Every once in a while a painter comes along that ignites a spark and injects a new energy into the art community. Jennifer Johnson is one of those artists. Her work is at once whimsical and beautiful, nostalgic and modern. It invokes an excitement and pride in our country’s natural beauty that appeals to people of all ages and interests.  

Jennifer is one of just three women to be named to the prestigious Russell Skull Society of Artists for her work, which has sent a buzz through the Western Art community because of its engaging celebration of Western themes. Jennifer says she is excited that people are enjoying her work and is truly honored to be named to the society.   

“I think that there are a lot of very important women artists, and we just don’t always get the recognition. You see these strong men, and they’re great. I love them. They’re all my friends and buddies,” she said. “I remember, specifically, a couple of my guy friends that are big time artists. They said, ‘We’re proud of you, girl. Just breaking through and getting into the male, ‘Western Guy’ world of painting.’ It was a big honor. I’m very proud of that.”  

While Jennifer may be helping blaze a trail for other women artists, it was her grandmother who sent her down the path to a career in art. Jennifer’s grandmother was an amateur artist who was always at the easel and spent many hours teaching Jennifer and nurturing her talent for and love of painting.

 “There’s a photo of me, actually in diapers, painting next to my grandmother. And I think I have always wanted to be like her. She was my idol. I absolutely adored her. I think from a very young age, [I saw] her painting, so I would paint. She saw something in me when I was very young and encouraged me to keep painting. And that was always a way to make her proud,” Jennifer said.  

Her first subjects were flowers, which Jennifer learned to paint alongside her grandmother at her home in Florida. But as she got older, she learned to love the more vast perspective of the outdoors, which she experienced by visiting US National Parks with her family. A plant pathologist working for the US government, Jennifer’s father piled everyone into the pop-up camper, and took them to visit the different national parks all over the country, while he studied the pine beetle and collected tree samples for research.  

“We just fell in love with the parks. I felt like it was my playground, my home. Playing in the trees, that was kind of like my wonderland. So, I’ve always had a deep passion for our national parks since I was a child,” Jennifer said.  

As she grew older, Jennifer never considered a career other than art. She had a natural gift and love for art, and being dyslexic, she also felt that she was destined for a life of creativity.  

“Throughout my childhood, when I was struggling with reading and math and all that, I knew that I had art as the thing that I [could do] better than all the other kids. It was the one thing that I understood and could do and was proud of,” Jennifer said.   

When she was in junior high in Lakewood, Colorado, Jennifer was asked to design a set of stained glass windows for the front of the school. While that school has since been torn down, the windows were preserved, along with her legacy as a young artist.   

“They removed the stained glass windows and they had me come back to the grand opening of the new junior high. They had kept the stained glass windows that I did, and they’re still hanging in the school,” she said. “And the other funny thing is [that school] is actually where my kids [went] to school, and so they see the art that I had done as a student, years ago.”  

It was in high school that a teacher introduced her to oil painting, and she began to pursue that medium in earnest. It was also then that Jennifer discovered she had a talent for running, landing a track scholarship to the University of Kansas in Lawrence. But before she got a chance to run for the Jayhawks, Jennifer injured her knee on the ski slopes, ending her collegiate running career before it began.  

“I thought, ‘Well, I still want to go to the University of Kansas.’ They have a really amazing art program that you don’t really hear about … so I ended up still going,” she said. “It worked out for the best. I mean, it’s just one of those things. Maybe it would have been fine to do the track thing, but it took up so much time … I don’t think I could have pulled off my art in the way that I would have wanted to if I was running.”  

In college, Jennifer told a professor that she had a strong interest in illustration, an industry which had a reputation for being notoriously cutthroat. Interestingly, the same professor told her that she “probably wouldn’t make it as an artist” and instead steered her toward graphic design as a career. After graduation, she took his advice and spent two years working in Kansas City, designing catalogs and promotional layouts.

 “It’s kind of a funny story, because it was obvious I didn’t like [the graphic design job] because I got fired. So, my first job out of college lasted two years, I got fired, then I started my own business,” she said.   

That business was a faux finish painting service, which began as a result of repeated requests to paint murals in people’s homes.  

“There was a tight network of people that I knew in Kansas City that were professional athletes. Royals players, Chiefs players, all that. I kind of ended up in their little world, and so I started doing murals in their kids’ rooms, and so that was kind of fun,” she said.   

Jennifer began by painting murals in children’s bedrooms and eventually expanded her services to include complex wall finishes that incorporated Venetian plaster, hand-painted details and metallic leaf. Despite the success of this business, Jennifer knew that it could not be a permanent career because of her love of art and a desire to have a family.

“I worked until I was about seven months pregnant [with my first child] on scaffolds and ladders, and then realized, ‘I think I better retire from this career.’ And if I was going to start to have a family, there were going to be long periods of time where I was not going to be able to climb around scaffolding, pregnant,” she said.  

During those days, Jennifer had traveled to Italy to enhance her faux finish painting techniques. While there, though, she became inspired by the art and beauty around her and discovered that she was ready to resume her pursuit of a career in art. Soon after, she shut down her Kansas City business and moved back to Colorado, where, at first, she was painting “for fun” but with an eye toward making this her lifelong career.   

“Trying to break into the art market with young kids is tricky, but I had a finished basement and I literally put up a miniature fence. And I had tons of toys on one side of the fence where I could watch my kids, and on the other side I had my easel, and I painted. So, I kind of worked that way for many years,” she said.