A Dino ‘sneaky peek’

Last time it was an ancient mummy ‘sneaky peek’ today it’s a dino ‘sneaky peek’! Anyone that knows me will know how much I love dinosaurs and how much I like devoting my work to them, so my latest project is a real labour of love and I can’t resist sharing this drawing of a Hypsilophodon with you...

Update: The completed painting can be seen on this eBay listing by my good friend Neovenator who has a lovely replica of a Hypsilophodon’s footprint! Check it out here.











© Arfon Jones 2015. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

A relaxing getaway at Baskerville Hall

Last month Mrs Jones and I had a much needed, midweek recharging at Baskerville Hall… yes, that one.
Situated in Powys, Mid Wales the Baskerville Hall Hotel overlooks the River Wye just a couple of miles from Hay-On-Wye, the famous town of books, bliss! The Hall was built in 1839 by the Baskerville family, relations of the Dukes of Normandy that first came to Britain to help William the Conqueror in 1066. It has been reported  that family friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a frequent visitor to the Hall and that he was apparently inspired by the local legend of a ghostly hound. The story goes that he set his most famous case in Devon instead of Powys at the request of his friends "to ward off tourists" now a hotel for tourists it is equipped with all amenities en-suite bedrooms, tea and coffee-making facilities, restaurant/ bar and several ghosts.
There certainly is an air of Grandeur as you drive up to Baskerville Hall, we were quite excited as we got the case out of the car. I was rather taken by the stone hound sitting above the entranceway- I dare say its a relatively new addition to this 19th century building but such things appeal to me…
As you walk in the main staircase immediately strikes you is the staircase with a fireplace at the top of the stairs.  This staircase is a paranormal focal point as it seems that many guests and staff have seen a ghostly figure (reportedly an elegantly dressed woman) walking up/down the stairs. Unfortunately our guide, ‘Haunted Britain’ let us down somewhat on this particular location as author Antony D.Hippisley openly admitted that Brecknockshire was, “one county in Wales that I have failed, so far to visit” however just over the border in Herefordshire the book tells of a Hergest Court. Hergest Court was the seat of the Vaughans for several centuries. Sir Thomas, known as Black Vaughn was taken prisoner and beheaded in 1483 and apparently as his head fell, it was seized by his faithful black bloodhound and ever since both he and his dog have been sighted hovering above the moat. “He and the dog, in spectral form, either separately or together, haunt the roads to Kington Church, 2 miles away, and back to the Welsh boarder near the Black Vaughn tree. Attempts to exorcise Herguest by twelve clergymen have apparently failed.”

it would certainly seem that this could have been what inspired Conan Doyle. We couldn’t resist a quick visit to Hergest Court, now a tranquil looking farmhouse (left) before returning to the hotel for a pleasant meal. Having spent an equally pleasant evening looking around the original features we then retired to our room

(filled with a few outdated features...*) and watched the 1939 adaptation ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Unfortunately, we witnessed neither ghostly goings on nor baying hounds, a great shame, as we would have gladly paid extra for that.

*UPDATE: Its not often one sees a bed that they have slept in on TV but that's just what happened when we watched Salvage Hunters! Episode 1 of series 3 saw decorative antique dealer and treasure hunter Drew Pritchard invited to Baskerville Hall Hotel to seek out potential antiques and quirky furniture for resale but politely declines the 1980's blue velour double bed with inbuilt light, mirror, radio and alarm clock with matching wardrobe and dressing table that we used during our stay!

 

 

© Arfon Jones 2015. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Facebook 5 A DAY

On the 29th of January my arch nemesis James Richardson Brown challenged me to a #Five-Day Art Challenge, rather like a chain letter for artists the nominee must post an example of their work on Facebook for five days. With each day another artist must be nominated. As I often share my work on facebook and it didn’t involve a bucket of ice water I happily accepted the challenge!

