Show Notes:
Learn the magic of marketing with us here at BoldBrush!
https://www.boldbrush.com/
Get over 50% off your first year on your artist website with FASO:
https://www.FASO.com/podcast/
Order your exclusive da Vinci BoldBrush paintbrush set!
https://brushoffer.com/collections/boldbrush
---
For today's episode we sat down with Robert Johnson, an accomplished artist with a love of a plethora of subject matter. Robert shares his journey from practicing law to pursuing his passion for traditional art forms like portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. He describes the influential role his brother played in introducing him to the art world and the pivotal advice he received from a teacher named Frank Wright. Robert also discusses the unexpected opportunities that arose when he committed to becoming a full-time artist, including a residency in France. Throughout the conversation, Robert emphasizes the importance of following one's deep inner motivation and being open to the universe's surprises. He offers advice to aspiring artists about finding the right galleries and marketing their work effectively.
Robert's FASO site:
https://www.robertjohnsonart.com/
Robert's Book "On Becoming a Painter":
https://www.robertjohnsonart.com/book/3311/on-becoming-a-painter
---
Transcript:
Robert Johnson: 0:00
When you make a commitment to something, you'll be surprised to see the things that happen that you couldn't have anticipated when you made the decision and made the commitment. For anybody that's out there thinking about making a decision, if it's a full commitment, then you might be surprised to see how the things move with you,
Laura Arango Baier: 0:25
welcome to the bold brush show where we believe that fortune favors the bold brush. My name is Laura Arango Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast, we are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques and all sorts of business tips, specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all stages of their careers, as well as others who are in careers tied to the art world, in order to hear their advice and insights. For today's episode, we sat down with Robert Johnson, an accomplished artist with a love of a plethora of subject matter. Robert shares his journey from practicing law to pursuing his passion for traditional art forms like portraits, still lifes and landscapes. He describes the influential role his brother played in introducing him to the art world and the pivotal advice he received from his teacher named Frank Wright. Robert also discusses the unexpected opportunities that arose when he committed to becoming a full time artist, including a residency in France. Throughout the conversation, Robert emphasizes the importance of following one's deep inner motivation and being open to the universe's surprises. He offers advice to aspiring artists about finding the right galleries and marketing their work effectively. Finally, he tells us about his upcoming open studio event, as well as upcoming shows and workshops. Welcome Robert to the BoldBrush show. How are you today?
Robert Johnson: 1:41
I'm doing fine, Laura, thank you for inviting me. I'm looking forward to this.
Laura Arango Baier: 1:46
Yeah, looking forward to it, too. I'm so happy to have you because your work is absolutely gorgeous. I i was looking and I'm obsessed with your chicken paintings, and that sounds really funny, but I really love your chicken paintings and your flower paintings. You have such a breadth of work, and it's all absolutely sentimental and beautiful and so well painted. So I congratulate you on your work. Well. Thank
Robert Johnson: 2:14
you so much. I appreciate that. Of
Laura Arango Baier: 2:16
course, of course. And then before we dive into your beautiful work. Do you mind telling us a bit about who you are and what you do?
Robert Johnson: 2:25
Well, I'm an artist. I like to do what's called traditional art. I have a lot of interest in different genres of paintings, portraits, still, lifes, animals, landscapes, I love, and I enjoy what I'm doing, and I've made a living doing it for 20 years, so I'm happy being an artist,
Laura Arango Baier: 2:59
yes, and It's so surprising that you've been doing it for 20 years, and it really, truly looks like you doing it for so much longer. And your background, of course, is so fascinating. Because as I know and as you know that our guests will find out is that you've had a couple of career shifts, which is one of the reasons I really wanted to talk to you, because I feel like there are a lot of people today who might have a day job, might have a job that they're currently in, and they're actually artists at heart, and they want to make that shift. So I did want to ask you about your background and how you decided and when you decided to follow the path of the artist.
