Mr. Jones studio is in Jersey City, New Jersey. Early on, he sent me a picture of his "window farming", showing although he spends most of his day in the apartment, rather than outdoors, he has no lack of greenery in his life. He tends people with the same care he does his plants.
The old American flag has been moved from his living room to his studio.
"...I'm starting (the tree drawing) with the trunk and then many limbs. Right now it looks like an octopus laid out on the sand. I've never tried drawing a tree in detail and it's all new ground. It's the tree in early spring before the leaves but ground foliage has started. The main problem I have is that the tree will look like a dead tree if I ever get that far. Every minute I'm working on it I think I should call it a day and start something else. I was watching History Channel's show(s) on DaVinci and it turns out he started many drawings that he never finished. I'm like that too but I try not to follow through with the thought. So I'll keep working on it a little more and then start another vase. (the third) Back to the tree. It is out now in full leaves as it is almost summer. There are more leaves on that tree than I thought was possible because it is so healthy and there are so many branches. It is short too as you would think of Maples or Oaks. It looks like a big bonsai tree if you see the whole thing. So I may put on a few buds or little leaves so it doesn't look dead. I don't want that. I pass the real one almost every day for the past ten years and it's become part of my agenda. I don't even know what kind of tree it is but it is entirely pink in late April. So maybe it's in the fruit tree family. It is VERY gnarly. There are a hundred small branches and thousands of twigs. Why do I do this?"
" Here's the tree as of yesterday. It is now about 1/3 done. Mostly secondary branches to go and then putting in bark detail. I'm still not working full time on it so I'm guessing I have two months to go. " (Correspondence 6/14/13)
"Here's a section of the tree I'm drawing a version of. I've never seen somany branches or twigs. I'm not drawing many of them but I just wanted to show you what I'm making up the drawing from. I am using the base of the tree as true but the rest is made up.
Just taking a brake. "
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Jersey City Tree June 22, 2014 |
