Abra Johnson

Biography

Abra Johnson lives in Atlanta, and after a long career in Graphic Design, picked up painting. She practices Encaustic as well as traditional oil painting – focusing on encaustic in the summer months when she can work outdoors for ventilation, and oils during the cooler months of the year. She has a BFA as well as a minor in art history, which sparked her interest in encaustic as one of the oldest painting methods.

Artist Statement (Oils)

I started working with oils after I’d been an encaustic artist for many years. As an encaustic artist I am always pushing the medium to work like oils, so my transition to oils was very easy and seamless. When I became a fulltime artist, I was looking for a medium that could get me through the colder months, when working outside with wax was impossible.

I work in a style mixture of direct and indirect oil painting, both layering parts slowly over time, as well as blocking parts in one sitting. If I am painting a boat for example, the soft background and water will be indirect, while the sail or masting, more direct and all at once.

I most enjoy painting as precisely as I can. I struggle with anxiety, and this is how I lose my frustrations and forget where and what I’m dea...

BFA from Washington State University, Minor in Art History with additional studies at the Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, Australia.

Group Juried Exhibition: Mercer Island Arts Council, 2014