“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 [...]
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. [...]
"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 [...]
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 [...]
"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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Visual artists are surrounded with art - mostly their own - and I am always curious what creations from other artists catch their eye and become part of their collection. Discerning eyes. This post is about a particular piece in my collection. When I was 10 years old [...]
