Artist of the Month March 2025

Heather J. Jones

New Canaan, Connecticut, USA

Heather J. Jones is a photorealist painter working in watermedia. Originally from New York City,  Jones lived for over 20 years combined in New York City and London and now resides in New Canaan, Connecticut. She layers gouache and watercolor over graphite in order to create detailed and highly saturated paintings of vintage vehicles. Although Jones is primarily self-taught, she has taken painting classes at Parsons and the School of Visual Arts in New York City and Heatherly’s School of Fine Art in London. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Carriage Barn Arts Center and the American Artists Professional League, the latter of which she is also an Elected Artist Member. Recent juried shows include the Allied Artists Of America 111th Annual Exhibition, the 96th Annual Grand National Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club and the Richeson75 Small Works Exhibition.

How and when did you start creating art?

As a hobby artist, I was very intrigued with colored pencils over 25 years ago. I loved the ability to do fine detail and saturated color in this medium, but I found it too slow to work large. So, to speed up my process, I started playing with watercolors as a base layer and quickly found that I much preferred the brush to pencil. After a decades long hiatus from making art, however, I started painting with watermedia just 5 years ago. I was living in London at the time, where I discovered gouache at a botanical art show--and I was immediately hooked.

What media and genres do you work in?

I work in gouache and watercolor—and I wouldn’t paint one without the other! I’ve always loved art on paper and, with watermedia, the substrate is as important as the paint.

As for genre, I consider my style to be that of Photorealism. The photos are a tool for seeing things one could not see with the unaided eye, like little “halos” and outlines created by the camera—and it is those details that I like to incorporate most in my work. As a painter, my work celebrates nostalgia. For me, that manifests in vintage vehicles. I’m particularly drawn to the curves, colors and chrome of vintage motorcycles.

Who or what are your influences?

Fueled by my family's generations in the auto industry, I developed a passion for vintage vehicles at an early age. I worked in my family’s tire shops in high school (I’m a Firestone Certified Tire Expert!) and even added extra gigs at the mall so I could buy my own American “muscle” car. At 17, I bought a 1972 Buick Skylark Convertible in perfect stock condition. I no longer have that car (I sold it a couple of years later to move to New York City for university), so today I celebrate the timeless beauty of these classic icons, the certain weight of nostalgia they carry and the subsequent emotional connotations through my work.

As for influences, I’ve always been drawn to work that is saturated, detailed and large. For this, I consider Joseph Raffael and Robert Townsend to be among the best watercolorists.

What was your inspiration for

Chief

?

The first Indian motorcycle I ever painted was designed in the 1930s. I was blown away with how seductive and forward the design was for that time. As I sought out more Indian bikes of that vintage, this one—an Indian Chief—stood out to me for a few reasons: the beautiful reflections on the tank, the colors in the chrome and her strong “pose”.

Describe your creative process?

As a painter, I seek to push the conventional nature of watermedia in realism. Watermedia offers ways to create reflected light and luminosity only achievable on paper. By layering transparent watercolor and gouache over graphite, I can develop rich hues and multi-tonal planes of colors. My method begins with applying watercolor pigments straight-from-the-tube over a graphite underpainting. After many light layers of watercolor, I finish with glazes of gouache to sharpen edges and further saturate the darkest and lightest elements in the painting.

What are you working on currently?

I’m currently finishing up a couple of mid-century cars in soft shades of green and blue. I’m drawn to symmetry, dots and lines in general, so both pieces feature straight-on views of the grilles, which have lots of tiny lines. In addition, I’ve just started a painting of another mid-century motorcycle, cropped in so the parts and their reflections are much larger than I’ve done previously. Aside from her obvious aesthetic quality, this one has a story to tell: she’s my statement on luxury labels. You’ll just have to wait and see what I mean by that!

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

My main goal is to share my work with as many people as possible. Collectively, I’m creating work that when shown together serves two purposes: 1) lets the viewer step back in time to appreciate the incredible design of a long-lost era, and 2) shows the beauty of watermedia in a non-traditional way.  That said, I’d like to work with a gallery with a strong presence in photorealistic art. I’d also love to do commissions of collector’s cars—there are so many extraordinary restorations out there these days!

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

I’ll have a few pieces in shows later this year, which will be listed on my Instagram and website. In the meantime, I’m happy to hear from anyway who likes to talk art, so feel free to DM or email me!

@heatherjjones_art

https://www.heatherjjones.com/