Robert Johnson: 3:41
Well, I don't want to ramble on too long, but it's an early start. When I was growing up in Southern Virginia, I I used to love to draw, and as a kid, you know, six years old, I recently discovered, after my mother passed away, that she had given me a sketchbook and written on the front Bobby's drawings at age six and I mainly It was cowboys and Indians and lots of violence. I did love to draw at that age, and I'm glad that she kept that and I also discovered, after she passed away, that she kept some of my report cards from my teachers as an elementary school and then first or second grade, I can't remember which the the teachers said. He really loves to draw, and he's very good. So I had it kind of planted in my system from from an early age, but then I got involved in sports and football. But. Particularly, and played basketball and track and everything too, and and the art was still in my life, but it wasn't getting the focus that it really needed. And that continued on through college, when I was fortunate enough to get a football scholarship and and was very active in that, and and then after that, I I went to law school, and that took a lot of time and focus, but I do remember during law school that I did some portrait work and some figure work in my room when I would finish studying and learning the law. Then I started a law practice. And actually I really enjoyed the law practice. It was something social about it, getting to know your clients and your staff and your the judges, it was very social. And I liked that part of it, and I like the the intellectual challenge of dealing with these cases and the people involved in it. And while I was practicing law, I somehow, I think it was through my brother, I just had this instinct to to pick up the art again, and I had bought a house here, old house that had a building in the back. I think it may have been used for animals or something, but it had a floor and a good structure, and I built that out to a studio, and with the help of my brother, who was in California at that time, and I remember very well. My brother came out to he had worked in Washington a lot. I'll get more about him. Is very instrumental in all of my choices. But we were working on the studio one day and putting a foundation in in the back of my house. And three or four my neighbors were sitting there, sitting there, watching us. What are these people doing? And one of them was a good client of mine in a law practice, and couldn't figure out what what these people were doing. So artists, you know, it's it's not there in everybody's life. But while I was practicing law, I started to get more and more interested in the art world, and I would get up in the morning and work in that studio before I went to work. And I'd have to be at work about nine o'clock. So I'd get up around 630 and do that. And then in the evenings, in this area, which is right near Washington, DC and the university is there, Georgetown, George Washington, I would start going to art classes and drawing sessions that were sponsored by these schools, and I would be in touch with my brother. The more I got into it, the more I felt that it was what I was here to do on Earth. It was very, very attractive my brother, I would like to tell the people viewing this podcast about him. He was four years older than I was, and a very good athlete, scholarship athlete, a wide receiver and punter, William and Mary and I really looked up to him. Can't remember him doing too much drawing. He did a couple, I think, but our mother liked to paint. She set aside a room in the back of our house, and I think it may have had an input impact on both of us, my brother and me. But anyway, when he was, like, say, a sophomore, I think, and at William and Mary, somehow he took an art course and really got hooked on it. And William and Mary is in Williamsburg, Virginia, which has been restored to its beauty and original state by the Rockefeller Foundation. He got more and more into art, and when he graduated, he had a degree in math and. An offer to to work at NASA in Florida, but he chose instead to get a master's in art conservation with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, which saw his possibilities, and he went to New York, and two years there, and he's got his degree in art conservation. And then what showed up on the plans was a Fulbright fellowship to go to Italy to study art conservation with some really fine conservators over there, including the person who restored the chapel Sistine Chapel ceiling, and one person I know he worked with over there was restored a lot of Rembrandts in the Rijksmuseum. And when he came back, he started, he was living in Virginia, and then got a house in Northern Virginia, and then he worked in in the art world in Washington, as a conservator. He worked on paintings from the Smithsonian I remember the Freer Gallery. He