02 May Artist Spotlights: Jacqueline Jones

Jacqueline Jones brings a fresh perspective to her paintings of the West. Raised and trained as an artist in New England, which she still calls home, in recent years, she’s been paying regular visits to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and the Desert Southwest, reveling in the new vistas they provide for creative expression. “There’s grand, rugged, graceful drama to be found everywhere you look,” she says of the region. “From any view, you can get a painting with jaw-dropping excitement.”

Photo: Rob Karosis

Jones grew up in the rural town of Colchester, Connecticut, the fourth of five children and the only girl. A self-described tomboy, she spent her childhood “running around the fields and building forts in the woods.” She also exhibited artistic talent at an early age. “In third grade, one of the older kids in our school came into our class, drew a likeness of someone, and taught me how. So, I did a portrait of my best friend. She took it home and her mother marveled at it and put it on the refrigerator. That was the first accolade I got as an artist.” Soon after, her aunt gave her a book on how to draw trees, “so I went off into the woods and did a sketch from life.” Her mom signed her up at the age of 12 for three-hour traditional oil-painting classes each Saturday with local artist Joseph Gionfriddo. “He taught me not to be afraid of the paint and to find the freedom of using my arm and body.” To this day, such an approach contributes to her richly expressive realist style.

Foot of the Bighorns | Oil on Linen | 16 x 20 inches | 2024

In the mid-1980s, Jones earned a degree in graphic design and illustration from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. She went on to a successful and diverse design career — while also painting and selling watercolors in her spare time. Eventually, following a move back to Connecticut and raising two daughters, she plunged back into oil painting, earning a bachelor’s degree from the Lyme Academy College of Fine Art and winning a steady stream of accolades at plein air events nationwide. In 2020, she was among a handful of artists invited to participate in an event entitled New England Artists Paint Big Horn at the Brinton Museum, where she received the People’s Choice Award. Jones has maintained a close relationship with that institution, which recently purchased one of her works for its permanent collection.

Cloud Break on the Beartooth | Oil on Linen | 30 x 40 inches | 2024

Yet, for all the sense of place that she brings to her paintings, much of Jones’ art draws its quiet power from her underlying sense of design. “A strong composition is number one for me,” she says. “Capturing the way light plays against the abstract forms in nature helps me express the beauty of my subjects.”

Jones’ work will appear in the Bighorn Rendezvous Exhibit at The Brinton Museum from July 9 through August 27. Her work is represented by Bayview Gallery in Brunswick, Maine; The Gallery at Somes Sound in Somesville, Maine; Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville, Vermont; Vermont Artisan Designs in Brattleboro, Vermont; Folly Cove Fine Art in Gloucester, Massachusetts; and Finer Line Gallery in Mystic, Connecticut.