Ann Johnson paints and draws intuitively while seeking to achieve rhythm and tension. The goal is to get colour, shape, tone and mark to dynamically work together with contrast and unity. Paint is quickly and generously applied with the work evolving through several transformations before completion.

Influences come from many sources but Ann values lasting inspiration from the art of indigenous cultures that pre-date European colonialism, such as African, Indian and Aboriginal Australian.

In her early career she worked as a fashion journalist and continues to be influenced by the random and adventurous mixing of colour, pattern and form used by fashion designers.

"I paint what is around me and what I've been up to: the landscape, garden, animals, wobbly bits of pottery, a train journey to St Ives... Through charcoal and paint I try to shift these subjects from 'reality' into more imagined presences. My pictures are essentially about marks, colour, gaps, edges and punctuation with a few acceptable 'flaws' and, hopefully, some surprises." (See interview on Contact and information page)

All paintings on this website remain the copyright of Ann Johnson