restored 26 Whistler paintings there. And I remember just a very awakening when I came up from law school to visit him. When he was in Northern Virginia. I went down in his basement, and he had a portrait of Pocahontas, the only one that exists that he was restoring for the Smithsonian. But that was the world he was in. And then the the Los Angeles County Museum was just being started, and they had received a lot of funds from wealthy people to help get the museum started, and they asked him to start the conservation lab there, which he did. And in the course of starting that conservation lab, he had a kind of implied relationship with all the people who had contributed the money. Many of them were big time art collectors, the names you'd probably mention, but I'm not going to mention them now, but anyway, they were big time collectors that he would help on their collections. Spent six months in Europe with one of them looking for great art to collect. Well, what he did for me, though, was kind of involved me in that world, and I got a glimpse of the art world before I made this decision to become an artist that held art in a very high Standard of admiration and importance. He took me to he was really very considerate and inviting me to go to New York City with him. I was still practicing law, took a day off and went up there with him and to view a Rubens painting that the gallery was interested in. So he took me to the gallery, met with the gallery director, and viewed the Rubens painting, and then talked to me about it on the way back in the cab. And what's good about it, what is the price good? Or, you know, what's, you know, repetitive about other Rubens work, or so forth. And one time he there were four paintings that were coming in to the National Gallery from California, from the museums that he worked with there. And he invited me to come from my house, is is in Northern Virginia, near the Dulles Airport, to come out and ride with the paintings into the National Gallery. There were four of them, one I remember. One was a Gauguin, one was a Rembrandt. And on the way from Dulles Airport to the National Gallery, the band had to stop for some reason, and the guards got out with their guns. And then we took the paintings on out to the National Gallery, and he helped watch. I watched him unload him and so forth. And. But just being in that world with him, it kind of when people would get out of a camp to protect artwork. It put art on a very serious and high level for me to that was the art world that I got to know, and I thought that's what the art world is. It wasn't just a hobby. It was something that people would sacrifice for, would pay for, would admire, et cetera. So he was a wonderful influence, and and the other, the other thing that really helped me along, I would go to these classes in the evening. Some of them were instructional classes, and some of them were just open drawing sessions sponsored by the universities here, one of the one of the classes I went to was a drawing class at George Washington, taught by a person named Frank Wright, who was a an excellent local artist, a Harvard graduate and art and really a good teacher, very involved in the art world here in Washington, and he had a studio that he he painted in when he wasn't teaching at George Washington. And on Saturdays, he would sometimes invite people to come by and the studio and visit with him and his work. And I, when I was in his class, I asked him if I could come by on a on a Saturday and bring some of my art, my drawings, in for him to look at. And I did so, and brought him in. We sat down together, and he looked at him and shook his head and seemed to like them. Didn't say too much about them. And maybe you know this, this head should be a little bigger, or something like that. I can't remember exactly, but I could tell you kind of like them. Then, as I was leaving, I was right at the door. I turned around and looked, I said, Frank, can I be a real artist, a real artist that gets in galleries and museums and work is, you know, admired. He's, he said, You'll never know until art gets your very best, your very best, focus, your energy, your attention, and then you'll find out. And I thought that was wonderful advice, and that's exactly at the time that I decided I would turn over my practice to my wonderful partner, who was an excellent, excellent attorney, and I felt that clients would be well served, and so I didn't feel bad about that. Then the next thing I did was call my brother and tell him I had made this decision. Did he have any advice? He was very short on it. He said, compare yourself only to the masters and learn how to draw it was very short advice. But I remember both of those people and the input they had, and I think it was very good advice from then on. Then I thought another thing. Forgive me if I'm rambling on too much, oh
Laura Arango Baier: 18:54
no, God.
