Brian R. Johnson, R.I.

Brian and Jean Johnson have their favorite wandering places and many of Brian's paintings result from these outings...Swan Lake, Rithet's Bog, Quick's Bottom, Bright Angel, Fort Rodd Hill...Brian says of his works, "the paintings that please me most are the ones that exhibit that quality that happens when the intuitive and cognitive functions collaborate to produce in the words of Ingres, 'something that you didn't know you could do'." He finds watercolor the medium that works the best to this end...with its great range it allows the pace of the painting to develop. Some paintings require an almost hurried intensity while others a contemplative, left-brain approach...it is the subject and the interpretation that determines this.
He has always painted a wide variety of subjects... "I like Wyeth's comment about things seen out of the corner of the eye... I know what he means as some of the best work I have done is of subjects I almost didn't see." He holds a long interest in historical aircraft and says about them "I have tried to lift them from the genre and paint them as portraits of aircraft rather than placing them in the events of their time."
Brian Johnson was elected to membership in the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolors and has been presented with their annual medal for the most outstanding work in the exhibition... these exhibitions are held in London, England. Her Majesty the Queen is the Patron of the R.I. and H.R.H. Prince Charles is an exhibiting honorary Member. Membership is limited to fifty worldwide...the annual exhibition is juried from 3500 entries from Europe, China, Australia and North America.
Brian graduated with distinction from Art Center College in Los Angeles, California. After residing in Los Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto, he and his wife settled in their home town of Victoria BC to raise their three children...he is one of Victoria's honorary citizens.