Artist Statement:

I am a landscape/tree portrait painter, who reveals the individual personality of trees, florals, and landscapes. My professional art direction is to continue developing a larger body of paintings of trees, florals, and landscapes, mainly through the medium of oil painting, mixed media, and watercolors, with occasional portraits and abstract work. My main body of work investigates the relationship between landscapes and portraiture. When I paint trees, I paint them like a portrait, putting a tree or trees as the center of attention.  Just like a portrait shows the characteristics of the face with light, shadow, and colors, so do I show the characteristics of trees, florals, and landscapes. Each natural scene reveals a dynamic personality, like a person reflects in their portrait.  The subtle environment surrounding the trees or florals compliments the light and shadow contrast, behaving like a setting for a portrait of a person. My sophisticated color palette is natural in hue and has high contrast with chroma.  

 When I paint, it is textural, reminiscent of impasto, giving the feeling of the leaves, bark petals, etc.  With an Alla Prima/ Impressionist brush strokes style, mixed with smooth and gestural strokes, I create energy with each texture, each color, in the work.  I typically work in sizes like 9” x 12” to 16” x 20”,  but have been expanding into larger-scale paintings, where the intent is to envelop the audience into the same environment; becoming one with the landscape.  The aesthetic in my paintings conveys to the viewer a sense of escape and a dialog exchanged with the trees, landscapes, or flowers into the natural world, communicating their personality of wonder, peace, comfort, awe, and amazement.  In this environment, I also hope to also convey the sense of forgiveness that the natural world possesses.  Imperfection is accepted here in my paintings, communicating to the viewer, that you don’t have to be perfect to be beautiful nor do you have to be perfect to be loved and admired.  

About My Work and Materials:

I create landscapes, florals, portraits, and abstract paintings. Most of the time, I paint to express my feelings. Being an anxious person is the basis of my art. My mark-making, whether it be in pen and ink, or paint, is quick, wavy, and expressive, where the drive to paint or draw is the exorcism of my feeling, and the therapy of my soul onto paper and canvas.  With my non-representational abstracts, they are formed with the freedom to express and mindfulness of the composition and the materials.  The meaning of how the materials react to the paper, water, or medium, is a lesson to me about my anxious feelings.  It says, “Nature has a way of working things out.”  and, “Things will be ok.” This development toward transcendent and mindful art has evolved and matured into intriguing abstract and landscape artworks.  I enjoy using all sorts of art materials, like oil paint, watercolors, gouache, ink, colored pencils, acrylic, and sometimes mixed media.

My past series of works have been abstract watercolor paintings. These paintings are an expressive series called, "Expressive Emotions".  They were part of a 365-day art challenge, where I painted what I was feeling that day for a series of 365 days. My art is filled with expression and emotion. Dealing with all types of mediums, I find a way of capturing emotion and feeling in each one of my works of art. The way I use watercolors in my abstract paintings is kind of a “mindful meditation”. Other times it is to express overwhelming feelings I have about harsh realities, like depression and anxiety.

My current work has been more landscape work. I am obsessed with nature like trees, flowers, plants, clouds, and sunsets. My landscapes capture the wonder and awe of what I feel when seeing the landscapes. The dramatic light and shadows, and the vivid colors of the surroundings. Sometimes my landscapes are my escape from negative feelings.

Some of my commissioned artworks have been portraits, pet portraits, landscapes, houses, logo designs, and birthday paintings.

My hope is to have the audience be in awe and wonder, to be inspired, to feel connected, feel alive, feel healed, and not feel alone.  

  -Sarah M Johnson-

Sarah graduated from Clarke College in Dubuque IA, with a BFA in Art, as well as Harrington College of Design in Chicago IL, with a BFA in Interior Design.