Robert Johnson: 18:56
Well, there I'm I found out that about David LaFell and the Art Students League in New York, and I wanted to go there. And he I knew someone who had studied with him and highly recommended him, and I wanted to go there and study through Art Students League with him for some time. And the Art Students League is not difficult to enroll in. Sometimes it's hard to find an open class, but generally you can, you can get in there, and the tuition was very reasonable, but you couldn't find a place to stay. You had to have a place in New York, which was very hard to find. I was at a drawing session in Washington, DC. It was owned by the an Art Club in Washington, James Madison's old house, and they would have the. Drawing sessions in the evening there, and I would go to those occasionally. I was in at one time drawing, and the fellow next to me was I could see he looked over my drawings, and we got to talking about art and so forth, and I found out that he was a he was down in Washington from Monday to Friday, working on a mural in the capital, United States Capitol. And he on the weekends, he'd go back to New York, and he taught or monitored a class at a place in an art club in in New York called the Salma Gundy Club, which is a wonderful place. And I encourage the people that are listening, if they get to New York to stop by. They've got a great collection of art and a lot of good things going on there, started by the American artist who went to France to study and came back to the United States. And they started that, and they also started the Art Students League. So well. Anyway, what came out of that conversation with this gentleman, he, on his own, set up arrangements for me to stay for a month at the Selma Gundy club in a little third floor room and and during that time, I was able To find a rental space that I could rent while I continued the studies with David LaFell. And it just I never anticipated something like that would happen. I have a little quote from a German philosopher called Goethe, that I hand out a printed version to a lot of the classes that I teach when I teach workshops. And it basically says that when you make a commitment to something, you'll be surprised to see the things that happened that you couldn't have anticipated when you made the decision and made the commitment. And that was one of them. I never would have thought they would I could have a room on the third floor Salma Gundy club, rent free and get started at at the Art Students League, which is a great place to study. But I think that girther quote is true. So anybody that's out there thinking about making a decision, if it's a full commitment, then you might be surprised to see how the things move with you,
Laura Arango Baier: 23:03
yes. And you're the, you're one of the many artists who have mentioned that how it feels like, once you really make a decision about something, it's almost like the universe conspires to help you make it happen, like everything just falls into place in a certain way, um, which is really magical. It's
Robert Johnson: 23:23
surprising and unanticipated. I could mention another little thing that hopped into my life a couple years after I had made that commitment, I got an invitation from the French Embassy here in Washington to spend a month in France in Brittany at a studio of a former artist there. And I took my wife and little daughter there, and we stayed a month, and I could paint two paintings a day and still have a lot of French food and a good place to stay, right in the heart of the place was called Dinan. Who would have ever anticipated that? It's that girtha quote, it's just things happen like that that you don't anticipate. But it was a very enjoyable time, and all they wanted from me at the end of the month, and they were very nice to to me and my family. They they came by with a group of their the people that organized this and chose one of the paintings for their museum there. So I thought they I had all the stuff out that I had done during the time, and they chose just one. So it was a very kind thing they did. I enjoyed. Enjoyed it. My family enjoyed it. And very memorable,
Laura Arango Baier: 25:03
yeah, yeah, it's an experience of a lifetime. And I love how you mentioned that they kept one of your paintings for a museum there, because you had it reminds me of when you asked Frank Wright about, could I, you know, have my work in museums and be represented by galleries? And there you go, you you're in a museum. So it's pretty crazy in a good way. It's amazing how, again, how everything just falls into place once you start each saying yes to the things that you love and the the thing that you really want to do, everything just lines up. And it's a matter of saying yes to that opportunity to, you know, live your life in a way that is more aligned with your joy and the things that you love, which is really amazing. And I think you're an excellent example of that. And I did want to ask you as well, if there's someone listening to the podcast who is thinking of making that switch? Maybe they're on they're an attorney, or maybe they're working in an office, or they're doing something else, and they really want to dive into becoming an artist. What advice would you recommend to them?
