Ragged Claws Network

Click images to enlarge, as usual:

Yesterday evening, I succumbed to temptation and bought another piece of Mad Magazine art by George Woodbridge (1930-2004). So now here, for your delectation, is a scan of the artwork, along with a scan of the feature of which it was originally a part:

What I especially like about this piece, other than the fact that it is expertly drawn, is that the bracingly cynical satirical message shines through even though it doesn’t include any of the typeset text written by Tom Koch to accompany the illustration.

Miscellaneous info: The “Ain’t It Great!!” feature appeared in Mad #251 (Dec 1984). The image area of our piece of the main, as it were, is 7.5 x 6 inches. And the cost, shipping included, was US$45.95.

So now we have a grand total of three pieces of original art by the talented Mr Woodbridge in our collection.

Click here to see the last piece we purchased (which is still my favourite).

Alien Worlds #4 (September 1983), pages 21 and 22:

You are definitely going to want to “Click Image to Enlarge” this one:

On 02 August 2007, the above painting sold at auction for US$17,327.50.

BONUS LINK:

Mr. Door Tree Presents: Jeff Jones: A Group of His Early Paintings, 1968 - 1980

These are all pen and ink on 8.5 x 11 inch sketchbook paper; they are undated but are likely from the 1990s or later:

If you are like me, and bought all of the softcover volumes of The Complete Crumb Comics, you will want about four of these:

From the Fantagraphics catalogue:

WAREHOUSE FIND! These handsome, sturdy clothbound slipcases are designed to hold 5 volumes of the softcover editions of The Complete Crumb Comics series. (Note: Hardcover volumes will not fit.) They are stamped in gold with a Crumb logo and art on the front and spine. Books not included. Supplies are limited, so order today!

I placed my order yesterday. How about you?

The first time I saw the following hand-written letter, it was for sale on ebay. Although I was sorely tempted, having been an admirer of Jones’s ongoing self-education and steady development as an artist since the early 1980s, when in my late teens I purchased in quick succession the three Dragon’s Dream books, The Studio, Yesterday’s Lily, and Idyl, I could not afford at the time to bid for it — or, at least, I didn’t feel like I could justify the expense to my wife — so I let it slip through my fingers. However, as a compensation of sorts, I saved the JPEG from the auction listing, so I could re-read it later for inspiration, because the fact is that I DID, for various personal and professional reasons I won’t go into here, find it tremendously inspiring. But then, somehow, I misplaced the JPEG when I moved all my e-stuff to a new computer, this computer, and the fact is, I thought at that point I would never get to read it again. And I was okay with that. I shrugged and moved on. It wasn’t that big a deal. But today is my lucky day, because here it is:

I think the line that really gets me is this: “With the Lampoon for instance I am free to do whatever I want with my page.” A single page of unconstrained artistic freedom every month: that’s the modest but essential standard by which Jeffrey Jones judged proposed projects in 1973, five hectic years into his career in commercial art.

Small things, even ill-favoured things, are treasure when they are truly one’s own.

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Thanks to Rob Pistella for inviting me to use scans from his CAF gallery on this blog. Rob has a terrific and growing collection of artwork (and ephemera!) by Jeffrey Jones, and I am delighted to be in a position to highlight some of those items here.

Another landscape painting created en plein air by you-know-who:

Click here to view more landscapes by the same artist.

If you’re a fan of Jeffrey Jones’s art, and you’d love a lovely print to hang on your wall, Todd Adams of Glimmer Graphics has a number of items that might interest you:

Although the above images — with the exception Age of Innocence and Native Son — were provided via email directly to me, RC, by publisher Todd Adams, the information provided under each photo regarding sizes, prices, dates, and so on, is NOT official and is included simply to give you a general idea of what to expect should you decide to contact Todd to place an order. In other words, any errors here are the sole responsibility of this Web site, which is in no way associated with Todd Adams or his company, Glimmer Graphics. Todd’s contact email, which I’m making available here with Todd’s permission, is neo1948@comcast.net.

And I can tell you from first-hand experience that he DOES accept payment via PayPal, which to me as a buyer is always a plus for online transactions!

Lately, when I need a bit of cheering up, I re-watch this sublime bit of silliness:

I especially love the finale, starting from when Craig Ferguson grabs his belt buckle, struts toward the camera, and brings the house down with one last let-it-all-hang-out blast of unadulterated fun.

Here’s a revealing process sequence from Jeff Jones’s old Web site — I think I have them in the right order, except for the closeup at the end, which seems to come at a stage before the final shot of the full painting — along with three views of an absolutely first-rate sculpture (dated 1973) by Jones that appears to have been the model for the caveman in the painting, which I believe was created sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s:

I wish the images were larger, but as I’ve said before, beggars can’t be choosers…

BTW, based on the visual evidence alone, I have a hunch that the first photo of the “Neanderthal” sculpture is of the hand-hewn original from which the two “Neanderthal” sculptures in the second photo were cast, but don’t quote me on that.

Here are three “Jones Touch” strips, all dated 1972, that were originally published in Swank Magazine:

Fantagraphics published a comic-book collection of “Jones Touch” strips in 1993 under their Eros imprint, but the book is long out of print. So if anyone has a copy they would be willing to sell me for a decent price, just let me know, because although I don’t own it, I would very much like to.

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UPDATE:

Turns out, I’ve been barking up the wrong trees, looking for the Eros “Jones Touch” collection in old back-issue bins and on ebay.ca, abebooks.com, etc., because Eros still lists the book in their Web catalogue. I was prompted to check the Eros catalogue by a recent post on the Fantagraphics blog, which — thank you very much — includes a link to RCN. I have placed an order, and will report back when the, ahem, booty arrives.