“Wodaabe Men”

I started painting in oils in early 2022, and although I’m not sure I’ve improved much, I am taking it more seriously. Here’s an effort from last year. “Wodaabe Men,” oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches, 2023, Bill Jones, Jr.

Finding Vincent Van Gogh

I’m not back on social media, but I wanted to share what I think is a cool “discovery” my wife and I made — a possible photograph of Vincent Van Gogh and his brother, Theo. Now, before I start, let me tell you the “facts.” One, there are a number of confirmed photos of Theo,…

Working in Monochrome.

Originally posted on Maria Jones-Phillips Art:
As an artist I usually prefer to work in colour. However, as with photography, when devising a composition, one of the important questions to ask yourself is: How do I best represent my subject? Sometimes, monochrome is a better fit. Let me explain why. Family – Graphite on bristol…

Sunset Watercolours

Originally posted on Diary of a Person Being Human:
I have a number of painting projects on the go to take me through most of this year, I should imagine. In between commissions and larger personal projects, I like to do these often quick, whimsical pieces. Here’s a couple of recent watercolours done in one…

History of Street Photographers, Track A, Part 12 – Elliott Erwitt

And now, after a five-year absence, here we are again as though nothing has happened. In truth, nothing much has. We suspended the series primarily because blogging turned out to be a horrible way of reaching people. Though we get intermittent readers, most of the people who stopped by were other bloggers, doing so, in…

Louise Rosskam, in Color

WITHIN this website, on any number of occasions, we have held discussions on the merits of color versus black and white photography. I won’t repeat those here, or even bother to link to them (because I can’t be arsed to look them up). Instead, I will post below some photos from FSA photographer Louise Rosskam,…

The Photography of Edwin Rosskam, Chicago, 1941

Farm Service Administration (FSA) photographer Edwin Rosskam is not as widely known as some of the FSA’s other artists. However, his work (and that of his wife, Louise Rosskam) needs to be known and preserved. Rather than waste a great deal of space detailing Rosskam’s history, I’ll let his own words speak for him :…

The Fallacy of Fiction

There is something unreal in the world of fiction. Now get me right; I’ve written fiction, so I understand that unreality is kind of the point. However, it sometimes leaves a plastic sheen that the producers of the work didn’t intend. Writers write too hard. Actors try to hard to achieve the beneath-the-nail grit that…

How to Add Layers into Your Writing

Reprinted with permission from thisblogblank.wordpress.com, 12/19/2018. After watching my wife work on a couple of her oil paintings, I’ve come to realize that producing a work of fiction is very similar to creating a painting. Too many new writers have unrealistically low expectations about how good a first draft can be due to an overabundance…

You’re Not Alone

I’ve always held to the radical belief that writers should be able to write, painters to paint, and singers to sing. Now I’ve had the fortune of marrying a woman who can do all three things, and let me tell you, even for the talented, it’s damned hard to be discovered. Being remembered seems impossible.…