Robert Johnson: 26:17
I would say that it has to be a very strong and deep motivation to do this, that someone is contemplating a switch like that. Shouldn't be doing it just because they don't have a job that they like going into every day. You know, getting away from something, maybe it'd be better to switch to another job, but if you do have something that really feels deep inside of you, that's what you're here on earth to do, then by all means, make the choice and but be prepared For the negative aspects of that, namely the income. But you might be surprised on that too. That's another one of these girth on anticipated things. You don't do it for the money in the art world, but sometimes it happens, and if you pursue the high level of art, then you might be surprised. What happens to me? It was, it was a surprise because I was, I was fair, and I had a wonderful wife who is also an artist, and she was what she I told her, we're going to have to probably endure a lot, and I may have to raise a garden, but she would. She was really willing to do that. She knew what I was up to, and I appreciate that. But it didn't work out that way. Again. It was one of these girtha things that some galleries got my things, and I was able to send my daughter and stepson through college and have a decent life and not sacrifice so much from the economic side, and you might be surprised we do what we really want, and even if, even if, the economics doesn't work out. And I have friends that, and the times have changed in the art world too. But if you're doing what you really feel like you're here to do, and you love doing it, you won't have any regrets. You'll figure out a way to get through it.
Laura Arango Baier: 28:53
Yes, very, very well said at BoldBrush, we inspire artists to inspire the world, because creating art creates magic, and the world is currently in desperate need of magic. BoldBrush provides artists with free art marketing, creativity and business ideas and information. This show is an example. We also offer written resources, articles and a free monthly art contest open to all visual artists. We believe that fortune favors the bold brush. And if you believe that too, sign up completely free@boldbrushshow.com that's BOLDBRUSH show.com. The BoldBrush Show is sponsored by FASO. Now, more than ever, it's crucial to have a website when you're an artist, especially if you want to be a professional in your career. Thankfully, with our special link, FASO.com/podcast, you can make that come true and also get over 50% off your first year on your artist website. Yes, that's basically the price of 12 lattes in one year, which I think is a really great deal, considering that you get sleek and beautiful. Site templates that are also mobile, friendly, e commerce, print on demand in certain countries, as well as access to our marketing center that has our brand new art marketing calendar. And the art marketing calendar is something that you won't get with our competitor. The art marketing calendar gives you day by day, step by step, guides on what you should be doing today, right now, in order to get your artwork out there and seen by the right eyes, so that you can make more sales this year. So if you want to change your life and actually meet your sales goal this year, then start now by going to our special link, FASO.com/podcast. That's FASO.com/podcast. And another thing that I want to ask you, because I find it interesting that you went into law and then switched over to painting. Do you find that there are similarities in the two careers, in how maybe, in how they're done, or how your brain processes things?
Robert Johnson: 30:59
There's not a whole lot of carryover. But there's the work ethic that you get into. You get used to to working instead of just hanging out, and I think that's a carryover from the law. The only, the only other thing that I enjoyed, law practice. I like the people. I like the intellectual side of it, but I couldn't do art. I couldn't do both, and do what I'm doing today. If I had kept on law, one little thing that is probably worth mentioning the to those out there who love to paint or trying to learn, learn how to paint or get better at painting. One little thing that I remember from the law world is when I was in law school, when the teachers was discussing a case that had been appealed to a higher court, where the lawyer was standing up before the justices and making his argument, and he went on and On, and the judge asked him, I understand what you're saying. Let's say Mr. Jones, but what about the case of Wilson versus Harnett? And he said, I'm coming to that. I'm coming to that. And he went a little further, and and the judge interrupted again, so what about Wesson versus Hornet i I'd like to hear that. And he he said, I'm going to get to that. I'm I'm going to get there on that case. And the judge said, you're there now, and when I'm teaching workshops other artists, I like to keep that in mind that when you see something that's wrong on your canvas, you're there. You make the you don't put it off, and I'll get to it later before I leave, but right now, I've got to do this leaf. You know, if you see something wrong, I think you have to correct it. Yeah, that's the only carryovers that I can bring from the law world. Really, it's a different world, a different world, very different.
Laura Arango Baier: 33:41
It is different. Yeah. I guess also, the reason I thought maybe there might be a bit more is because I find that there is quite a bit of an intellectual side to painting as well, where you are working through a lot of problem solving. And of course, I'm not familiar with law, so I can't really compare, but from my outsider perspective, it does seem that there is quite a bit of research in both where you have to research cases in law and for painting, you research other artists new research masterworks for problem solving purposes, to imitate or to see how they solve that problem, so that you can add it or use that in your own paintings. You know what I mean?
