John Johansen

I've taken up art seriously a bit later in life than most. Illness meant I couldn't work in a full time job any longer and painting was something I had always done for relaxation so it was a natural to give it a proper go. I take my subjects from people and places around me, and living in the historic harbourside suburb of Balmain is an artists dream. I also love painting landscapes and enjoy the occasional trip into mountains and wilderness areas around Sydney, usually coming back to my studio loaded with photos and impressions and get to work.
I think the hectic pace of life and work for most of us means we no longer take the time to look and reflect on the beauty around us. I'm just trying to give people a nudge, a reminder, to look, appreciate the world and to perhaps help try and preserve it.

I've worked in magazine production as a young man and travelled fairly extensively before getting a degree in communications at UTS in Sydney in 1984. About this time I took various courses in watercolour and oil painting with Balmain Art School, and took a number of summer and winter art classes offered by Mitchell College with Australian painters such as Herman Pekel and Patrick Carrol. I've also spent a lot of time wandering the Art Gallery of NSW and admire enormously the work of Edmund Hopper, also early impressionists such as Monet and Turner.
I've been at' Oneplus2' studios in Balmain since 2013, and continue to learn from my very talented fellow artists there.