"Quiet Spring" or Sarah's flowers?

From Rose:

  Years ago, we lived near an ornery old woman named Sarah who liked to fish and listen to the old farmers gossip and drink coffee down at the bar in the tiny town where my husband taught. She went to the bar for coffee because the old ladies at the quilting circle down at the city building kicked her out for talking too much. Rather than let it get to her, she went to the bar, which was a lot more fun, anyhow. In spite of all this, she was the flower lady at the catholic church, and every week she placed flowers on the altar from the yard around her home that had more flowers than blades of grass. She gave me bulbs of her purple iris that I loved and I've kept them alive for 5 moves and 20 years. Every spring, on the anniversary of her death, the luscious light purple iris bloom, and I remember how much more fun it is not to "fit in", and how much I am like Sarah.

And I revel in all of our beauty.She loved sunsets, flowers, and children, especially children. "God has counted the hairs on our heads." she used to tell them, to let them know they were important.

Now, I've got to tell you, I've looked at Quiet Spring a thousand times, and each time it becomes more alive to me.  If I knock at that door, I know Sarah is behind it, and I will see her smile again.  Or at least that's the way it seems...

Thanks for reading,
 Rose.

To contact Artist:

Carroll Jones III

P.O. Box 3090

Jersey City, NJ  07303

cjones3rd@gmail.com

Wrapped in Tiffany Paper

Endings by Carroll Jones III

  Mr. Jones is not one to toot his own horn, he's pretty humble, and thankful he is able to make a living being an artist.

  He is not an ordinary artist. His realism paintings and drawings are as close to perfection as he can get.  He may work on them for weeks,months or even years. His attention to detail, light, color give a brightness to his work that almost makes it come alive.  We feel as though we have been there. Or, as in the case of Endings, wish we could be there.


  So many think the artist's lifestyle is bohemian, free spirited. For some it is.  For those who stay, who make a living, it is filled with hours of intense concentration. In this case, the artist, Carroll Jones III of New Jersey sees the finished work in his mind.  Over 50 years of preparation have helped him to anticipate the steps it takes to arrive at the end result. In his studio in Jersey City, overlooking the Hudson and NYC across the bay, he works 8 hours a day 7 days a week with the company of Percy and  Cally, his red tabby and calico. No vacations, no sick days, he doesn't begrudge the gift of making a living doing what he loves.  Once he enters the studio, he enters into another existence, outside the noise and bustle of everyday living, settling into the most comfortable place to be.

   Mr. Jones' work is in the Montclair Museum Collection among many others. Coe Kerr Gallery of NYC once represented him, as well as Andrew and Jamie Wyeth. Private collections include those of Malcolm Forbes, Stephen Sondheim, Frederick R Koch (who gave him a $25,000 grant, which Mr. Jones relates he received "from out of nowhere"), Jean Shepherd, and William Schuman, all of whom appreciated his exacting craft, his master skill.  Art Critic Marion Filler of the Daily Record referred to Mr. Jones as a quiet man who was "the Keeper of Time's Flame". The vignettes he draws and paints come to life for those who see his work. He makes the commonplace beautiful, he sets the stage for our memories. His work has been compared to Andrew Wyeth's, referring to himself as "the poor man's Andrew Wyeth".  He was heavily influenced by Edward Hopper, a student of Robert Henri, of the Ashcan School. His first teacher was his father, Carroll Jones, Junior who was an illustrator for Life magazine and a good friend of Norman Rockwell.

   Mr. Jones made a successful living doing portraits for many years before realizing his vision was somewhere else. 

   
   His quote from Midwest Art Magazine:
          " In all these paintings there are no people. I just want the presence of
            the people there. You can't evoke all of history if a single person
            comes along. By having nobody there, you evoke the presence of
            everyone whose ever been there...I made the plates for Another
            August...This young black kid, maybe 16 or 17 years old, came up
            and told me...(it) looked like the candy store he had gone into as a
            little kid in upper New York state somewhere and he said, 'I can
            feel the place: that's the exact same door that I walked through'. And
            then I felt like I was a success. I felt that's who I want to reach, that's
            exactly what I'm about."

His work is a gift to us.  He should be taken care of, his work taken care of.  He is a precious jewel.

To contact Artist:

Carroll Jones III

P.O. Box 3090

Jersey City, NJ  07303

cjones3rd@gmail.com

Calico Studies LIVE from New Jersey!

Cally the Kitty

"When I got Percy and Cally 7 years ago Cally was named Paris. I couldn't stand hearing about Paris Hilton then at all so I renamed her after my father's father's nickname. Cally. He was born in Wales and I guess that's common over there. I don't know. He was the first Carroll. Maybe that was tough for him too. I was for me in the early days. ("Carroll's a girls name") I got that all the time when young. I spoke to the lady at PetSmart a year later and she said she named Percy and Paris. She named the cat Paris because of the goatee she has. That was good to know."

Working on Water Bucket (pronounced boo-kay) #3:   From the Studio

"I included the pic of the water bucket I'm doing now LIVE. You can see my set up. The drawing is much more complected and darker than what you see here.......I guess the light is making it glare. I'm very happy with it. You can see the pallet for the Shore House still on the desk. Just put plastic over it because I'm too tired to clean up. I still have two clocks I haven't set back.  Also Happy New Year. For some reason I think 2014 is going to be a better year,"

Water Bucket #3 (Jan 2, 2013)

~Note from Rose:  Couldn't help but notice the colors...how strikingly similar they were when comparing Cally's photo and that of the studio shot of the work in progress.~

 

Percy

 

Addendum: 

Mr. Jones sent an old picture of  'one of (?)' his previous pairs of cats.  It was just so pretty and I thought it belonged here.

'Pusa and Maxine 1988'

"I moved to Hoboken with Maxine and an unnamed cat in 1978. I couldn't think of a name for her and so she remained just 'cat'. After a while a total Hobokenite, Mike DaPuzzio, a house painter and blue collar worker helped me out a lot. He fixed up abandoned homes and sold them for a profit. Probably the beginning of "Flip". He got me a desk and a couple of stools and became a friend sort of out there somewhere. He didn't want anything. He just knew I had little and wanted to help out. So I named the cat after him. Puza. I couldn't call the cat Mike Dapuzzio but Puza was much easier to say. Puza lived to 22 and was healthy all her life except the last two days. Her heart gave out. I drove her up to Ann Marchev's house in Summit and buried her there. Ann's daughter is Diane Hendriks who helped you with your blog."