Timothy Jones’ Fine Art website

Well, I have been so spotty about contributing here lately at JA.O that I was hoping to do a couple of posts on topics of general interest before I came out with a shameless plug for my website, timothyjonesfineart.net.
I had planned to do one about our cat, Ozzie, for instance, but for some weird reason, I am not able to process images right now the way I have been, due to a mysterious software glitch. He is a Cat of Unusual Size. I photographed him next to a yardstick to give some sense of proportion.  Anyway, I want to assure everyone that it was going to be a pretty hilarious post, wherein I would make no mention of my new website, timothyjonesfineart.net.
I also had a post about Electric Light Orchestra on the back burner (somewhere behind my cerebellum), but this fell prey to my thumb-wrestling contest with Fortune City’s "Easy Site Builder" program, which is supposed to be kind of a sanitarium for the Technologically Challenged.
I have been working on the thing for several days, and I still have some bugs to work out. F’rinstance, I don’t have the e-mail feature of the site working yet, so visitors have to copy and paste my address into their e-mail program. R-r-r-r-r-…
See, I am on what you would call a rather spartan budget, so I had a choice: I could keep putting off the web page, or I could put it together myself. So I plunged in. The site does everything I wanted, so I can’t complain.
I published just a couple of days ago, but was still tweaking. Then I saw a post from Barbara Nicolosi in the combox, and I blurted out the address (timothyjonesfineart.net) in hopes she would drop by the site. I really admire Barbara’s work and enjoy her website, and I would respect her opinion as another member of the Catholic creative community.
So the chat is out of the carnassiére, so to speak. So, should you visit my site, thanks for dropping by. I hope you enjoy the art.
Wow! it occurs to me that I haven’t said anything in this post that people could really comment on (or work up a decent argument about), so reproduced below is the Mission Statement published on my website. There have been so many neat comments here lately about Art and Truth  and stuff (Michelle’s last about film, for example) that I was itching to jump in.

MISSION STATEMENT – Life, Truth, Beauty, Unity
“Painting is a language that can not be replaced by any other language.” – Michelangelo
LIFE – Philosophically,
I come from the perspective of historical, orthodox Christianity (I am
a Catholic), which means that I accept as given that the universe has a
point, a purpose that comes from beyond nature. Nature is, in
this way, a sort of continually unfolding metaphor. Creation points to
the Creator in all its details. In my art I hope to call attention to
the hand of God in nature, and so the purpose of my art is to point to
nature, which in turn points to God. In the words of Somerset Maugham –
“Art for art’s sake makes no more sense than gin for gin’s sake.”. Art
should represent, not an escape from life – or an attempt to set up
some independent or alternate reality – but a deeper understanding of
life.
TRUTH – Artistically,
I am a “classical realist”, though the definition of “realism” can be
somewhat flexible. Without getting into a long discussion (I’ll save
that for the blog) I can describe it as art that is faithful to nature.
That does not necessarily mean “photographic” or highly detailed. It
does not mean expressionless copying. The great impressionists (like
Monet) played down details and defined edges in favor of emphasizing
light and color, but they were describing a natural light and natural
colors, not mere invented color harmonies or abstraction. They were
still in love with their subject. This type of art is (consciously or
not) an act of worship. Art should tell the truth while appealing to
the higher aspirations of the human spirit, not pandering to the baser
instincts or following the latest fads.
BEAUTY – All
who admire nature glorify God, whether or not they mean to. My job is
to help people to admire nature. I hope that my artwork will encourage
those who view it to slow down, to observe carefully, and to appreciate
the infinite, exuberant complexity and beauty of the world. I am
fascinated with every piece of fruit, and I hope this comes through in
my paintings.
UNITY – All
things find their meaning and purpose in their Creator. Life, truth and
beauty together constitute a unity or harmony of purpose that reflects
the significance of a fully human existence. An attack on one of these
principals is an attack on all. Art that celebrates ugliness,
destruction or meaninglessness could therefore be described as
sub-human or even anti-human.

The above described approach to
art and nature is independent of any use of overt symbolism or
religious imagery. It is a kind of visual philosophy.