Robert Johnson: 34:25
I think I think you're right. I think that relates to the work ethic. If you have that work ethic and that desire to figure out problems, then you're confronted with it and the art world, the law world, as well as the art world. I think that's a carryover, and I think you put it very well.
Laura Arango Baier: 34:54
Thank you. And then, funny enough, I It's so cool that you studied LaFell because. He is one of my absolute favorites. One of the very first books that I bought was actually by one of his students, and she had taken notes from all his classes. I can't remember what it's called. Think it's called painting secrets from the masters. And that was the very first oil painted book, painting book that I ever got myself. And it is so cool when I meet someone who's studied with David lefeb, like, Oh, that's amazing, because he just from the notes of that book. It must have been amazing to study directly with him and to see how he sees everything.
Robert Johnson: 35:36
I not only studied with him, I kept in touch with him and spent, I spent a half a year out in Taos, New Mexico, where we're able to get together and keep up to date on stuff he was, I guess what, he also kept a very high level on what he was after his whole life. He doesn't, he didn't put out any bad work. You know that only he told me once that he only painted 12 a year, and they went out, and they've done very, very well. Yes, wonderful person and a wonderful teacher,
Laura Arango Baier: 36:23
amazing, yes. And also, I did want to ask too, about your brother, if he because you, you have, you had such a wonderful experience with your brother. Of You, know, seeing the the side of the art world that is about protection and about the conservation of history, a conservation of all of these beautiful things. How did he feel about you becoming an artist? How did he also see you, know, your career develop?
Robert Johnson: 36:57
I think he was happy on it. He gave me some advice along the way. And we painted together down in Southern Virginia. I remember one, and he was very, very good at his advice to me, one event that I remember very well. We were out painting in the in the country, in Southern Virginia, painting in old lots of old houses down there of the 18th century, I don't know, but it was out in the field, vacant, and we painted it and went back to my family had a farm down there. And when we got out of the car, he looked at my painting. He said, Wow. He said, It looks like an early Pizarro. And I started puffing up and saying, Well, maybe I'm really good at everything. And as we walked away, he said, Remember, I said an early Pizarro. He could see I was getting overconfident, you know, about where I was in the art world, and still have a ways to go. It was wonderful, wonderful influence on me, yes, yes.
Laura Arango Baier: 38:20
Yes. And the fact that he's, he's also very, or he was very well read, and very, you know, aware of all the different artists and their stages. He, I guess, could have also had a very intimate idea of how the artwork develops over time, by an artist right where you started, a certain place, and then it continual with the continual improvement, it just grows and grows and grows. So it's very great to have had that. That's
Robert Johnson: 38:49
that's a good observation. You know, if you, if you take a look at your past artwork through the last several years, you might see a big difference, and hopefully, about you know better, but depending on the time and the focus that you have on it. But he was aware of that. He was aware.
