This past summer, Jennifer Johnson took an epic road trip. Starting in Oklahoma City, she traveled down the famed Route 66, hitting beguiling hotels, motels and roadside attractions along the way in search of inspiration.
“It’s been a fun little twist,” Johnson says of her latest body of work. The Colorado-based artist has always been passionate about national parks, wild lands and wildlife. She’s also painted the bright neon storefront signs one might find in Western towns and middle America.
For this new “road trip” series, Johnson is combining the two.
The Oasis Motel, oil on canvas, 36 x 36”
All along the way, she says, signs along the road would beckon travelers in—“come see the giant dinosaurs” or the “world famous corn dogs” (in Oklahoma City). Johnson took those roadside oddities and flashy signs and paired them with the surrounding land and animal life—the resulting paintings a blend of imagination and reality. “The juxtaposition between the beauty of nature and how we, as tourists, put up these neon signs and have these quirky little hotels. How do they correlate? Can they work together? Are we affecting nature by moving in?” says Johnson. “Along this journey, I learned that I think they can be beautiful together, but it definitely makes you think about how fragile nature can be, and we need to be careful.”
Moose Motel, oil on canvas, 36 x 24”
She cites one of her recent paintings, Moose Motel, in which three moose wade in a lake surrounded by lily pads and conifers. The red glow of a motel sign in the backdrop casts a bright reflection on the water. “I thought it’d be fun to change it up and put a neon sign up in an environment where you wouldn’t normally see it,” she says.
The first of Johnson’s new series, The Oasis Motel,depicts a group of bison walking through the Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone National Park. In the background, however, there’s an unexpected feature. “I’ve [painted Prismatic Spring] a lot, but throwing the Oasis Motel sign into the background made it different. Putting the bison in there. But in my research, I know the bison travel to the Prismatic area in the winter…To keep alive, they’ll go to those thermal hot springs,” says Johnson.
The Great Western, oil on canvas, 30 x 30”
She continues, “I’m trying to find a way for it to be fun and beautiful but also fun and quirky…For me, as an artist, I love the freedom to create beauty that is fun and hopefully that resonates with the viewer. Or maybe it will inspire a road trip for them… I had a blast along the way.” Her journey ended in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Overall, Johnson has been working on this series for the past year. A show opening in October at Coeur d’Alene Galleries, titled Exploring Nature’s Beauty — Parks & Road Trips, will highlight this new body of work, as well as several pieces from her National Parksseries. The exhibition will include about 10 pieces, ranging from small minis at 9 by 12 inches, up to larger works at 36 by 36 inches, and everything in between. Johnson will be attending the opening reception on October 13 and will be conducting a demo at the gallery the following day.
Big Bend, Canyon Lights, oil on canvas, 24 x 24”
“I’ve always been a little bit of a risk taker in my art, and I always try to do something different,” says Johnson. “I’m trying to always keep myself flowing with new ideas. That was the most important part of that Route 66 trip, to get myself out of the box.” —
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