Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jeff Johnson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jeff, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

My creative process is very intuitive, both as a composer and an artist. I’m thankful that growing up I was given the space and freedom to try new things; to paint, to draw, to conduct, compose – letting those moments of intuition blossom to fruition without restrictive conditions – now I’m rhyming, but you get the point. My intuition is the driving force behind my creativity, so having the space to develop it as a kid and now as an adult has been a blessing.

As a culture we are obsessed with growth and getting results faster. But I’ve learned that developing my skills as an painter and musician is like growing a garden – it takes time, patience, care, and rest. I tend to be hard on myself and expect results faster, expecting a faster turn-around time on my art and music, expecting perfection from myself in a musical performance. My biggest obstacle is my self-condemning inner dialogue. It has taken time and patience to learn to be kinder to myself.

Jeff, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a composer and artist. I have composed and or orchestrated music for projects by studios like DreamWorks, Cartoon Network, and Disney. I created these musical scores at my home studio using a piano, a computer running Pro Tools and Logic, and a pencil and paper. I play pipe organ, euphonium, guitar and try to incorporate these instruments into my music whenever possible.

As an artist I create impressionist-style paintings that draw upon influences like Van Gogh and Monet, and combine it with a modern aesthetic. My paintings are made up of wild, sometimes violent brush strokes that from a distance blend together in your eye to create a bold, vivid landscape scene. My paintings can be viewed at the Messengers Gallery in Santa Monica and on many different online platforms. I create my paintings in the same studio where I compose my music. I take inspiration from the dramatic coastline of California, the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the green, woodland realm of the New England mountains. You might run into me in the Santa Monica mountains if you like hiking.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Anyone with chronic health issues is familiar with the added dimensions of difficulty to everyday life. I’ve had many different health concerns come up over the years of my living in LA, which I won’t get into here, but it has taught me resilience on a whole new level. Not the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps-type of resilience. More of a go-easy-on-yourself and take-care-of-yourself-type of resilience, which in my opinion is true resilience. Artists and musicians are told constantly to “say yes to every opportunity,” “work yourself to the bone,” and “invest in your future by working overtime now.” That’s nice if you have unlimited reserves of mental and physical strength, but that’s not me.

My resilience has been to say no to opportunities that colleagues tried to pressure me in to, to stand up for myself when told my voice doesn’t matter, and to chose to love myself instead of giving in to the fear of missing out. My health issues have helped me learn to go easier on myself and trust myself.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

This is a hot button issue for me. For a thriving creative ecosystem there needs to be more encouragement for artists. I can’t count the number of people who tried to discourage me from being an artist/musician when I was starting out. I was told “there’s no money in the arts, so give up,” or “the arts aren’t a real profession.” That’s why I’m thankful for those closest to me – my family and friends – because they were a vessel of encouragement to me in a sea of discouraging voices. “Keep going,” they said. “Your voice matters. Your art and music matters.”

I’ve noticed a mentality in our culture where a person who calls themselves an artist/musician/performer is seen as illegitimate unless they can prove that they have already worked on high-profile projects. You have to earn the title “artist” in a social setting.

In a conversation with laypeople it goes like this: You tell the people you are conversing with at the social gathering, “I am an artist and composer.” They look at you with suspicion, thinking to themselves, “well he/she’s got his/her head in the clouds thinking they’re a professional artist.” You must quickly prove your credentials to end the silent judgements. You say, “I worked on such-and-such project that such-and-such corporation produced.” Upon proving to the peanut gallery that you have indeed worked on notable projects produced by big-name, big-money corporations, you are given acceptance and your hopes and dreams are now viewed as legitimate by the group.

While this way of thinking is understandable, it offers little encouragement and grace to people who are learning, pivoting careers, or building a new skill set. We expect perfection and credits right out of the gate. But the only way to work up to getting notable projects is by doing a bunch of small projects over time. Any artist knows that to make good art you must make bad art. Freedom, space for failure, and encouragement – these make a healthy soil for artists to grow in.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artbyjeffco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artbyjeffco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artbyjeffco
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artbyjeffco
• Other: https://musicbyjeffco.com

Image Credits
Photos by AK and Jeff Johnson