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Cathy Johnson has published two Sierra Club books

by Jim Cohee
Environmental Expression Through Art Session
Cathy Johnson, Sketching and Painting in Nature

Cathy Johnson, an old friend of the Sierra Club, spoke Friday at the Summit, showing samples of her work and discussing field technique with pencil, pen, and brush. She is author/illustrator of two Sierra Club Books, The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature (1990) and The Sierra Club Guide to Painting in Nature (1997). Her plein air work is the perfect union of the love of art and the natural world. After her presentatin, she took questions from the audience on her "art in a knapsack" approach, and discussed her long career in the arts.

It's an impressive career. She was managing color separation for Hallmark Cards at 21, was art director at a Kansas City television station the following year, and was running her own advertising agency by 30. Meanwhile, she continued her own fine-art work, and launched her career as a writer. She has been a contributing editor for Country Living, Artist's Magazine, Personal Journaling, and has contributed to Science Digest, Women's History, National Wildlife Magazine and many others. She is the author/illustrator of 30 books and she is about to launch a series of classes on-line. (You can find out more at www.cathyjohnson.info.)

Her Friday presentation featured a couple of sketching techniques she recommends to students who are intimidated by the blank page. One is "contour drawing" — drawing without looking at the paper. The other is "memory drawing" — drawing without sight of the object. She also paints at night, sketches in the rain — she goes out to make art every New Year's Day no matter what the weather — and though she moves slowly now and walks with a cane, she seems to have no fears.

-- 09/09/2005 Fri
8pm