Paintings and Sculptures. Please Touch.

The art of Bruce Jones will be featured in a new exhibit at the Dolphin Gallery during May. Opening reception is Saturday, May 4, 2019 from 5 PM to 7 PM.

Jones is enthusiastic about returning to Dolphin Gallery in May. “I’ve always drawn and painted. When I was a kid I liked to draw and paint but was not happy with the way any of my art work came out. Then, late in my teens, I found that I could sometimes do art that satisfied me – probably because of better muscular coordination. I didn’t try to make a living doing art, but I always did it for fun and relaxation. My mother called me up in 1987 and suggested that we take a watercolor workshop together at Sitka, on the Oregon Coast. We took an excellent five day course and I’ve been drawing and painting regularly since.

We sold the Bay Area company I was working for in 2000, and moved to Gualala full time, which was my ticket to try art fulltime — I loved it and kept getting better at it. Then in 2004, I took Robert Milhollin’s stone carving class and began sculpting regularly.  I tried ceramics and paper mache, but stone carving was the most satisfying.

What do watercolor and stone carving have in common for me?  First, both are about shapes – lights/darks, colors and textures are secondary. Second, with both you always need to keep in mind what you are leaving. In watercolor and with ink, you are leaving whites. The “left whites” are just as important as the darks. And with stone, as Michaelangelo said, you cut away everything except what you want to keep.”

In this Dolphin show…

THE PAINTINGS

“During the past year the subject matter I’m interested in has varied from insects to peoples’ hands and bodies; to the landscapes of local farm lands; to cityscapes of San Francisco, Alameda and Oakland; and coastal trees, rocks and ocean. As you see, unlike many watercolor artists, I like strong darks and distinct shapes. Use of inks is helpful with these preferences so I often use ink in my watercolors.”

THE SCULPTURES

For this show, I carved one piece of soapstone, several of alabaster, one of calcite and several of marble. The hardest rock I worked on was the “picasso stone” carving “Picasso’s Penguin.” It is so hard I broke three chisels on it. When a chisel stutters on one of the black rocks in picasso stone it makes sparks like flint would.  This rock will definitely hold up to the weather outside, as will the marble, whereas the alabaster and calcite will start breaking down in the winter rains, so they need to be kept indoors.

Hope you like the show…