'Someone once said “The one certain thing about life is constant change.” I don’t know if they had just had their portrait painted or whether they were planning a plan to arrange it – but they realized something obvious, that there really is no definitive portrait or final statement – just an on-going recognition of where we are and how we fit into this circus and carousel of life on this planet.'
- Johnny Jonas
When Johnny left school, there were many interests which ran alongside his career at the time in the City of London as an Aviation Insurance Broker at Lloyds - writing music, playing with a band, tinkering with Vintage cars, marketing various inventions and making painting trips when possible - it wasn't long before the Arts beckoned and at twenty six he won a place at the Fine Arts Academy in Florence where he moved in 1972.
A year later, moving near Lake Trasimeno, he continued his studies at the Fine Arts Academy in Perugia. Again on the move, he travelled to Pietrasanta near Carrara with some sculptors and stayed on this coast for nearly a year before moving eventually to Grimaldi, just inside Italy - a small medieval village about three hundred yards from the Italian /French frontier close to Monte Carlo. Here he began a series of backstage paintings - at the Opera and Orchestra rehearsals, fashion shows, at the Circus, Jazz and Cabaret - exhibiting regularly along the coast in Monaco, Nice, Cannes and Antibes.
In 1984, circumstances changed and it was necessary to return to England - where a chance invitation to the races triggered a whole new series 'At the Races' which in time produced a wider series entitled 'The British Sporting Year' of Polo, The Henley Regatta, Derby Day, Wimbledon, Bowls, Cricket, Golf - even Jousting at Hever Castle. The first exhibition on returning to England was at Oliver Swann's Gallery, Walton Street, London - and later a series of exhibitions at the Cider House galleries in Bletchingley, Surrey.
Increasingly asked to paint various subjects by commission including several portraits, it was time to close the exhibition side of his career and focus entirely on this commissioned work. From here on, it was to be painting by commission only.
His commissions include Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Elizabeth II, David Cameron, Aga Khan IV, Vincent O'Brien, Baron Vincent of Coleshill, Lord Wakeham, Baron Walker of Gestingthorpe, Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Henry Cecil, Sir Richard Branson, Albert Roux, Baron Levene of Portsoken, Dick Francis, Brian Sewell, Lester Piggott, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Tony McCoy, Bear Grylls, Satish Kumar, and Alec Stewart, just to name a few.
Jonas has supported a number of charities though his art, including the Injured Jockeys Fund, Sir Peter O'Sullevan Charitable Trusts and has painted twenty winners of the Peter O'Sullevan Award.
Johnny now lives in Devon with his wife Kathy.