About Daryl

DDJ is a fine art painter with a studio in New Orleans.

Sketchbook Notes

Sketchbook Notes While my husband drives I like to sit in front and draw the quickly changing landscape views from the road. Obviously, these are fast sketches with a pencil. The pages posted here were drawn mostly during travels throughout New England where I lived 40 [...]

By |2022-07-01T18:36:24+00:00July 1st, 2022|In Progress, Inspiration, Landscapes, Sketchbook|Comments Off on Sketchbook Notes

Cloud Appreciation Society

“The Cloud Appreciation Society grew out of a talk on clouds Mr. Pretor-Pinney delivered to a literary festival in 2004. To attract attendees, he invented a whimsical title: the Inaugural Lecture of the Cloud Appreciation Society. To his surprise, several people asked to join. The society was born.” — Gautam [...]

By |2022-03-29T18:29:52+00:00March 29th, 2022|Cloudscapes, Inspiration|Comments Off on Cloud Appreciation Society

…And Then There’s a Rockwell Kent Painting Behind My Head

File this under "Curious Collector Encounters". 1983. A Sunday morning in the summer. I took the train from New Haven, CT to Midtown Manhattan to deliver 2 paintings to a new collector. I walked into a small office and sat on the couch facing the elder lawyer's desk. [...]

By |2022-02-21T15:34:45+00:00February 14th, 2022|Art Shows, Collector Encounters, Notes from Life|Comments Off on …And Then There’s a Rockwell Kent Painting Behind My Head

How I Use Positive Movement for Creativity

"Just this breath and the movement that flows from it." I was practicing Ai Chi in my neighborhood outdoor pool last summer and my new filmmaker friend asked if I was staging "Performance Art". I describe Ai Chi as similar to Tai Chi - slow, deliberative progressive [...]

By |2022-01-05T23:07:32+00:00December 28th, 2021|Inspiration, Notes from Life, Waterscapes|Comments Off on How I Use Positive Movement for Creativity

Ecstatic Encounters

Random thoughts on showing my work and receiving reactions. When people see my paintings in person their eyes get bigger and bigger and most often they smile. Sometimes I see them up on their toes. They must be reacting to the "uplifting" motion of the compositions. They sometimes [...]

By |2021-09-29T17:59:12+00:00August 23rd, 2021|Cloudscapes, Inspiration, Oil Paintings|Comments Off on Ecstatic Encounters

Can One Have Too Many Books on Turner?

"Take me to the Tate." In 1990 I was pregnant with our first child. I left the doctor's office with the pregnancy confirmed and went directly to a travel agent office. "Book me a flight to London". I knew that if I didn't see Turner's paintings right away, [...]

By |2021-07-20T14:35:29+00:00July 20th, 2021|Art History, Artists, Inspiration, Landscapes, Notes from Life|Comments Off on Can One Have Too Many Books on Turner?

Transformation

During my junior year of college I had a super serious brain operation in Montreal. I brought my sketchbooks and Rapidograph pens and ink to the hospital for the multi-weeks' stay. In the hospital library was a book on butterflies. I drew and drew from that book. The [...]

By |2021-07-07T20:58:43+00:00June 28th, 2021|Art Shows, Completed Artwork, Inspiration, Notes from Life|Comments Off on Transformation

Compositions Called “Zoomies” — & How They Came to Be

The artist in the White Mountains, NH circa 1988 with their 1982 BMW R80 named "Schwarz" all loaded with camping equipment Above: © 1991 Daryl D. Johnson, Wind & Ash — Mt. Washington, Oils on Canvas, 32 x 54″ My husband and I did a lot [...]

By |2022-09-29T20:26:57+00:00May 27th, 2021|Inspiration, Landscapes, Oil Paintings, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Compositions Called “Zoomies” — & How They Came to Be

When a Sketchbook is a Love Letter

I'm participating in The Sketchbook Project run by the Brooklyn Art Library in my birthplace, New York City. Artists purchase a sketchbook from them, use any medium, then register and submit their sketchbook to this Global Art Library. "We are more than just a project. We are [...]

By |2021-04-28T16:27:08+00:00April 28th, 2021|In Progress, Inspiration, Landscapes|Comments Off on When a Sketchbook is a Love Letter

When You Get A Postcard From Helen Frankenthaler

Last year I was sorting through books, doing a hard cull down before packing to move. The art books were the toughest to let go. I had so many, and inherited even more from my Mom several years ago. Her collection included Asian Art, art from Latin America, [...]

By |2021-04-07T20:51:29+00:00March 31st, 2021|Artists, Inspiration, Notes from Life|Comments Off on When You Get A Postcard From Helen Frankenthaler
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