Laura Arango Baier: 39:11
Now, I wish my sister became a conservator, so I could have her as a as a little helper, like, Hey, can you critique my work and see what's going on. And then also, in terms of materials, because there are so many materials today that I feel like we we are discovering maybe aren't as good for the conservatorship of paintings and don't last as long. So I think that must have been a beautiful, amazing relationship to have. And then also, oh yes,
Robert Johnson: 39:41
one other thing that that we did that I'd like to share with the viewers here. He unfortunately had juvenile diabetes and and it affected his job, and he. Uh, he had to leave it and because of his health and but he after he left, he still kept his connections with the art world, and he was invited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to accompany a film crew to make a film on Leonardo da Vinci and his drawings. They had about 12 or 13 drawings of of things falling out of the sky and through the clouds, animals and buckets and stuff and people, I've always tried to figure out what in the world he was thinking about. We, my brother invited me to go with him, and we went over there and accompanied the producers, and he had his input on it. And we went to the village of Vinci which is Leonardo's village, and we were formed filming out near a stream near the village. And the village is up on a mountain, or not a mountain, but a hill. It's a couple 100 feet higher than the surrounding areas, still a small village. And while we were there, a storm came in, and it only came in through the upper levels. And Leonardo grew up there with his his mother took care of him. His father was away. Didn't really help him that much, but I thought of little Leonardo in a room there, growing up with storms and lightning and things falling through the sky, you know, and I think that's maybe where it came from. But I didn't have any input on what the director said or anything. But it was, it was one of these things though, that I must say, sticks in my memory of what my brother did for me, keeping it on a high level. And after, after we left Italy, we went up to Amsterdam to meet with one of his friends that I think he had studied with, who was working on the Night Watch by Rembrandt. And he took us into the room where the Night Watch was, and what he was doing with it and everything. So it was really a great experience that I I'm really appreciative of what my brother Ben did for me. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 42:52
amazing, amazing. And do you find also that he maybe helped you on the side of you know, maybe the business side of of art, or maybe the marketing side. Was there anything that he was able to help you with in that end? Or did you, because of your experience, also running your own business as a as a lawyer, did you find that the business practices there carried over as well into the business and marketing side of your paintings
Robert Johnson: 43:22
the I guess I had some fortunate events. I think, yes, I think if you run your own business like a law practice, you do get into the the practical side of the economics and so forth of it. But it's not not the same. I was very fortunate, because I never anticipated this. I anticipated a great sacrifice, and what what came down was a very it was almost like a gift that the work became popular and and there wasn't an economic sacrifice on it. So I guess I've just been fortunate that. But there is, I guess there is something in the back of our, all of our minds about the economy and whether you can survive on this. But I was fortunate to dodge that bullet,
Laura Arango Baier: 44:38
yeah, although obviously still have experience. Anyway. Do you find that there is some, maybe some advice that you would give to someone in terms you know, in the business side of painting that you find has helped you with managing your work, selling your work, or maybe even working with galleries or collectors? Yeah.
Robert Johnson: 45:00
Uh, galleries are very important. Good ones that promote your work, is what you should look for, that deal with you on an honest basis and straightforward and outgoing with all they're doing. That's that's an important part of the art world. It's become a little less important through the years as the digital world keeps growing larger. But it's still there. It's still there. The good gallery can help you a lot. Promote your work, sell your work, pay you for the work that's that's something good to try to seek out. They're still out there. They're fewer than they used to be. On, on, on, on my side, I like exploring both worlds. I do a newsletter, which has been some successful business, the website successful. I've kind of tiptoed into Instagram. I've never posted anything on Facebook, but I am starting an Instagram site, which is today's world, I guess that you have to live in. And I might mention that the place that I have a studio, here in Washington, has open studios a couple times a year. This generally is closed to the public, but there are about 40 artists there. That beautiful studio, must say, I'm very blessed to have it with north north light, something that all artists love, and 12 foot windows. It's an old school wonderful place, but they have this open studio, and that's been a good source of, well, not just meeting people, but economic success, too, coming up On December 8 in Washington.
Laura Arango Baier: 47:21
Oh, that's amazing. That must be Oh, that must be so fun to go see your work in person. And actually, I wanted to ask you a little bit more about your work, and what, because you paint such a breadth of different things, is there a specific subject that you absolutely love to paint, or do you just find beauty in everything?
Robert Johnson: 47:47
I love to paint a lot of different subjects. I think the thing that people that are listening and watching just paint what you really love to do. You know, don't feel compelled to pursue things that are not inspiring to you. And I'll just mention one little episode in my art experience. I was in a gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And I'd had a wonderful, successful show, I'm happy to say, and not being boastful, just just it was, they did a good job in marketing the art. And I had like, 23 still lifes, and it's what they won and I had they were all recent work that I just created, and it worked. It was good for the gallery, good. Good for me and but I was kind of worn out with still life, and when I was little boy, everybody in our family had a job. My job was taking care of chickens, and so I grew up with them, and I know what they look like, and I can draw them from memory, and I called the gallery director there, and I said, Would you, would you like a chicken painting? And I remember this just like it was yesterday, Laura. He said, send it if you must.
