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| O-114 Roses and Peonies by Stephanie Johnson oil 8x10 $650 |
Biography:
The artwork of Stephanie K. Johnson
invites viewers to experience the glow and mystery of the old masters.
A native of Washington, Stephanie was surrounded by majestic landscapes that
helped cultivate her initial desires to create. Stephanie’s parents made a
special effort to expose her to quality art instruction. Many local artists
were an integral part of her education.
People started collecting Stephanie’s
work when she was very young. She sold her first original painting at the
Redmond Saturday Market at the tender age of eleven. At twelve she entered her
first gallery; Artisans on Taylor in Port Townsend, WA; and by fourteen she had
incorporated her own business.
In her early teen years, she went on a trip to Italy with a group led by one of
her teachers, Teresa Saia. It was an adventure that became one of her main
artistic influences. She was deeply moved by the classical art in the museums,
the richness of the culture and the landscapes she encountered. Stephanie
returned to the states forever changed and is still inspired by the beautiful
Italian scenery.
Stephanie originally worked in watercolor; her inspiration to transition to
oils came from her first visit to a Hudson River School exhibition at the
Tacoma Art Museum. When viewing the painting: ‘Vale at St Thomas, Jamaica’ by
Frederic Church, she saw a kindred spirit, and said to her family ‘This is the
kind of art that I want to create’”. She carried that determination into art
school.
Stephanie studied with a Master Artist
in a four-year intensive program at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle. In the
Classical Atelier, she learned the time-tested techniques from the masters,
passed down from the likes of Bougereu, David and Francois Boucher. There she
also fell in love with the art of still life painting. At the time of her
graduation in 2013, she was the youngest artist to complete the program. In recent years, she has worked to combine
all of the painting methods she has learned to develop her own technique as well
as a blended palette of old and modern colors. Stephanie is dedicated to
continuing the development of her artistic skills and making a life-long study
of light and color. Stephanie is currently a full-time artist and works from
her home studio in North Idaho, where she is living with her husband, David
Schmieder.
Artist Statement:
“It is my goal to create paintings that celebrate the beauty displayed in our
natural world. Whether it is a view of a rushing river, treasured shells from
the ocean or freshly picked garden sunflowers, everything pays tribute to the
wonder of nature. Early in my career, I had the amazing opportunity to study
with world renowned landscape artist, Teresa Saia. She taught me how to see all
the various colors in nature and to amplify them in my work. In landscapes I
desire to bring ‘epic’ scenery, in the tradition of the Hudson River Artists,
back into a contemporary environment. I seek to capture the feeling of air,
intensity of light, poetry of the trees and the sensation of distance. When
creating a landscape painting, I often combine the resources gathered on
location, sketches, color studies and photographs and then compile them into an
ideal composition in my studio. For my still life work I wish to combine the
techniques of the Dutch Masters with today’s modern colors. The textures of
Rembrandt and Vermeer’s use of light truly inspire me. In every piece, I choose
to work directly from life. When I look at a conch shell, for example, I have
an overwhelming desire to put onto canvas how the natural light glistens on the
smooth surfaces and how the rippling textures that make the shell so unique.”
Stephanie K. Johnson
(206)949-1125
ArtistStephanieKJohnson@Gmail.com
www.StephanieKJohnson.com
