Ablaze

Ablaze, 2021, oil on linen, 45 x 35 cm

Sometimes a finished painting can be the inspiration for another one, and this work is an example. The Burning, pictured two posts down, gave me the idea for this painting. Actually it gave me the beginning of an idea, because as I worked on it I changed my initial image drastically. It was to be similar to The Burning, but with the addition of rain. Not long into the painting, I decided that the whole concept was overdone and so I began to simplify things as I applied the paint. Firstly, I decided to eliminate as much detail as I could and decisions about composition suggested themselves to me along the way. I ended up with this minimalist landscape but I liked it for what it had become and decided not to take it any further. The addition of rain will perhaps be for another painting with fire.

Painting Influencing Writing

When I lived in Abbotsford, a great friend of mine, the writer Dmetri Kakmi, was over for dinner one evening when ideas for a supernatural tale suddenly awoke in his imagination. These ideas were inspired by my trompe l'oeil painting of a door. A few months went by and at one point, Dmetri could not move forward with the tale, and for some reason I decided to send him a detail of the painting, which shows me reflected in the silver door handle. After receiving this image, Dmetri had his story.

Initially, the work was to be a short story, but it developed into a novella, and it was eventually published with other short stories under the title THE DOOR and other uncanny tales. 

Dmetri and I gave a recent presentation titled Painting Influencing Writing at the Fitzroy Art Collective, where we discussed various issues concerning what inspired me to make the paintings mentioned in his book and what I thought about being one of the main models his characters were based on. 

It was a wonderful evening and I'm glad Dmetri suggested we do it!  

The pics of Dmetri and I were taken by Jon Rendell and of the paintings, by Tim Gresham.

Below are the other paintings of mine Dmetri refers to as the tale unfolds.

My painting of the door installed at my residence

 with THE DOOR resting on a chair .

Dmetri's book of uncanny tales, where its title was

 based on my painting

Shane Jones (left) and Dmetri Kakmi enjoying our presentation

Dmetri autographing his book.

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Another View, 2016, oil on wood, 50 x 50 cm

Untitled #63, 1999, oil on linen, 152 x 83.5 cm

Wrapped Self Portrait, 2010, oil on canvas, 45.5 x 35.5 cm

The Burning, 2021, oil on linen, 40.5 x 50.75 cm

When I was driving along in the car, I saw something blue out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and realised it was smoke, and I immediately thought I would use blue smoke in a painting. 

The trees in the painting always feel like that they are presences in the landscape, watching everything that happens around them. In reality, they are in different fields, but they seemed so suited to be together in the painting that I eliminated all the other trees and kept these two sentinels together.

 I always like to paint from life or return to the spot where I began the painting, even though I often make up a lot of the picture. At the point where I wanted to introduce the fire, I was wishing I could see one right now and to my astonishment, when I was finishing a painting session and was returning home, I saw this fantastic fire across the road. I pulled over and started to put it in the painting. I reworked bits of it, but I got my wish to paint an actual fire.