 Day one: January 30th ‘Womblus Wimbledon Vulgaris’ better known as the Common Wimbledon Womble. As seen at the Asylum, Lincoln in 2011, Waltz on the Wye, Chepstow, 2012, The Hidden Worlds: Hidden Artists exhibition at the School of Biological Sciences Bangor and the Galeri, Caernarfon in 2013 and the 2014 Bangor Museum & Art Gallery’s 19th annual open art exhibition at Bangor.
I nominated Marc Roberts.

Day two: January 31st 'Ghostwatch' based on the fantastically brilliant 'Ghostwatch' from 1992 this painting has been used for both Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains documentary dvd and books. By the way there are several cats/references to cats hidden in the image...
I nominated Lisa Hudson.

Day three: February 1st  ‘Mus Digitatus’ Fingermouse was first seen at Waltz on the Wye, Chepstow, 2012 and the 2014 Bangor Museum & Art Gallery’s 19th annual open art exhibition at Bangor. It also made an appearance on S4C’s 'Y Lle' program back in 2012. Full approval was given by "Yoffy" himself Mr. Rick Jones whom sent a delightfully encouraging e-mail before sharing it with his Twitter followers. Photograph by Mr PP Gettins. I nominated Ril'riia Kil'urden.

Day four: February 2nd ‘The Cooling Pond’ painted back in 2011 on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl power plant disaster. This piece was part of the ‘Voices from Chornobyl’ show in Atwater Village, Los Angeles. The painting was auctioned in 2012 to raise funds for the Chernobyl Children's Project (UK) charity. Please do follow the link and show your support.
I nominated Harri Carmichael.

Day Five: February 3rd ‘Professor Philip J. White’ A3 acrylic portrait of Professor Philip J. White the first curator of the Zoology Collection at the School of Biological Sciences in Bangor. Painted especially for the ‘Hidden Worlds: Hidden Artists’ exhibition, which ran during the college’s Bangor Science Festival back in 2013. I nominated Paul Glover, Gaz Johnson  and Kelly Knight.






And that was it, as far as Facebook fads go this has been an interesting one converting my Facebook timeline into an online art gallery and I met the challenge and completed the set task… then on 12th of this month I was challenged again!

© Arfon Jones 2015. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

FOR SALE: "Tura Tiki Sacrifice”

Just a reminder that although the opening night of the "Tura! Tura! Tura! 3" art show has been and gone all works are still on display and available to buy at the Lethal Amounts Gallery, Los Angeles. The exhibition celebrating the life and career the great Tura Satana presented by Tura Satana Productions, Jonny Coffin and Tropico Films features the works of “50 top artists” and my submission for the show was "Tura Tiki Sacrifice” if you fancy obtaining this painting (acrylic and Pen on card 12” X 10”) pop along to the Lethal Amounts Gallery on 1226 W 7th St Los Angeles, California or just visit their website!




My sincerest thanks to Siouxzan Perry
© Arfon Jones 2015. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Page 3 Escapes Extermination?

Happy New Year everyone! (Yes I know it’s almost February!) So The Sun has denied the rumour that it had dropped Page 3 from the paper, seems the story was nothing more than speculation and gossip (insert journalistic swipe here). Since its launch in 1970 Page 3 has made household names of the likes of Samantha Fox, Linda Lusardi, Melinda Messenger, Linsey Dawn McKenzie and Katie Price but as far as British ‘institutions’ go few have caused such unrest and divide in opinions. For over 40 years one half of the nation has regarded it a part of British life, an expression of freedom and a ‘leg-up’ for all aspiring models while others regarded it to be an outdated, chauvinistic demoralising exploiter of women... Growing up in 1980’s I knew all about Page 3 and by the age of ten I knew exactly who Samantha Fox, Maria Whittaker and Linda Lusardi were. But then we all did because even if you didn’t actually read the paper the models would appear on other publications, products or television programmes. During my art college days I would read The Sun. from time to time but this was during the Loaded and FHM magazine* uprising of the 1990’s when page 3 seemed more like a quaint tradition than an actual feature. So given the way things are these days one wonders how long the feature will actually go on for. Either way this is probably the only ‘excuse’ I will have to share this little ‘feature’ on the left of this post with you… During the ‘wilderness years’ of Doctor Who I collected various forms of memorabilia that featured Daleks which I regard to be one of the great British designs of the 20th century. Another rare thing was a newspaper article about Daleks, before the series returned Daleks only made occasional appearances in the papers but when it was revealed in 2004 that the Daleks would not be returning in the new series all that changed! It seemed that the BBC and Daleks’ creator Terry Nation’s estate could not reach an agreement over the terms of the use of the Daleks.

