Shelly Johnson • Idaho • waow
I create art because the process is my meditation and my connection with a power greater than myself. When I see the feeling of a joyful childhood, the beauty of the play of light on a rusty Model A, or the drama of red poppies in early spring, translate from my brush to the physical page, I know that there is a benevolent force at work in me and in the world around me.
Shelly Johnson grew up in Southern California and studied at UCLA and Art Center
College of Design in Pasadena, California. She earned her BFA from Art Center in Advertising
Illustration. She has worked as an illustrator for books and magazines, as a muralist, and as a
computer artist doing modeling and animation for video games. She is a member of the Idaho
Watercolor Society (IWS) since 2010, and is a regular participant in their annual Capitol Building
and membership juried shows. She is currently the IWS delegate to the Western Federation of
Watercolor Societies (WFWS) and an IWS and WFWS Signature Member. She has completed
multiple watercolor paintings on commission, primarily paintings of children, since 2009.
In 2010, Shelly moved to Boise, Idaho, to live a slower, quieter life in an inspiring
landscape. Her favorite painting subject is children, but she found a second love painting Idaho
landscapes and wildlife. She primarily works in watercolor, which she has practiced with since
she was a teenager. She is inspired by the watercolors of John Singer Sargent and Winslow
Homer, the musical qualities in the work of Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, and the use of
color and light by the California Impressionists. She occasionally paints plein air, primarily to
improve the spontaneity in her work. She enjoys playing with color and light, and to experiment
with composition.
Shelly currently resides in Boise, Idaho, with her husband and their Pudlepointer, Cooper.
Her work is available on her website, shellyjohnsonstudio.com.
I create art because the process is my meditation and my connection with a power greater than myself. When I see the feeling of a joyful childhood, the beauty of the play of light on a rusty Model A, or the drama of red poppies in early spring, translate from my brush to the physical page, I know that there is a benevolent force at work in me and in the world around me.
