Herb Jones

Age	Deceased
Occupation	Fisherman who paints
Marital Status	Married 49 years to Barbara, the most wonderful woman in the world
Education	Self-taught
Last Book Read	"Old Man in the Sea" by Hemingway, for about the 100th time
Worst Job Ever	Insurance executive. I lost over 60 pounds and my doctor told me the job was killing me. I didn't have any time with my family and was too busy to paint. So I quit, set-up a studio at home and on my boat, and have been happy ever since.
Favorite Style of Music and/or Musician(s)	Big Band and 50's
If I Could Meet Anyone Living Or Dead, It Would Be:	Benny Goodman, Ted Williams and Mickie Mantel. I did meet Benny once. He was in town for a concert and called me. Apparently he was a fan of my work and wanted to come over to meet me. We spent the day together, eventually discovering we had a common passion - fishing. He asked to see my tackle box. When I opened it, everything spilled on the floor. Benny said I was his kind of fisherman. He explained that his fishing partner, Ted Williams, had a color-coded box and it drove Benny nuts. From that day forward we planned to have a trip together to Florida, fishing for bluefish. It never worked out because of our three schedules. I would like to meet Benny and Ted and go fishing.
Greatest Accomplishment	To be able to paint a painting, hang it, and three months later walking by it and still think it's a good painting that gets better everyday.
Artistic Style and Medium	Moody realism. I've always loved the lonely places, the silence of nature and the sky. I use watercolors and egg tempera. There are only about two dozen professional artists who use egg tempera because it takes so much time to mix. Watercolor is fast but you have to think ahead about what you want to put to the canvas.
Inspirations in Life or Art	In art, Van Gogh, not because of his style but because of his passion. You have to do what you want and can do without worrying about what other people want or think. In life, it's nature. One critic once asked me why none of my paintings had people in them. It's because without people, the painting being all landscape and sky, the painting becomes a personal experience for the viewer. To include a person in the landscape, it becomes the person's experience, not the viewers.
Favorite Memory	My best day was when I drove a jeep to an Outer Banks dune. I just stood there for a long time and felt the silence.