These are all pen and ink on 8.5 x 11 inch sketchbook paper; they are undated but are likely from the 1990s or later:
Look Here: Four Sketches by Jeffrey Jones
Tag: Jeffrey “Jeff” Catherine Jones
Jeffrey Jones on artistic freedom…
The first time I saw the following hand-written letter, it was for sale on ebay. Having been an admirer of Jones’s ongoing self-education and steady development as an artist since the early 1980s, when in my late teens I purchased in quick succession the three Dragon’s Dream books, The Studio, Yesterday’s Lily, and Idyl, I was sorely tempted. But I could not afford at the time to bid for it — or, at least, I didn’t feel like I could justify the expense to my wife — so I let it slip through my fingers. However, as a compensation of sorts, I saved the JPEG from the auction listing so that I could re-read it later for inspiration, because the fact is that I DID, for various personal and professional reasons I won’t go into here, find it tremendously inspiring. But then, somehow, I misplaced the JPEG when I moved all my e-stuff to a new computer, this computer, and the fact is, I thought at that point I would never get to read it again. And I was okay with that. I shrugged and moved on. It wasn’t that big a deal. But today is my lucky day, because here it is:
Small things, even ill-favoured things, are treasure when they are truly one’s own.
———-
Thanks to Rob Pistella for inviting me to use scans from his CAF gallery on this blog. Rob has a terrific and growing collection of artwork (and ephemera!) by Jeffrey Jones, and I am delighted to be in a position to highlight some of those items here.
Look Here: “The Gulf” by Jeffrey Jones
Another landscape painting created en plein air by you-know-who:
Click here to view more landscapes by the same artist.
Look Here: Various prints by Jeffrey Jones
If you’re a fan of Jeffrey Jones’s art, and you’d love a lovely print to hang on your wall, Todd Adams of Glimmer Graphics has a number of items that might interest you:
Although the above images — with the exception Age of Innocence and Native Son — were provided via email directly to me, RC, by publisher Todd Adams, the information regarding sizes, prices, dates, and so on, in the captions under each image is NOT official and is included simply to give you a general idea of what to expect should you decide to contact Todd to place an order.
In other words, any errors here are the sole responsibility of this Web site, which is in no way associated with Todd Adams or his company, Glimmer Graphics.
Todd’s contact email, which I’m making available here with Todd’s permission, is neo1948@comcast.net, and I can tell you from first-hand experience that Todd DOES accept payment via PayPal, which to me as a buyer is always a plus for online transactions.
Todd’s website, again: Glimmer Graphics. Check it out!
Look Here: Caveman/Neanderthal Painting and Sculpture by Jeffrey Jones
Here’s a revealing process sequence from Jeff Jones’s old Web site — I think I have them in the right order, except for the closeup at the end, which seems to come at a stage before the final shot of the full painting — along with three views of an absolutely first-rate sculpture (dated 1973) by Jones that appears to have been the model for the caveman in the painting, which I believe was created sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s:
I wish the images were larger, but as I’ve said before, beggars can’t be choosers…
Look Here: “Jones Touch” (1972) by Jeffrey Jones
Here are three “Jones Touch” strips, all dated 1972, that were originally published in Swank Magazine:
Fantagraphics published a comic-book collection of “Jones Touch” strips in 1993 under their Eros imprint, but the book is long out of print. So if anyone has a copy they would be willing to sell me for a decent price, just let me know, because although I don’t own it, I would very much like to.
UPDATE:
Turns out, I’ve been barking up the wrong trees, looking for the Eros “Jones Touch” collection in old back-issue bins and on ebay.ca, abebooks.com, etc., because Eros still lists the book in their Web catalogue. I was prompted to check the Eros catalogue by a recent post on the Fantagraphics blog, which — thank you very much — includes a link to RCN. I have placed an order, and will report back when the book arrives.
ANOTHER UPDATE:
Well, Fantagraphic’s “Jones Touch” collection is a huge disappointment. It’s in black and white rather than colour, and it simply doesn’t do justice to Jones’s work at all. No wonder copies were still available from the publisher 16 years after the comic was published.
Look Here: Two from 1972, by Jeffrey Jones
I do believe these are from the “Jones Touch” series of strips that was published in Swank Magazine:
What a difference good paper makes to the quality of the scans!
Look Here: Jeffrey Jones’s “Epic Illustrated” Cover
Look Here, Read: SPASM! (1973) by Jeffrey Jones
My apologies in advance for the poor quality of the scans in this post. It’s not easy to get decent results from thin, yellowing newsprint. But if you’re like me, you don’t want scans. You want a hardcover omnibus of every comic Jeffrey Jones has produced!
Published by Last Gasp in 1973 (36 years ago!), Spasm! collects the following short stories, all written and drawn by Jones, solo, for various pro and fan publications: “Co-Incidence” (2 pages), “Spirit of ’76” (4 pages), “Saved” (2 pages), “The Enemy” (5 pages), “Luce” (2 pages), “Deja-Vu” (4 pages), “The Bridge” (3 pages), “Guarantee” (4 pages), and “Death” (5 pages).
Notice that Jones’s distinctive J-cartouche on the back cover is upside down. That’s no mistake on my part; rather, it’s the way the piece was printed. In fact, the identical motif of the woman cradling and kissing the skull also appears, with the same orientation, in a painting and a drawing I posted earlier. Then again, the back cover of Spasm! is reprinted, with the J-cartouche right-side up, in The Art of Jeffrey Jones (Underwood Books, 2002). So…
Here, Read: “A Recollecting Remembrance” by Jeffrey Jones
On offer this time round at RCN is a touching concatenation of fragile biographical reminiscences rescued from Jeffrey Jones’s former Web site; the header of the HTML source lists a “publicationdate” of “122197” (December 21, 1997) and a “version” date of “12.20.2003” (December 20, 2003). Since the piece is a bit too long to display comfortably, in its entirety, in-line with my other blog entries, please click here to jump to a separate blog page that includes the full text of “A Recollecting Remembrance” by Jeffrey Jones.
Ragged Claws Network 