Jennifer Johnson
I am a local artist and who is inspired by the landscapes of the Georgian Bay Area of Ontario, Canada. I also offer group and private painting lessons.
I began painting fairly late in life after my father died, leaving me his battered box of oil paints. Initially, I just shoved it under my bed. After all, becoming an artist had never crossed my mind.
It wasn't till a year later that I took the box out and opened it There, along with the dried out tubes of oil paint, scrubby brushes, and a small landscape sketch that Dad never finished, I found my passion for painting. Who knew that Dad had left a bit of his spirit in that box just waiting till I was ready to find him again!
I promptly enrolled in evening painting courses at the Toronto School of Art. As I was still working full time, those evening classes along with lots of weekend painting workshops, became welcome retreats from the demands of a job and family. Upon retirement, I took more painting courses through the Haliburton School of Art, and Georgian College's Fine Arts Program. Over the past eight years I have had the privilege of studying with the amazing artists at the Mill Street Art Studio in Creemore. I also have been privileged to teach adult painting fundamentals courses for the Bay School of Art.
Art is something for which I am deeply grateful. Art-making of any sort is a wonderful way of continuing to be a student of life.
"Being an artist means not numbering or counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn't force its sap, standing confidently in storms, not afraid that summer may not come." (Rainer Maria Rilke)