me sharp. The light, textured format meshes modern art with traditional subject matter. I call it "Horses Breaking Away".

"If" That Poem Could Actually Happen

"If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;"

This is an exerpt from "If". I used to read it on my grandma's fridge all the time, over and over. The words mezmerized me. They still do.

In painting, I meet with triumph and disaster daily. The creative process and the business of painting can be extreme experiences at times. The goal for me is just to stay steadfast.

Some days, getting out of bed is like being Wile E. Coyote falling from a mountaintop, smacking into a puff of dust on the ground.

But I get up, I thank God for the day, then curse as I walk to the bathroom, scratching myself. The dayjob is menial, but I'm thankful for it. All the crap going on around me takes it's toll, but whatever. I plod through. But when I walk into that studio, click on the lights and put on some Erik Satie, or Miles Davis, or pop music, or Elvis and start to work on a painting, I get lost. Art is like that sometimes for me: the focus is bliss. Thankfully, painting isn't just escapism; each successful painting is an arrow in the heart of my medioctrity. Each sale takes me one step closer to fulfilling goals. It's a big middle finger to the world that says "Artists never make money". Mwahahahahaaaa!

That poem on my gramma's fridge haunts my mind. Character is my greatest battle. (obviously.) Art and life are nothing in comparison. What really matters is being a man in the best sense of the word and being steadfast. Well, even if I never get there, (as though anyone really could!) Take what life dishes out and keep going.
Not triumphs nor disasters, ups nor downs, nor dreams, none of these are masters. Thinking is not an end unto itself, intelligence means very little... how much wisdom can be packed into one poem anyway? I'll have to thank my gramma when I see her next, on the other side. I bet she has a fridge there, too.

Liam
My eBay store
www.liamjonesfineart.com

What Is Art?

“What is art?”

It’s great fodder for coffee talk. Maybe it’s a topic that’s only for art class. Art means nothing to most folk. Some think it’s nothing more than a distraction. Some think it's only for decoration. Some think art is only for the rich, or the intellectual, or the pretentious, or the gay.

“What is art?” is a question that affects every artist like the phrase “my toilet is clogged” affects every plumber.

But maybe you’re wondering what is art to me? Ooh, that’s an opportunity to wax poetic. That’s an interview question I rehearse when I’m going to the bathroom. What, you think I’m joking? Doesn’t every artist fantasize so?

In my imagination I picture it like this: When I’m a big shot intellectual artist celebrity rivalling George Clooney for the best dressed, an interviewer stays up all night sweating about what to ask me the next day. We sit there, faking comfortable. He’s trying not to sound stupid. I’m trying not to sound arrogant. And he says:

“What is art to you?” (Oh Liam, great genius artist?)

And I pause. Channel Leonard Cohen. Then I open my mouth and say:

“Art is what keeps me from killing people.” (No, no no!)

Rewind.

“Art is the reason I don’t kill myself.” (Na, too Van Gogh. And we all know where THAT ends.)

“Art is my talent that I won’t bury in the ground.” (You know, from the bible? Na, “talent” could be misinterpreted for, like, artistic talent when it really means money—which is like selling out, which is totally true but I can’t admit that, at least until I have the status of Andy Warhol…)

“Art is what brings me closer to God.” (Na, too Nine Inch Nails.)

“Art is the thought that needs to be completed by action” (Oooh, that sounds intelligent.)

“Art is my mental overflow.” (Now I’m getting somewhere. But not quite…)

I got it, here’s something from the news:

“Art is a giant, inflatable dog turd caught in the wind, destroying people’s property.”

It's a true story! Check out the article here. Or paste this url into your browser to go to the news: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/artdesign/story/2008/08/12/poo-sculpture-escape.html?ref=rss

Okay, that’s my blog for today.

Liam

Welcome to

Liam Jones Fine Art

Toronto Ontario, Canada.

Visual music, devotional, decorative,

portrait, figures, landscape,

realistic and abstract paintings

in Acrylic and Oil.

Paintings in many sizes and price ranges

http://www.liamjones.ca/

http://stores.ebay.ca/Liam-Jones-Fine-Art