Spontaneous Texture: 12x12 Artist Micheal W. Jones

Guest Author: Jessika Davis, OVAC Intern

For this year's 12x12 Art Fundraiser, artist Micheal W. Jones created Sunflower Bouquet, an acrylic painting that uses energetic brushstrokes to convey the life and color of the subject. We emailed Micheal to hear about his process. Below is our Q&A.

Davis:The brush strokes seem very spontaneous with lots of texture making the flowers pop off of the canvas. Could you describe your painting style? What inspired the brush techniques?
Jones: In addition to my acrylic paintings, I also work as a water-colorist   In fact, most of my early training was in watercolor. 

The spontaneity of watercolor painting has naturally been transferred to my acrylic painting.  This spontaneity, combined with a love of visual and tactile texture and impressionist treatment of color, are characteristics which please me as an artist, and result in paintings which convey my personal philosophy of art.

The painting is built up in layers, working over the whole canvas at once.  Many of the techniques I use, such as layering and negative painting are a result of my watercolor training.

Micheal W. Jones, Broken Arrow, Sunflower Bouquet, Acrylic

On your Virtual Gallery submission, your page states that some of your works like your mezzotints are exhibited in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Could you further explain how that came about?
In addition to my painting, I am also a printmaker, and a large part of my Master’s degree concerned innovative printmaking techniques.  

As a part of these studies, I was fascinated with the traditional, labor intensive forms of early printmaking.  As a result, I determined to teach myself the ancient art of mezzotint.  After several years of work, I became a member of the International Mezzotint Society, a group of mezzotint artists from around the world, and was invited to submit my prints for exhibition to the International Mezzotint Exhibit in Yekaterinberg, Russia.  

Two sets of my mezzotints have toured Russia with that exhibit, and are now in the permanent collection of the Yekaterinberg Museum of Art.  

View and bid on this artwork as part of the 12x12 Art Fundraiser September 20th, along with food, fun and 149 other artists. Preview the artwork for the one-night event and purchase tickets here: www.12x12okc.org.