In order to encourage other members of our Clan to try their hand at drawing or painting, I am making this page available to them to display their work, which shows a wide range of artistic talent.

Now please don't be afraid to submit your work. Remember that we are READY AYE READY to support every aspect of Clan achievement.
                                                                                Cecil Johnson.

PETRA, a Newfoundland.

PICKLES, a Golden Labrador

These colour portraits, painted in acrylic on box canvas, were both done from a black-and-white photograph of the two dogs on the steps of Raehills. Lady Annandale provided me with some colour photographs of Pickles so that I could pick up the correct colouring.

When doing pet portraits in colour, you can always work from black-and-white photographs, as long as the pet's owner gives you some idea of the correct colour. This time, however, Lady Annandale has gone one better -- she has put in three more commissions for me to work on, and has not only provided the relevant photographs but has also attached to each a lock of the dog's hair! Now that has got to be a first for me. In all the years I've been doing pet portraits I've never had the pet's actual hair to work from.
                                                                                               Pat Pierpoint.

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 The Fan  -  This was a subject of one of the still life sessions I've been attending occasionally, especially during the rainy weather season when it's not so pleasant to be outside painting landscapes.  The fan was found abandoned in a storage room by the artist who occupies the studio where we hold our still life sessions.  In a few of the previous still life studies I was finding that I wanted to add too much detail and include everything I could see in the room.  This time I really tried to focus in on the subject and try to simplify it as much as possible.  I also wanted to try and create an illusion of as much movement as possible.

Japanese Garden, San Jose, California -  It was a very cool day in February at the local Japanese garden in San Jose.  The garden was very quiet and serene and I thought I had selected a quiet area to sit and paint but actually it turned out that many families were out that day taking a walk through the garden.   The children kept coming by to see what I was doing and seemed very interested in the idea of painting outdoors.  One very small child started imitating what I was doing by using his etch-a-sketch toy.  So maybe we have a budding enthusiast in the works after all.  Maybe he's a Johnston descendant?

Artist Studio Still Life -  One of my first attempts at still life and I was equally fascinated with the artist's studio as I was with the still life itself.  Therefore I captured much more than the subject at hand, but wanted to express the entire experience of being in the studio with other painters listening to soft music, sipping a glass of wine and completely enjoying what I was doing.  I wanted to keep the palette soft with the emphasis and focus on the vase with white flowers.