Robert Jones

Available for sale from Big Sky Fine Art in the English county of Dorset, this original oil painting is by the Cornish artist Robert Jones and is dated 1995.<br> The painting is presented and supplied in its original frame and mount (which are shown in these photographs) and behind glass. <br> This painting is in very good condition and presents very well. It wants for nothing and is ready to hang and display. <br> The painting is signed and dated lower right and titled on the reverse.<br> <br> Robert Jones is a British artist and teacher who belongs to a long line of sea painters working on the Cornish coast. <br> <br> He was born in Newquay, Cornwall in 1943 and grew up alongside the wild Cornish coast. As a child he roamed the coves and cliffs with his friends, gaining an understanding of the elements, the weather, tides and sea conditions. He started painting at an early age, always representing his coastal environment.<br> <br> Jones attended Cornwall Technical College and the Redruth School of Art before studying at the Falmouth School of Art. At the time he was one of only 65 students and all of the tutors were painters and sculptors in their own right. Whilst studying there he was greatly influenced by Francis Hewlett and Robert Organ. He then took various jobs before attending the Manchester School of Art, where he met Susie, his future wife. Lack of finance curtailed his studies there, but the couple married and then spent time in a kibbutz in Israel. They then returned to the UK, and he completed a teacher training course in Brighton before going on to take up a teaching post for three years at the famous Summerhill School in Sussex. <br> <br> Jones returned to Cornwall with his wife on the birth of their first child and he took up fishing and crabbing as an occupation, only painting in his spare time. For seven years he caught mackerel in the winter and worked the crab and lobster pots in the summers. Although he ended up as skipper of a 38ft Crabber with two or three crew he always hoped to make his living as an artist. In 1982 some of his drawings were shown at the British Drawing Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, and then, in his forties, he found the confidence to return to teaching and art. His first solo show was in Penzance in 1987 and was a sell-out. By the following year his career as an artist had truly taken off.<br> <br> For a while he combined painting with part-time teaching at the Penzance School of Art and Falmouth College of Art to supplement his income. Later, the was able to combine full-time painting and writing, and excelled at both. He was very proud of the fact that he was then able to support his wife and five children through his work as an artist. <br> <br> Jones became a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists and is also a member of the Penwith Society of Artists, the prestigious collective former by Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson in St Ives. His work was included in the 1989 Newlyn Orion Galleries show ‘A Century of Art in Cornwall 1889-1989’, also in ‘Falmouth Connections’ at Falmouth Art Gallery, 1994 and ‘Porthmeor, A Century of Images’ at the Tate Gallery, St Ives, 1995. His first London show was organised by Thomas Henry Fine Art at Gallery 27 in 1997. He has also exhibited work in Bath, Taunton, Oxford and Newlyn. Today, his works are recognised and collected nationally. <br> <br> The inspiration for Robert’s work is always the beaches, coves and cliffs of his home coastline. He has an innate understanding of the light and weather conditions, but his works are also strongly grounded in theory too, with scale and proportions being equally important considerations. Although he has been painting the land and seascapes of Cornwall for over three decades his work always has a freshness and dynamism. He says, “I am always finding something fresh to paint, there’s always something new to catch my eye”.<br> <br> As an author, Robert Jones is renowned for his books on Alfred Wallis and Reuben Chappell, and has delivered lectures on these artists around the world. <br> <br> © Big Sky Fine Art<br> <br> This original oil on board painting by Robert Jones features the cliffs on the north Cornish coast. Like many of his works it expertly captures the light and a sense of perspective, looking down from the cliff tops into the movement of the sea below. It is an expansive and inspiring piece.