We recently connected with Donald Johnson and have shared our conversation below.

Donald, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I started making arts and crafts with my mom and grandma and I always enjoyed art classes in school. My first year of college, I took some art courses just for what I thought would be easy A’s. I fell in love with the art making process and by my Jr. year, I picked up Fine Art as a second major with a focus in printmaking. I enjoyed the drawing, repetition, layers, and delayed gratification that came with printmaking. I went on to earn my MFA in Fine Art with my focus being painting. The art department in my undergrad was a very traditional program where I learned the fundamentals of art and focused on drawing, composition, and technique. The grad school I went to for my masters had a focus on theory and concept. I went through a struggle to grasp who I was as an artist and my “why” while I was in grad school. I learned a lot about myself in this process. I believe both schools of thought are needed to be successful artists. In my journey, it took a lot of hard work and dedication to learn the fundamentals and really hone my craft in drawing and painting. It is currently and always will be a struggle for me to write about my work and to feel comfortable with the concepts and themes I am working on. One of the obstacles in my journey was that I was not fully committed to becoming an artist, my focus was my business degree. It wasn’t until my senior year of college, and I applied to grad school, that art became a real focus for me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m a fine artist focused on showing my perspective through my own style of painting. The themes in my artwork are based off my everyday life. I tend to lean into what I know and what I experience. My current themes are the Oil and Gas Industry, simplifying modern Western culture, and abstracting layers of flowers. I love to play with lines, color and shape. While locked up inside during Covid, I was searching for a way to connect with people and nature. I just happened to start looking at flowers and noticed all the layers and lines that they created, so I started to sketch out abstract flowers. My day job is in oil and gas, and I also grew up surrounded by industry. I think it is just normal for me to romanticize seeing North Dakota sunsets with oil equipment in view. I want to try bringing humanity and beauty to an industry that is often vilified. My western themed paintings are my exploration in trying to tell a story that isn’t like my other paintings. These paintings lack color and have a very recognizable subject manner. I am posing these western objects or symbols in a desolate and lonely setting and casting a very harsh contrast upon them. I mostly paint on canvas and paper. I typically use large shapes and lines with a lot of color. I have original works for sale, but most of my business is commissioned or custom artwork. I love doing commissions because it lets me paint ideas that create a personal connection with someone. Most of the time it is something I have never painted before, and I love a good challenge.
I wouldn’t say my brand has taken off, but I have been stopped by a lot of people saying how much they like my art videos. My brand is me, and that is hard to find a comfortable niche. I paint in order to provide a feeling when people see my painting, and I hope they associate the painting with the artist, and I hope it’s a positive feeling they get. When I make my videos and they create a positive feeling, that makes me happy too. My goal and my brand are to keep spreading joy

How did you build your audience on social media?

I used to post a painting occasionally. I would add a song sometimes and then Instagram kept taking my videos down because of copyright issues. So, I decided to create my own songs and commentary. I’m a weird guy that likes to sing and make people laugh, so this created a more authentic feel to my videos. I create time lapse videos of my paintings and add my own songs, videos of me in my studio, and pictures of my artwork. The only advice I have is, be you, people can detect authenticity. Also try to be consistent with posting, it’s difficult to be consistent with it, but there are tools to help keep you going.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The selfish reason I make art is because it’s a part of me and it is a comfortable headspace where I get to be ambitious, creative, and challenged. The most rewarding part of making art is the connection I can build with people. For example, I have had people want pets and loved ones painted for them, or a place where they have fond memories from childhood. I want people to connect with my paintings, the subject, or the videos. All of these create a connection with people, and I am hoping it brings a light hearted positive moment to people’s lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.johnsondon.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/johnsondonart
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/johnsondonart
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/dwjohnson86
• Other: www.pictorem.com/profile/Don.Johnson