User:KMButrum/new article name here

New article name is Pearl Jones, mid-century California artist

Pearl Louise Hester Jones (1901-1984) was a California plein air artist who worked primarily in Southern California from the 1930's through the 1980's. A student of Robert W. Wood (1889-1979) and other contemporary artists, Jones painted seascapes and landscapes that both reflected the ideals of her youth and the rapidly disappearing natural landscapes of mid-century Southern California.

Early Life:

Pearl Louise Hester was born in Chicago on November 27, 1901. Her father, Harry Earle Hester, was a contractor by trade and moved his family to California in 1910 to work as a set designer and builder for the growing Hollywood movie industry. Pearl graduated from Hollywood High School in 1918 and then Woodbury Business School in Los Angeles. It was at Woodbury where she met her future husband, Herald "Casey" Jones.

Jones and her husband had two daughters, Laurana Jones Hineline (1922-1988) and Beverly Jones Butrum (Born 1924). They were the eighth family to build their home in the newly created Village of Lakewood, California in 1931 and owned a summer house in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Active in civic affairs, the Joneses were members of the delegation to sail the Queen Mary from Southampton to its permanent berth in Long Beach, California in 1967.

Socialite turned artist:

It was in the 1930's when Pearl Jones studied art. Like many other artists at the time, she would spend summers in Santa Barbara or Laguna Beach to paint outdoor landscapes using natural light. Her early oil paintings were primitive and used little paint. As she evolved as an artist, Jones would display more impressionist styles using broad brush strokes to represent a fisherman or sailor. She experimented with acrylics and water color but preferred traditional oil as her primary medium.

Jones preferred to paint in style series. Palm Springs desert blooms, California rolling hills and seascapes are notable examples. One of her Californian Mission pantings (San Juan Capistrano, 1967) won First Place for California's statewide competition and hung in the Sacramento Capitol while Ronald Reagan was Governor of the State. Her work is found in private collections throughout the country.

Jones continued to paint into her 80's. She died November 15, 1984.