Born in Boston but raised on the South Shore, Lisa Johnson can't remember wanting to be anything but an artist. Influenced greatly by her talented father and supportive mother she enjoyed a lot of success with her art during her years at Scituate High, winning many Boston Globe Gold Key Awards and becoming the first recipient of the Scituate Arts Association Scholarship. Watercolor was her first medium and with the guidance of her memorable teacher Pauline Reynolds she studied the works of Homer, Sargent. Kautzky, Brandt and Wyeth. Upon graduation she spent a month traveling in Europe and returned to display her first solo exhibit – all watercolor images of her trip through Spain, France, Italy and Austria.
Experimenting with dry brush technique Lisa created many detailed renderings of birds and flowers which led her to a wonderful correspondence with the accomplished English Botanical Illustrator Barbara Everard (“Wildflowers of the World”) who encouraged her to show some of her work at Kew Botanical Gardens, which she did. Though a career as a botanical illustrator was seriously considered a possibility, she looked to find a freer, more creative outlet for her work.
Freedom and creativity were abundant at the Boston Museum School where Lisa spent four years. She enjoyed studying the techniques of the Old Masters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer with teacher John Burns, who held his class in the attic of the Fine Arts Museum. Under his guidance students had the chance to copy from originals that were previously in storage. Oils quickly replaced watercolor as her preferred medium. While still a student Lisa was invited to participate in the Scituate High Humanities Program by presenting History of Art Lectures illustrated with slides from the large Museum School collection.
Upon graduation Lisa followed in her dad's footsteps and went into the printing industry working in production and design departments for many years. There were experimental forays into book illustration and videography but eventually she freelanced for both commercial accounts and growing fine art commissions.
Lisa paints in the American Realist Tradition. “ Living in Scituate most of my life I developed a love of the sea-marshes and harbor scenes. I'm always looking for material that evokes a mood or has a certain quality of light, color and design that arrests me. I especially enjoy dawn and dusk scenes that have raking light and saturated color. Painting has always been a means of studying more closely and developing a greater appreciation of the world around me.”
Her present work is divided between portraits and landscapes that she exhibits locally and for which she has won a variety of awards. WGBH displayed her portrait of Red Sox Broadcasters Hall of Fame member Ken Coleman in their select specials group, which included nationally known artists Robert Douglas Hunter and Tom Dunlay. Her fine work is in many private and corporate collections.
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