There?s an adage that your past will always catch up with you, and so it proved for professional artist Jonah Jones who, after years of accumulating sporting and other injuries, was finally obliged to undergo surgery last year to repair the damage to his shoulder, in addition to which he needed to rest his back.

Normally an active en plein air painter, last autumn Mr. Jones found himself limited to whatever he could manage with easel and canvas at home.

The result is a collection of some 30 paintings which will be unveiled in his studio at the Arts Centre at Dockyard this weekend during what he calls ?a low-key exhibition?.

Entitled ?Vertically Challenged?, the show will be a departure from his usual standard-sized canvases. Instead, he has ventured into a new dimension of 36 inches by eight inches.

?Because I couldn?t go out on location I set myself an academic exercise on my backside,? Mr. Jones says. ?I would stand up for a while and sit down for a while as I recuperated, and one of the reasons I chose this shape was because I found a company in the US which mounts canvas on Gatorboard, so I could choose whatever fine weave I particularly liked, and have the canvases shipped in. They are beautiful to work on, and I can get whatever shape I desire.?

Being home-bound, the artist turned to old images and icons he had worked on before for inspiration, and decided to give them a new slant or emphasis. However, viewers will find the quintessential Jonah Jones in all of them.

?They have all ended up with water in them, but they are in a tall, portrait format? the artist says. ?The nature of the dimensions fires you to make decisions: ?How do I get a strong composition out of this image or this shape of canvas???

In fact, the new-found shape of his canvases posed many challenges for Mr. Jones ? something he really enjoyed.

?You have to make so many decisions at every stage of a painting, and with this shape you are almost having some decisions made for you. Regarding the old images I had done before, I thought, ?How can I get that into an interesting, long painting?? When they are long, they almost tell a story because your eye has to travel down the painting. It is almost like a time capsule.?

Nonetheless, Mr. Jones is so pleased with the long, narrow canvases that he plans to import more irregular shapes and continue experimenting, even as he returns to full health and begins preparing for a major exhibition with fellow artist Chris Marson on September 30.

Meanwhile, since Sunday?s event was a last-minute decision, the artist had no time to dispatch the usual formal invitations. Instead, through this forum he is extending an open invitation to one and all to attend Sunday?s opening at 5.30 p.m.

Meanwhile, those wishing to have a sneak preview of ?Vertically Challenged? can visit www.jonah-art.com and click on ?New Works?. However, no paintings will be sold prior to Sunday?s opening.

A new show, entitled ?Opposites?, will open simultaneously in the main gallery at the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard. This will be a mixed media member?s show. No further information was available at press time.