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 Colleen Johnson
Studio 18
I have loved drawing since I could grip a crayon in my fist as a baby. When I was a kid, I was always too busy creating to be bored. I found ways to busy my mind, whether it was by building ornate and complex cities in my sandbox outside, or doing arts and crafts at my mom’s kitchen table. When I was eight, my mom offered me, in addition to my music lessons, the opportunity to take art lessons. I happily agreed. I studied with Mrs. Marcia Martin
for about 15 years, during which time I learned to draw what I see and to use many different mediums. For many years, I drew mostly animals and dragons, but during my high school years, Mrs. Martin began to teach me to draw people. It was also around this time that I began to learn to use soft pastels. It quickly became my favorite medium. I attended Webster University as a piano performance major, and successfully graduated in 2009. Although I spent most of my time in the music department, while I was there I was able to take two classes in the art department: Drawing I and Figure and Portrait, both with Mr. John Hunn. In October of 2010, I juried at and was accepted-- hooray!-- by the Foundry Art Centre. I have had an upstairs studio here since November 2010, and hope to stay for years to come!
I often find myself saying “Yes, they’re paintings,” and “No, it’s not photography!” But it is that level of realism that I strive for in every portrait I do: a level at which I can fool those who view my paintings into thinking for a moment that they are photographs! I completely agree with the character Stephen Sondheim created for Georges Seurat in “Sunday in the Park with George.” He’s right. “It’s only color and light.” Everything around us is touched by light in a unique way, because everything has its own texture. So if you can emulate the way the light looks as it touches things accurately, then you can capture the look of the endless textures of hair, clothing, leather, wood, glass... the wetness of eyes or a puppy’s nose... just about anything!
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