The Sun leapt on the story and ran a bring back the Daleks ‘campaign’ reminiscent of its ‘Save Doctor Who' campaign from 1985. The campaign even had its own ‘Sun Dalek’ which found itself on page 3 when the campaign was launched. The Sun clearly had a Who fan on staff, as the photo seems to be paying loose homage to the infamous Katy Manning Girl Illustrated photo shoot, when the former Third Doctor’s companion posed naked with a Dalek in 1977. An agreement was reached between BBC and Terry Nation’s estate and the Daleks returned to fight the Doctor in the new series in 2005. It was during this time that I discovered that The Sun offered readers the opportunity to purchase photographic prints from their Page 3 archives and that’s just what I did…
Anyway, changing the subject somewhat… you will recall my "Rules are made to be broken" painting that featured in last years Doctor's Universe’ art show at the Oratory of Saints Ambrogio in Milan. Well the ever talented Atlantisvampir has organised a follow up art show entitled, ‘Doctor’s Universe 2.0’ at the Spazio OPEN –BevacquaPanigai in Treviso, Italy. This international collective art exhibition features around 100 artist’s tributes to Doctor Who and will be running from the 26th of January to the 2nd of February for more information follow this link.

*UPDATE 09/01/2016: To answer the original, title question it would seem that Page 3 was in fact, ‘Exterminated’ after an absence of six days The Sun featured one more Page 3 feature on 22 January 2015, but this apparently was a one-off ‘revival’. Interestingly, two months after posting this and describing page 3 as a “quaint tradition” when compared to ‘Lads’ mags’ Loaded and FHM, Loaded announced that April 2015 was to be its final issue (alongside fellow men's magazine Nuts). Then in November FHM announced their intention to also suspend publication (alongside ZOO) after seeing a steep decline in sales. The slump in the market has apparently been attributed to the decline of a specific form of 'lad culture' and the easy availability of nudity and pornography on the Internet (i.e www.page3.com)…

The Sun', 'Page 3' and 'Page Three' are registered trademarks. © Copyright News Group Newspaper Ltd, 2012 - All Rights Reserved. Daleks © registered trademarks. Copyright Terry Nation and the BBC. Everything else however, © Arfon Jones 2015. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

What I learned in 2014...

The end of another year is upon us. I try (when possible) to devote the final post of that year to recounting the previous twelve months, perhaps addressing something I wasn’t able to cover at the time. It’s certainly been a busy year for me, working on several projects, publications and exhibitions a trend I intend to carry over into next year, but until then please permit me to recount some things that I learned in 2014… Firstly at the start of the year, shortly after turning 36 I was shopping with my daughter when I spotted my wife driving past (quite oblivious of us). I tried to flag her down with no success, noticing that she had to stop for the traffic lights I chased after the car and just as I came alongside it my knee gave way causing me to stumble and fall to the pavement. I skidded a couple of feet along the ground before getting up again feeling embarrassed; I shrugged it off as nothing more than sore palms and a grazed knee. Over the following week however I found myself unable to shrug anything off anymore as my right shoulder was absolute agony, moving it was an ordeal, likewise with my left knee any pressure applied to it would bring tears to my eyes! Painkillers were taken, bringing a little relief before I eventually admitted that all wasn’t right and that I should consult my GP. So I (reluctantly) made the necessary appointment, followed several weeks later by a x-ray for a suspected torn rotator cuff and damage to the kneecap. A week later it was neither dismissed nor confirmed and my GP suggested Physiotherapy but after several unsuccessful attempts to make an appointment I threw (one arm) up in defeat and gave up as the pain had eased slightly. It still hurts from time to time (mostly due to ‘over’ stretching) as does my knee (with a continual numb feeling just under my knee). But through this experience I learned that making appointments with NHS is like a lottery and I am not getting any younger and my body no longer heals like it used to! That aside I learned some nice things in 2014…

