I am a native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but presently reside in the north portion of the State near Memphis, Tennessee. I have practiced as an avocation and vocation art and photography for more than 40 years, but began my love affair with the visual arts as a child. In those days, not much was on TV and computers were non-existent. My mother came from a creative family and she insisted that my siblings and I learn to draw and at least try to learn a musical instrument. It turned out the art stuck, but the music, not so much. My younger brother, Keith, excelled at that.
A natural off-shoot of the art was photography and in the early 70s to supplement my income as a police detective in Moss Point, MS, I started a professional photography business shooting weddings, ball teams, dance recitals, kindergartens, senior portraits and the like. Since digital photography and Photoshop had not come along, special effects consisted of airbrush and negative retouching and using photo oils to produce hand colored portraits on sepia toned prints. Mat boxes were available for doing a few in camera tricks, and a piece of exposed film taped to a strobe provided just the right light for candlelight wedding shots, my how times have changed.
In 1982, I left the coast to accept a position with a private Fire Investigation Company and moved to Shreveport, LA leaving there in 1989 to transfer to Memphis, TN. I continued to pursue my art and began using photography as an artistic medium. My art and photography was offered for sale at shows and galleries for a number of years and then with the advent of the internet I began selling to collectors worldwide through various on-line outlets.
This year, I retired from my corporate career and am able to devote all of my time to the creation of my art. Prints of my work are offered for sale through Fine Art America and Original Paintings and Drawings can be purchased by contacting me directly. At present I have in excess of 1250 images available through Fine Art America. My work can be viewed at: http://barry-jones.artistwebsites.com, http://barrysart.com, and http://facebook.com/barrysart