Alison Johnson’s beautiful landscape paintings are really popular on Art2Arts, and she’s been September’s featured artist. Here she tells me about her practice, and how she manages to balance being a successful artist with being a caring and passionate nurse.
Did you always know that you would be an artist? Where did your involvement in art stem from?
I always knew that I wanted to be an artist from a child, it was my strongest subject in school I grew up in a very creative environment, surrounded by art. My mother is an artist and she first inspire me to follow a career in art but growing up in Yorkshire I was told to get a proper job.
Did you go to art college?. If so, was your experience of art college like?
I did…………. ha ha, that was one very strange experience! I still like to think of myself as a self taught artist though.
Do you still work as a nurse? If so, how do you balance your work life and your artistic practice?
I work as a specialist nurse now part time, running a cognitive behaviour programme with very vulnerable children in the community, it is very rewarding work. This work inspires my creative process effecting my mood and work. I call these days my inspiration days, as they fuel my thought processes so that on ‘painting days’ I already have ideas of what I am to do. Sometimes I am so busy with my artistic practice that I consider giving up my nursing work, but then I have guilt trip and keep going as I am. My nursing career keeps my feet on the ground and in touch with the real world I suppose. They say if you don’t have a life, you have nothing to paint, but if you give in to life you have no time to paint!
Could you please describe the practical process you go through when making a painting?
Faced with a blank canvas sometimes I get charcoal and scribble on the canvas just to take the white out of it. I usually already have ideas about composition and colour from my previous sketches. I mainly use acrylic with oil glazes, but sometimes I use pure oil. I love the blending capabilities of oil, but I under paint in acrylic to set the scene, colour and composition. Acrylic allows fast drying times and the opportunity to adjust quickly.
How do you generate ideas?
I usually paint in series, I often start by working on smaller canvases, or sketch books
which give me some initial ideas, and I start from there. Usually one series sparks off ideas for the next one I maybe do a body of work of 15, 20 paintings constantly and then I have to rest, as it’s mentally exhausting. You have to let your mind rest, and then start again.
Do you ever get artistic blocks or creative droughts? How do you stay inspired and engaged with your practice?
Yes this usually happens once I am coming to the end of a series, the best thing I find when this happens is just to go with it, I tend to get out and about during this time, and it always amazes me how the ideas start flooding in once I rest my mind a little.
Do you paint from life, or photographs, or both? Also, what are your favourite paints to use?
My work is always about an emotional response, so it is never totally representational, I try to maintain an anchor with reality as I feel it gives the viewer something to relate to. I would describe my work as atmospheric .I get inspired by landscapes or cityscapes and try to translate the feeling of them onto canvas. A lot of my work is therefore based from memory, photographs restrict my flow and I get distracted by technicalities. I tend to use Windsor and Newton paints as I love their creamy qualities.
See more of Alison’s evocative landscape paintings at her Art2Arts gallery page.
