Rainbow Vibration , 36 x 48 inches, oil on linen, 2010

Amanda Johnson was born in Woodriff, Wisconsin. She graduated in 2005 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a degree in fine arts. She lived and studied in New York City, Paris, Prague and India where she gained inspiration and techniques that she has incorporated into her various paintings and murals.

In 2008 she trained with realist painters including renowned Arts Students League instructor, David Leffel at the Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago. She began experimenting with the chiaroscuro technique, an art form dating back to the Renaissance that expressed light and shadow.

However, not being one to merely imitate painting techniques put down in text books... the foundation of her work shows an immense spirit of creativity and expression that is uniquely her own. She considers her abstract paintings to be realist paintings of an abstract subject matter. They are rich in texture and depth, worked on over several months, her process is pure emotional expression that only at the final stages does the painting begin to reveal it's form and theme.

Amanda resides in the city of Chicago and routinely paints en plein air (outdoor/on sight painting) around the city.