Linda Jones, Springmoor resident and colored pencil artist
With a point and shoot camera and her colored pencils, Linda Jones is ready to start a new piece of art. She takes her camera on most of her outings. Sometimes she is on a mission to find new subjects to paint. Other times, she is out and about and sees something she thinks would make a beautiful piece. Planned and unplanned, she never knows where she will find her next subject.
Linda’s point and shoot
The Camera
Linda’s pieces are taken from snapshots of nature. She has found her subject matter in the backyard of her home, on walks in her North Raleigh neighborhood, at the beach and in the barnyard. She takes her camera on all of her vacation excursions too. She recently finished a piece from the shores of the Pacific Northwest.
As a child, Linda loved to draw. Growing up outside a small town in Cabarrus County, she never had any formal art training. It wasn’t until after college and living in Richmond that she took her first oil painting class. She and Putney, her husband, moved to Raleigh from Richmond twenty-five years ago. Their daughter was a freshman at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. It was only ten years ago that she discovered the Sertoma Arts Center and began taking classes again. She had tried her hand at watercolors but realized this was not her favorite medium. At a North Carolina Botanical Garden class in Chapel Hill, she discovered colored pencils, which has now become the medium she continues to develop.
The photograph and the drawing
The Photograph
Everything that she draws comes from her own photographs. She takes lots of photographs and, with the computer at a nearby printing service center, she finds the best angle, zooms in to the perfect size and crops the photograph to use for her working sketch. Linda usually works on one piece at a time, sitting on her cozy living room couch with her drawing board in her lap. During her busy selling season, you may find her doing multiple small pieces all at the same time. She says some of these peak her interest for a while and then she is ready to move on to another one. Going back and forth between landscapes, animals and florals keeps her mind energized and the creativity flowing.
The Pacific Northwest, taken from a photograph painting on one of the Jones’ vacations
The Exhibits
This summer Linda had a solo show at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. She has also exhibited with the Colored Pencil Society of America in three North Carolina Aquariums and the art centers in Apex and Cary. The North Carolina State Fair has been one of her favorite places to show her work. Winning a blue ribbon – Best North Carolina Agricultural Scene – in 2014 for her Sir Galloway and in 2016 for her Tennessee Fainting Goat paintings. Both awards were very exciting! She participates in several art shows during the year to sell her work. The holiday Boylan Heights Artwalk and the spring Front Porch Artwalk in downtown Raleigh are well known for their artists and craftsmen exhibiting glasswork, jewelry, paintings and ceramics. Linda works on a few small pieces for these shows. She also sells her larger works and her printed notecards.
Autumn Leaves from Linda’s Raleigh neighborhood
The Volunteer
Majoring in education and library science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Linda has found a place at Springmoor to use her other talents too. She has become the buyer for our library. Several other resident volunteers have been gradually pulling older editions off the shelves making room for her new selections. Donations and an annual budget help keep the circulations current. An avid reader, she says she puts North Carolina author, Lee Smith, at the top of her favorite’s list. Springmoor’s new Meraki Arts Studio is also providing her with a few new creative mediums to explore. She has never done any ceramics but looks forward to a taking a few classes next spring. Linda was our featured artist in the studio during the month of November.
The Meraki Arts Studio at Springmoor with featured artist, Linda Jones
The Artist
Asked about her style, Linda says, “The focus of my art is the extraordinary beauty I see in nature, whether in a plant, animal or landscape. My hope is that the viewer will be inspired by the wonders found in everyday nature and will be more conscious of the importance of preserving our planet.” We are happy that Linda and Putney Jones have made Springmoor their new home and look forward to seeing nature through Linda’s eyes on the walls of our studio and in the galleries and shows around Raleigh.
The lush landscaping and the natural beauty surrounding our North Raleigh location, as Linda has found, should not be missed. The library and the arts studio are just a few of the many amenities Springmoor has to offer. We would love to schedule a tour to show you our campus. We look forward to meeting you soon.