Angela Lansbury is brilliant.
Dame Angela Lansbury, played Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit’ at the Gielgud Theatre and was superb but lets face it, this was no real surprise. Lets just try to forget for a moment that she was Elvis’ mother in ‘Blue Hawaii’ and that she fought off the Nazis using an army of enchanted armour in ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ she is after all… Jessica Fletcher!
Id never been to the Gielgud before so the entire show was an experience, Angela Lansbury (in fact the entire cast) was superb, we had a brilliant time.

Stephen Fry is a really nice man. 
Once again this was no real surprise as I actually knew this beforehand having written to him a couple of years back. But when I met him back in September it was confirmed.  I attended the opening night of Stephen Fry: Live at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. This was a short tour of the UK to promote the latest volume of his memoirs More Fool Me, and he was (as expected) in excellent raconteur form. A genuine delight to listen to clever, witty and incredibly humble both Mrs Jones and I had an amazing time.

Manchester has a thriving Tiki bar scene.
I adore Tiki, this vague, naïve romanticised western understanding towards religions and customs packaged into a single product appeals to me on many levels. Mrs Jones on the other hand an armchair anthropologist found this mishmash of religions and customs to be quite annoying, thankfully I was able to convert her in 2014 and we visited Lola Lo, in Whitworth Street West, Manchester for afternoon cocktails. Mrs Jones had the Flamingo and I had the Digga Digga Doo and very nice it was too, even got to add the mug to my Tiki mug collection. Who knew Tiki was such a hit in Manchester? I hope to explore more of them in 2015!

Deadpool hogs comic stalls.
Marvel’s Deadpool, seems to be popular on the cosplay scene I saw many dressed as him at the London film and comic convention. Many of which where leafing through comics at comic stalls, however much like people that insist on wearing their rucksacks in HMV, I wasn’t able to get the stalls on account of those two swords on Deadpool’s back!

I am a “super fan” of Doctor Who and was right about Peter Capaldi.
Seems I have a reputation for being a super fan of Doctor Who having been approached a few times by the media to provide an opinion on my favourite show. I was interviewed on two occasions by BBC Radio Cymru (Wales) the first was conducted the day before Peter Capaldi’s first story aired and then a follow up a few weeks later to find out what I thought… As predicted from the word go, he was brilliant as the Doctor and I am very impressed with his take on the character.

Sadly we lost a great many talented people this year RIP
Shirley Temple, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Harold Ramis, Kate O’Mara, Jim Petrie, Gordon Bell,
Mickey Rooney, Bob Hoskins, Rik Mayall, Casey Kasem, HR Giger,
James Garner, Robin Williams, Lauren Bacall, Richard Attenborough,
Joan Rivers, Glen A. Larson, Lynda Bellingham, Alvin Stardust, Ralph Baer and Christine Cavanaugh.

A very Happy New Year to all my friends out there old and new, my sincerest of thanks to all that supported my work over the past year.

© Arfon Jones 2014. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.

Poster Girl

Just before Christmas I was tagged by the ever lovely, actress/model Sian Davies in this marvellous photo uploaded on her own facebook page. Taken at the screening of Ryan Kift’s ‘Zombies from Ireland’ at the Galeri in Caernarfon back in 2013. You will recall that I provided the artwork for the poster (which features Sian) I doubt anyone actually looked at the poster though…


© Arfon Jones 2014. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.