Laura Arango Baier: 49:39
Oh, no,
Robert Johnson: 49:41
so I said it to a minute. It sold very quickly. I don't think they realized that people do like things like that. Yes, and in about 10 days, I got another call. Do you have any more chicken paintings? Oh my gosh, good. And I enjoy, I enjoy doing them because they come pretty, pretty easily to me. Just I don't get any credit for it, because I just grew up with them. I had, I had. I'm a little off target here, but I have the wonderful experience with a painter named Leos Marcos, who's now passed Hungarian American. And he grew up in Hungary on a place that had a lot of a farm with horses. And he came to this country, and he could do horses from memory that were incredible. I spent a month he was so kind to offer me a time with him down there. My My wife's mother was a good painter that had studied with him, and I, she set it up, but he could do these stage coaches with Indians chasing them, and the horses falling over, and some getting up and some getting shot. They do it all from memory. So I mentioned that only but one, to give Mr. Marcos some credit, because he was very kind to me and a heck of a good painter. But also, you know this, the chickens come pretty naturally still at this stage of life?
Laura Arango Baier: 51:24
Yes, I your chickens are gorgeous. I couldn't stop looking at them. I don't
Robert Johnson: 51:30
know if I'd like to do 23 chicken paintings in a row, like the still life, but I enjoy every now and then doing some chickens.
Laura Arango Baier: 51:40
Yes, and you can tell the
Robert Johnson: 51:43
landscapes I like to paint, trees, still life and portraits, there's something about a life. I do them from life. I don't do them from photographs. And there's something good about that? No, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier: 52:02
amazing. Yes, it. I think the beautiful thing about hearing the way you talk about the things you love to paint is that it almost makes it sound like you're in love with life, which is such a beautiful thing as well, to be so in love with the world around you that it's hard for you to not want to paint everything
Robert Johnson: 52:25
that is true, that is true,
Laura Arango Baier: 52:29
yeah, which, by the way, if someone wants to learn from you, do you have any upcoming workshops or any events that you'd like to promote?
Robert Johnson: 52:39
Well, I do have the the open studio in Washington on December eight, starts at 12 noon. And I have a lot of work up there. Because one thing I'm doing, I have a one person show that I've been thankfully invited to have in Scottsdale, Arizona, at a gallery called Bonner Dave gallery in Scottsdale, and the show will be in mid March, and they schedule it at the same time. I'm doing a five day workshop at the Scottsdale artist School, which is good timing for everyone. Bonner Dave gallery is a very good gallery that I've just started a relationship with, but they have a gallery there in Scottsdale and one in New York. Those the only events I have on the calendar right now, but I generally I'll teach one or two workshops. Just taught a wonderful workshop out in Seattle at a school there picket fence art studio and and last weekend I taught one here in in Virginia, so I put all those up on my website, so anybody that's interested in learning, they can keep them up there, perfect.
Laura Arango Baier: 54:11
And then I'll also include the link to your website, which, by the way, what is your website?
Robert Johnson: 54:16
It's Robert Johnson art.com, it's a Faso website, perfect.
Laura Arango Baier: 54:22
Yes, and then I'll include any other links as well that you might want me to share with our listeners and our viewers. Yeah. Thank you so much, Robert for being such an inspiration and for being so full of love for your art and for the world and for everything. So thank you so much.
Robert Johnson: 54:42
Well, I really appreciate the invitation and all the kind things you've said about me and my heart, of course,
Laura Arango Baier: 54:51
and I strongly encourage our listeners and our viewers to go look at your work. Because seriously, those the chickens, the trees, the people. Well, everything on your website, it's just eye candy.
Robert Johnson: 55:05
Thank you so much, Laura,
Laura Arango Baier: 55:07
of course, you.
